Bank of Thailand moves against cash and the US dollar in a plan to reduce cash in half by 2026

[Peterphuket]

1 hour ago, rwill said:

Cash still works wihen the internet or power goes down.

I don't think so, the cash registers need also electricity.

[Orinoco]

Just now, Peterphuket said:

I don't think so, the cash registers need also electricity.

Works just fine at Ma & Pa shops getting beer and a bag of ice.

just to keep the beer cool. 

 

[JayClay]

18 minutes ago, Ginner said:

Plus the charges you will incur for the privilege of using it. Yes. 

 

Yes. 0bt is quite an expense....

 

4 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

What is the most amount of times that the cashier has counted your change out before giving it to you ?

   Mine is 5 

Counted my change out five times before handing it over 

Not to mention the fact they never have the correct notes for your change and need to bounce about between the other tills to find it.

 

The idea that QR payments is slower is just confirmation bias; somebody doesn't like the system so they remember the one or two times that the customer wasn't prepared at the checkout* and therefore the transaction took longer than usual.

 

 

 

*I, yesterday, was the evil queue hog yesterday as I had to pay with QR because when I came to open my bag I realized I'd forgotten my wallet and therefore had no cash on me. In these situations of course it will take a bit longer than usual... Although I still think it was quicker than a typical cash transaction.

[LukKrueng]

1 hour ago, Swampy999 said:

trying to recover money from the banks in the UK is relatively easy if your card has been cloned but here? Not the banks fault, you need to take the matter up with the atm manufacturer etc.

Not true. Once I had my Thai ATM\debit card used online in South America, a place I've never been to. Called the bank. Got the money back after a couple of weeks.

Another time I tried to withdraw cash in Indonesia. No cash came out but my account was charged. Called the bank a few days later, after coming. Got the money back a couple of weeks later.

[Albaby]

3 hours ago, Gilligan In Drag said:

Hopefully they will screw it up and it won't work or they will forget about it or something or we will have a nuclear holocaust which might be less painful than being on a social credit system which is probably where this is going. And forgive me my financial illiteracy but wouldn't having half the amount of cash in circulation  tend to increase its value rather than halve it?

Oh dear. The amount of currency in circulation stays the same. The amount in physical cash is reduced. Cash is only used at the retail level these days. Do keep up old boy. In Oz atm, haven't used cash in 3 months.

[Griffo63]

Have you never waited in a supermarket queue whilst a woman searches for her purse in her handbag to pay but only when all the items have been through the checkout. And then to find she has separate purses for notes and coins and wants to tender the exact amount but can’t read the till and then has to search for her glasses in her handbag? Give me cashless every time 

[Flink]

2 hours ago, Jerno said:

Ya right.  Thailand cashless society.  How will all the brown envelopes be converted to cashless that won't be trackable. And how did they come up with 800 transactions per person?  More stupid ideas with not a chance of happening.

To be fair, Thailand is well on it's way to being a cashless society. After all, half the population don't have a pot to p1$$ in already. And those with houses and crs don't have any cash because as soon as their "money" is electronically transferred to their account it's transferred out again to pay the house, car, credit card loans. Going cashless in a country where the average personal debt level is 89% of the GDP per capita just makes no sense.

[jacko45k]

Just now, Albaby said:

In Oz atm, haven't used cash in 3 months.

I know, awful place, nothing to do! Might as well be in Huahin!

[Orinoco]

3 minutes ago, Griffo63 said:

Have you never waited in a supermarket queue whilst a woman searches for her purse in her handbag to pay but only when all the items have been through the checkout. And then to find she has separate purses for notes and coins and wants to tender the exact amount but can’t read the till and then has to search for her glasses in her handbag? Give me cashless every time 

What like when they have left the phone in the pick up. 

 

[Bangkok Barry]

5 hours ago, daveAustin said:

If you want to go cashless, PLEASE introduce Applepay and similar at stores in Thailand. The current system with people fiddling around, entering numbers etc etc ad nauseam is a joke. Along with security & convenience with digital payments should be time saved. Getting stuck behind someone for 5 minutes trying in vain to pay for their groceries is absolutely baffling. 

They call it progress, taking 10 or 20x longer to do what used be done in seconds.

[FinChin67]

2 hours ago, sead said:

Finally. What Russia and China always wanted. As it is now all crude oil is bought from Baht to USD and then converted to euro. It's ridiculous and let's USA make money on purchased oil between 2 countries not affiliated with USA

China together with Russia will be so goooood master for all of us. Not. 

[Bangkok Barry]

Will the government demand a Thai ID card, to further shut out aliens?

[moe666]

2 hours ago, sead said:

Finally. What Russia and China always wanted. As it is now all crude oil is bought from Baht to USD and then converted to euro. It's ridiculous and let's USA make money on purchased oil between 2 countries not affiliated with USA

How so to Euro. Oil is valued in US dollars. That will not change you seem to think they are buying this oil with suitcases of Bhat and dollars

[Albaby]

14 minutes ago, Flink said:

To be fair, Thailand is well on it's way to being a cashless society. After all, half the population don't have a pot to p1$$ in already. And those with houses and crs don't have any cash because as soon as their "money" is electronically transferred to their account it's transferred out again to pay the house, car, credit card loans. Going cashless in a country where the average personal debt level is 89% of the GDP per capita just makes no sense.

Those loans would be a lot more expensive to service if the transactions had to be conducted in cash. Probably add another 1-2%  to the interest charged.

