Dont give up your control and that is cash The minute you use anything that someone else can see you are giving them control.

Rubbish % figures again. A good part of the Thai Populace especially in the boonies and lots of small street vendors only have and use cash. Most of them do not pay tax and don't use bank accounts, therefore their transactions are not recorded.

 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand embraces digital payments as cash transactions drop to 66%, signalling a shift in consumer behaviour.

In other words, two-thirds prefer to use cash over apps/cards/contactless/transfers. The tone of the article, instead of saying that cashless is catching on, should in fact be that a considerable majority refuse to embrace it. Nothing like twisting the FACTS, is there.

Dont give up your control and that is cash The minute you use anything that someone else can see you are giving them control.

3 month ago, I had to pay 50.000 for something in a bank here in Thailand.
I was then joust going to transfer it from my own thai bank account. But was told that I had to go outside and get the 50.000 in cash,
from there ATM outside, as they would only accept cash payment. (And the ATM would only pay 20.000 at the time, so I had to get 20 + 20 + 10)

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Nothing worse than standing in a line behind some guy or gal, fooling around with their phone trying to get the payment app to work so they can pay for a 20 or 40 baht item at 7-Eleven. Or an 80 baht coffee. There have been times I've been so frustrated with the four or five minutes that this person is fooling around with their phone that I pulled out 20 or 40 baht and handed it to them. Here, take it, pay for it move on please.

 

In my opinion real man always carry cash. I hope that digital currency never takes over. I love having a wad of cash in my pocket. Always have and always will. 

You're in the wrong country if you're so impatient and entitled that you can't stand to wait in a 7-11 line for a few extra minutes. I'll bet when someone is waiting for hot food it must drive you batty. I myself have Parkinson's disease and it takes some time for me to fumble with money, so I step away from the register in case anyone else needs the cashier. But not once have I ever gotten a side eye from anyone behind me as I fumbled away. If it had been you behind me you might have accidentally caught my elbow in your solar plexus. What are you in a hurry for? Always got some place important to be? More important than everyone else? If you think your patience is so wrongly being overtaxed  imagine the patience the Thai people have to have just to deal with you and your demanding ill temper. How you personally like to live is your business, but you have no right to project your opinions and preferences onto the way Thai people conduct their daily lives. It's their country not yours. And you don't sound like a "real man", your attitude is in fact very childish and petulant. ""real man always carry cash". Never heard anything more ridiculous. Real man means a mature adult man who can move through life unfazed by minor events. How about "real" (mature) men don't bother others over trivial things. "Real" Mature men can tolerate life's inconveniences and keep smiling.  Go back where you came from, you give the rest of us happy, patient, respectful foreigners a bad name. 

Another Big Brother rip off.They got people using cards/digital during covid.I pay for big things [airfares etc] by credit cardbut I have reverted to using cash as much as I can in Australia and have always used cash in Thailand .My bank charges an international fee plus a crap exchange rate,so I ain't using card unless an emergency .

46 minutes ago, James105 said:

everything time I buy something from 7/11 it always ends up being something like 21/41/61/81 bahts so I end up with useless annoying small coins rattling around in my pockets.

Those "useless annoying small coins rattling around in your pockets" are anything but useless if you use them next time you're in 7-11 to avoid ending up with useless annoying small coins rattling around in your pockets!

2 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

If it had been you behind me you might have accidentally caught my elbow in your solar plexus.

you dont like his  opinion so you are going to hit  him, speaks  volumes.

24 minutes ago, Guderian said:

I just wish the supermarkets would have a "cash only" checkout,

At least one of the Big C Extra Pattaya 10 items till used to be cash only.....I think they had so many Thais trying to pay by scan they dropped that option or maybe it was during Covid.

6 hours ago, BritScot said:

One thing I have realised over the past few years is how stupid people are. Accepting lockdowns and in the uk publicly telling people they were using Phyops against their own people a fact that still disgusts me (being ex army). Then watch people sleep walking into digital currency  with the power banks and governments already welding. I tokenly carry an oz silver coin in my pocket to remind myself its real value and not made up. Everyone should read about the Bradbury pound (it scared the hell out of the Bank of England because it had real value).

Brit carrying a OZ coin?

Cant see the relevants of carrying a Australian coin wouldn't it be better a sovereign!

😂😂😗

Sounds very fake news again…🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣… hahahaha…

There are so few Bkk outlets that accept only digital payments only .. only one is some few Starbucks like k village … have not seen any other outlets doing the same and don’t expect it …  🤣🤣🤣 maybe the few Starbucks represents 80% of Thai economy … 

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Nothing worse than standing in a line behind some guy or gal, fooling around with their phone trying to get the payment app to work so they can pay for a 20 or 40 baht item at 7-Eleven. Or an 80 baht coffee. There have been times I've been so frustrated with the four or five minutes that this person is fooling around with their phone that I pulled out 20 or 40 baht and handed it to them. Here, take it, pay for it move on please.

 

In my opinion real man always carry cash. I hope that digital currency never takes over. I love having a wad of cash in my pocket. Always have and always will. 

In Hong Kong, you use Octopus for the small purchases. It came out early and is basically accepted everywhere and is quicker than paying cash.

If Rabbit could have managed to do the same - get accepted by everyone from market stalls to McDonald's for small purchases, you wouldn't need cash in Thailand either.

The last time I used cash here was the hairdressers in January, and I took it out of the ATM especially for that. But the last time I used cash was my last trip to Thailand - because the ridiculous ATM fees effectively force you to take out large amounts of cash.

