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

[pizzachang]

Will this include IO recognizing that foreign ATM cards can only withdraw money from foreign accounts? [Proving the "FTT link"]

[Lung Khao]

The cashless system is already working perfectly in Thailand, you can pay every vendor by using QR code. But do you have any idea how foreign tourists can pay with this system in Thailand, as it works only with Thai bank account numbers? No money no honey? ????

[crazykopite]

There are more important issues to sort out first like stop manipulating the Thai Baht !

[wwest5829]

The subject has me reflecting on my earlier 5 trips to Japan and my observing cashless transactions everywhere. From store purchases, taxi payments to buying a cola from a vending machine. It will be some time before SE Asia catches up to that level.

[Mike Teavee]

7 minutes ago, Lung Khao said:

The cashless system is already working perfectly in Thailand, you can pay every vendor by using QR code. But do you have any idea how foreign tourists can pay with this system in Thailand, as it works only with Thai bank account numbers? No money no honey? ????

They had the same problem in China where WeChat Pay & AliPay were becoming the only ways of paying at more & more places so the simple answer was to enable people to use their foreign Debit/Credit cards with the service... 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/06/alipay-wechat-pay-allow-tourists-in-china-to-use-foreign-cards.html

 

 

 

[Sparktrader]

4 hours ago, NemoH said:

End of brown envelopes?? ????????????????????????????????????????
maybe there is a digital option? ????????????????

Btc

[wombat]

the future is now

[Lacessit]

42 minutes ago, Raphael Hythlodaeus said:

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. 

Like it or not, the USD is still the world's reserve currency, and most international transactions are written in USD.

Out of the BRIC bloc, only China has a GDP close to the US, and the CCP has its own problems with a property collapse and a faltering economy, due to draconian lockdown policies.

[MikeN]

3 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Will the girls have in the future QR codes with their bank details instead of numbers on their bikinis?

And how should I explain that to the wife?

Difficult times!

 

One more tattoo “decorating” their body perhaps ? Especially the girls at Crazy House, without bikinis.

[sambum]

".............each person making 800 such payments in the course of a year."

 

Didn't realise Thai people made so many payments! 

 

Maybe slightly off topic, but we bought a brand new car last year from a T****a showroom/dealer, and it came with a 5000 baht gift voucher to use for their accessories. We opted for a dashcam with an extra one in the rear, but we were told by the showroom that it would probably cost 7000 baht! Anyway, we had to hand over 2000 baht cash before they would order the items, and when they came and were fitted (by an outside supplier) the bill came to 5680 baht, and they asked my wife (as the car is in her name) to pay the additional 680 baht "as the boss had gone home for the day and had taken all the cash to pay into the bank", so they would phone the following day to arrange the refund. (I now smelt a rat!)  Needless to say, we got no phone call, so we called into the showroom a few days later, and  "the boss" (who spoke no English whatsoever, and I speak very little Thai) said that they had given the 2000 baht to the people who had fitted the camera(s), and he was having difficulty in getting it back! However, he said that when we took the car in for its 10,000k service, he would knock the money off the cost of the service charges! I threatened him with a letter to Head Office if we didn't get the cash within 3 days, but the "missus" was now getting upset with me for making threats! In the end I just walked away, and said "Ridiculous!".

 

Moral of the story - "Once you hand cash over to a Thai, you ain't ever gonna get it back - no matter what!"

 

(No doubt there will be a few suggestions made on here ranging from demanding he "open the safe" to "opening his wallet", but hey, I'm a farang, and the situation has got to be my fault!) 

[biggles45]

I used the 'basket only' lane at a big c supermarket yesterday. Only 3 people ahead of me, each with only a few items. It took over 10 minutes as each paid with their phones...... surely there has to be a better way? Maybe a 'cash only' lane? 

[connda]

Over the last month wife and I have gotten stuck in line behind people attempting to pay via a QR code.  In one case it took upwards of 5 minutes to get the stupid payment processed. Our last trip to Makro the customer tied the line up for over 10 minutes. They have to fiddle with their phones, logon to the phone, login to the app, get the correct screen up, cross their fingers and toes and hope it accepts the payment: link problem, insufficient funds, bank issue - more waiting.  Battery died.  Opps!  Today's the day when you're bank application no longer works on whatever version of Andriod you're running.  Ah-oh.  Convenient?  <laughs>

Our cash payment - 30 seconds or less. 

The government wants every mom and pop store to go the QR code payment route  Right.  Out here in the sticks where the power grid goes down every time there is a lightening flash and a little rain.  Cashless will be another bad idea that crashes into the reality that "green" energy will never drive modern societies and third-world infrastructure is....well, third-world.  Electric grids go up and down all of the time. 

Not until 'fusion' energy comes online or until they redefine 'green' as nuclear and small scale thorium reactors and monies are invested where they can obtain the maximum amount of efficient energy for the least expense, and all electric grids are modernized.  Sorry.  Solar and wind will never cut it.  Nor will the current grids. 

"Cashless" has the cart in front of the horse.