[John Maxida]

Soon the people of Isan will start buying bitcoins in order to exchange a bag of frogs for a bag of rice.

[Albaby]

32 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I know, awful place, nothing to do! Might as well be in Huahin!

What an odd comment.

[huangnon]

Programmable digital currency is the end of financial freedom as we know it. It is being sold as 'convenient' and 'modern' but it is a total control method.

China is already using a social credit system where people get docked "money" or freedom to travel just for perceived infractions:

Quote

Starting in 2009, the Chinese government began testing a national reputation system based on a citizen’s economic and social reputation, or “social credit.” This social credit score can be used to reward or punish certain behaviors. The idea is that the state can give or takeaway points from a social credit score in order to engineer good behavior from the people. 

By late 2019, Chinese citizens were losing points on their score for dishonest and fraudulent financial behavior, playing loud music, eating on public transportation, jaywalking, running red lights, failing to appear at doctor appointments, missing job interviews or hotel reservations without canceling, and incorrectly sorting waste. To raise one’s social credit score a Chinese citizen can donate blood, donate to an approved charity, volunteer for community service, and other activities approved by the government. The Chinese government has begun to deny millions of people the ability to purchase plane and high-speed rail tickets due to low social credit scores and being labeled “untrustworthy.”

You don't have money with a digital system. You have 'food tokens' that can be taken away at the push of a button. Your spending on eg; meat, air fares, travel etc can also be calculated and controlled using a 'carbon credit' system, that is already heavily-invested in by the usual billionaire elites. (Mastercard has started doing this already).

Keep cash alive for as long as possible.

 

[hansnl]

Creating money is a government thing, bank just create computer lists.

Not good!

[mrbojangles]

I'm ok with cashless/electronic payments......when I want to use it.

 

Behind someone in Tops supermarket yesterday who was paying 49baht for some bread with his phone. Took forever to process. I had the correct money for mine and zipped through.

[wolf81]

Cash provides privacy, a little inconvenience can be a good trade off. Don't need to have governments looking out for every small payments you do (e.g. a bonus for a massage lady or a gift to your children).

 

I also don't really believe the argument that electronic payments increase economic activity. More money in people's wallets will increase economic activity, but electronic payments by themselves will not add money to people's wallets. 

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

I still use checks for payment when in the US.  My GF asked me how it could be used as real money and not seen as fake.  I then explained it to her and she just stared at my check book. She had never seen a check before here in Thailand, but on the trip to the US saw folks using checks in many stores. True story.

Good grief. IIRC, the last time I paid for anything with a cheque in Australia was 2014. Cheque books there are about as up-to-date as bustles and button-up boots.

I suppose America is consistent, they still have gallons and pounds. Hey fellas, the rest of the world has gone metric.

I can't see this working in rural areas, cash will still be king for a long time to come. Although the poorest villagers still manage to scrape together enough for a smartphone.

It's the wet dream of governments to have every transaction digital and hence traceable. I have news for them, criminals have probably worked out how to get around traceability already.

[Kildonan]

And of course it all goes tits up when no electric city? 

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Griffo63 said:

Have you never waited in a supermarket queue whilst a woman searches for her purse in her handbag to pay but only when all the items have been through the checkout. And then to find she has separate purses for notes and coins and wants to tender the exact amount but can’t read the till and then has to search for her glasses in her handbag? Give me cashless every time 

If I had 1000 baht for every time I was held up at a checkout by someone faffing about on their phones to pay, I'd be driving the latest Beemer.

[Raphael Hythlodaeus]

Interesting that the BRIC nations and now Thailand and others are moving away from the USD as the settlement currency. Not surprising since the US prints helicopter currency like there's no tomorrow so $1 in 1913 is now worth 3 cents. 

[Guderian]

So in a typical Makro checkout queue, say 6 people of which 5 want to use cash and the other one to use their phone, the people with cash in their hands will now have to wait three times as long so that three times as many people can mess about with their telephones, forget which app they need to use, try to get the cheap camera on their free AIS phone to focus on the QR code, mess it up and start again, at least twice. They should do an experiment first, have separate checkouts for people who want to pay cash and for those using digital payments, and then see which one is the faster and more popular. That'll kill this  Orwellian scheme dead in its tracks.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The Bank of Thailand is pushing forward with the agenda of making Thailand a cashless society as it plans to unveil a new PromptPay system to make it easier to make payments and transfer money from one party to another in Thailand.

How will they hide all the kick-backs

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

What is the most amount of times that the cashier has counted your change out before giving it to you ?

   Mine is 5 

Counted my change out five times before handing it over 

So would I if I had to take any mistakes out of my salary...

[mjakob007]

3 hours ago, Muhendis said:

All government workers will be issued with a small brown envelope shaped badge in the middle of which will be a QR code.

agree 100%

This will be the biggest impediment in rolling out the new policy

[Orinoco]

59 minutes ago, John Maxida said:

Soon the people of Isan will start buying bitcoins in order to exchange a bag of frogs for a bag of rice.

Or maybe Bitcorn.  

 

[Orinoco]

11 minutes ago, Guderian said:

So in a typical Makro checkout queue, say 6 people of which 5 want to use cash and the other one to use their phone, the people with cash in their hands will now have to wait three times as long so that three times as many people can mess about with their telephones, forget which app they need to use, try to get the cheap camera on their free AIS phone to focus on the QR code, mess it up and start again, at least twice.

Yes, just like waiting behind a Thai person at the ATM.

Gave that up years back. just go find another one, that's free to use.