[connda]

2 minutes ago, biggles45 said:

I used the 'basket only' lane at a big c supermarket yesterday. Only 3 people ahead of me, each with only a few items. It took over 10 minutes as each paid with their phones...... surely there has to be a better way? Maybe a 'cash only' lane? 

Yep.

[RPCVguy]

Learn the problems for the people in the rural areas. Only a few stores in town have card readers of any form. Most are mom-n-pop shops, especially in the open veggie market.
Two years after demonetisation: Cashless India still a distant dream

 

Then too, there is this aspect, rightly warned.

6 hours ago, kotsak said:

Exactly.. Rendering people cashless with a push of a button if they are naughty ???? We are in for a fun ride..

 

[Doowat]

4 hours ago, Bim Smith said:

Looks like Thailand have also sold out to the WEF 2030 agenda. Not really a surprise as they signed up in 2016 but the Thai people were kept in ignorance. Use cash and never pay by any other means is the only way to stop this. 

Same in the UK. Most people completely unaware of the influence this unelected bunch of Marxists has on government policy.

[OneMoreFarang]

17 minutes ago, MikeN said:

One more tattoo “decorating” their body perhaps ? Especially the girls at Crazy House, without bikinis.

Don't give them ideas!

[teacherofwoe]

[Neeranam]

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I agree. Cash is so simple. I never had to wait for people using cash- only those using electronic.

I'll be PO if they manage to bring in cashless before I pass over, as I'd be forced to buy one of those horrid not so smart phones and learn how to use it.

it's tough for Luddites ???? 

[Noris]

This is  certainly not for our benefit, we will be taxed on every transaction, even giving son pocket money. First money was precious metals then the illusion of gold and silver then paper now the illusion of money. Say something not accepted, and your digital funds will soon be terminated. I would not be surprised if owning too much gold will be prohibited, as they did in the USA in the 1930s.

As said "You vil own nosing and be happy Ja"

[daveAustin]

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I agree. Cash is so simple. I never had to wait for people using cash- only those using electronic.

I'll be PO if they manage to bring in cashless before I pass over, as I'd be forced to buy one of those horrid not so smart phones and learn how to use it.

Cash is simple compared to the systems they have in place here, but with Applepay I’ve not needed to take my wallet out for like weeks on end. Fantastic system esp when you have facial recognition enabled. It was a major drag coming back here and seeing they hadn’t adopted it yet. 
Get yourself a smartphone bro, they are easy. ????

[FarAway]

3 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Next step will be mandatory chips inserted under the skin. Already being done in small communities in the US.

Sweden as well.

Sweden and whole Scandinavia are cashless already and no one cares. It is frightening. If we do not fight it now, it will be too late. Once in the digital prison there is no escape.

[FarAway]

1 hour ago, wwest5829 said:

The subject has me reflecting on my earlier 5 trips to Japan and my observing cashless transactions everywhere. From store purchases, taxi payments to buying a cola from a vending machine. It will be some time before SE Asia catches up to that level.

 

Well, the Japanese are totally embedded into the digital prison since many years. After China it is the worst country in the world for a nature- and freedom-loving person.

[Orinoco]

2 minutes ago, FarAway said:

 

Well, the Japanese are totally embedded into the digital prison since many years. After China it is the worst country in the world for a nature- and freedom-loving person.

Yes, looks like some people are happy reporting, who they are, where they are and what they are doing, to governments. that's what this is truly about.

 

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

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

When I was younger back in the UK, I briefly worked as a bus driver (I needed pay packets to get a mortgage) at the end of the week, any losses were taken out of our pay, but if you had gains the bus company did not add them on to your pay. No prizes for guessing what I did about that. ????

[SportRider]

Problem: you can't put paperless cash in a brown paper bag.

[Cake Monster]

I have no problem at all with going cashless in theory.

I do however, have a real issue with the infrastructure and Cyber Safety behind such a scheme.

Hear a lot of Gov,t " we , we and us ", but as usual not a great deal of " You , you and yours "

Where are the fail safe guarantees ? 

[Foghorn]

So the lady who sold me 10 baht of sticky rice needs to make sure she’s up to date with her bookkeeping because the government will be after their tax , no hiding with cashless , this is why government wants it

[wwest5829]

36 minutes ago, FarAway said:

 

Well, the Japanese are totally embedded into the digital prison since many years. After China it is the worst country in the world for a nature- and freedom-loving person.

Not my experience in Japan, starting in 1983 when my stay there with the University of Washington included trips to the mountains and stays at Buddhist lodgings, and trips to the pearl farming coasts. Had  I the money, I might well have retired in Japan although not in the larger cities as I favor the mountains.

[AhFarangJa]

George Orwell's 1984 is coming to pass. All governments want a cashless society. Then they will know what you buy, when you buy it, where you buy it, and will probably even control where you spend your money, and how much is available to you. They can also control prices and what you are allowed to buy.

[DaRoadrunner]

8 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 

This is how they force Thais to do one of the things they hate.... be responsible!

 

Staff are told that if the till comes up short the missing amount comes out of their pay.