1 minute ago, NemoH said:

Sounds very fake news again…🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣… hahahaha…

There are so few Bkk outlets that accept only digital payments only .. only one is some few Starbucks like k village … have not seen any other outlets doing the same and don’t expect it …  🤣🤣🤣 maybe the few Starbucks represents 80% of Thai economy … 

Oh dear! Every single mum and pop shop has QR code to pay, nearly all noodle shop has a QR code, most bars have QR code to pay, I know someone who paid a short time experience by QR code,

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Can someone please educate the writer of this article in basic math?

 

In 2022, only 27% of people used digital payment. Therefore, 73% were paying in cash.

That figure is now down to 66%, a change of 7%.

 

IMO not a big change.

additionally it would be wise to say that the 27% where most likely not using digital payment 100% of the time..so the real adoption could be anything and isnt visible with the infos provided

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

In my opinion real man always carry cash. I hope that digital currency never takes over. I love having a wad of cash in my pocket. Always have and always will.

I was taught to and have always lived out of my ar$e pocket... I know what I have and if ain't in there I don't spend it...

If I was a teen hacker living in Mom's basement, I would absolutely LOVE a totally cashless society.

 

Just knock out the internet, grab the popcorn, and watch the hungry masses go at each other tooth and nail.

 

There's a recent movie that sort of uses this theme: Leave the World Behind

 

There are times society gets too wedded on tech, making it vulnerable. Here's kind of an example....when I fly, I prefer the aircraft has an extra vacuum-driven attitude indicator, especially when flying IF. The hi-tech stuff can break down, but the gyroscope always works.

Yesterday I was in line to pay at Seven when the customer in front of me was fumbling with his phone trying to pay. After a minute or two of frustration with waiting I finally said, "Is there something wrong with your payment app?" He replied, "No, just waiting for Farang to buy my coffee!"

6 hours ago, BritScot said:

One thing I have realised over the past few years is how stupid people are. Accepting lockdowns and in the uk publicly telling people they were using Phyops against their own people a fact that still disgusts me (being ex army). Then watch people sleep walking into digital currency  with the power banks and governments already welding. I tokenly carry an oz silver coin in my pocket to remind myself its real value and not made up. Everyone should read about the Bradbury pound (it scared the hell out of the Bank of England because it had real value).

 

I don't know who the idiots were who laughed at this comment. Well said.

I love tech, I move on quickly to new faster payment methods, but just popping out to the local store for that loaf of bread or milk etc, one or two item stuff, ‘Cash is King’

Of course it is slower if the digital payment method fails

Overall "cash free" checkout lines are faster.

Let's ban it once and for all.

 

Keep forgetting I guess I could tip the hotel van drivers but  still have a bag of yuan notes and coins from before covid.

Cash is almost impossible to spend in Shanghai

What a great opportunity for a benevolent government to decide it does not want to be benevolent any more. Take away all but digital transactions and the temptation to grab excessive power might just become overwhelming. All it really takes is the assignment of digital IDs linked to a behavioral scoring system like ESG, and link those to a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), like what is being done in China. Combine all of this with massive surveillance and presto! you will do as you are told, when you are told to do it or pay the consequences and you will have nothing to say about it. A controlling government can ban everything but digital transactions. People should have choices. Going all digital and only digital is more likely to end in disaster (and that just might be the intention).

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Nothing worse than standing in a line behind some guy or gal, fooling around with their phone trying to get the payment app to work so they can pay for a 20 or 40 baht item at 7-Eleven. Or an 80 baht coffee. There have been times I've been so frustrated with the four or five minutes that this person is fooling around with their phone that I pulled out 20 or 40 baht and handed it to them. Here, take it, pay for it move on please.

 

In my opinion real man always carry cash. I hope that digital currency never takes over. I love having a wad of cash in my pocket. Always have and always will. 

I love QR payments. I use them all the time and have my app logged in and ready to scan when the cashier is ready to accept payment. Takes a matter of seconds for the payment to process. 

 

I'm frustrated waiting behind someone digging through pockets of change to make thier cash payments, and hate walking around with a wad of bills and pocket full of coins.

 

I also avoid 7-11 because they're the one major retailer I know of who won't accept QR payments. Whatever electronic payment system they accept is ridiculously slow and consequently they always have long check out times. My wife pays cash at 7-11 and uses thier app to collect "points". Waiting for her to dig out her coins to make a cash payment, and then coax their app to life results in the consistently longest checkout time possible IMO.

 

Fortunately Tops Daily and Mini Big C accept QR payments and checkout time is always faster 

They still haven’t sorted out card payments completely in Thailand. With many purchases at the same supermarket using the same (foreign) credit card, sometimes I only had to swipe the card, usually had to sign the docket. 

 

Australia’s crazy, other day I bought an ice cream at the little kiosk at a beach run by lifesavers. Lucky I have some cash with me, I thought, surely they won’t take cards. Turned out they’d only accept cards. Problem for swimmers, OK to leave a few dollars with your stuff while you’re in the water, but no way I’d leave a credit card unguarded at a beach.

 

Hope QR codes don’t become universal, I have no idea how to use them.

To be honest I will always use cash because since this digital crap has been going so many people get hacked and loose all their money,, the banks do not take responsibility for this and never will and I agree with everyone saying there sick of these idiots that are always dicking around with there phones,,, I personally have stood in line and watch people wave there phones around and enter there pin codes,, it would be so easy to take there phone then go get free money,,,Cash is harder to hack. 

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Nothing worse than standing in a line behind some guy or gal, fooling around with their phone trying to get the payment app to work so they can pay for a 20 or 40 baht item at 7-Eleven. Or an 80 baht coffee. There have been times I've been so frustrated with the four or five minutes that this person is fooling around with their phone that I pulled out 20 or 40 baht and handed it to them. Here, take it, pay for it move on please.

 

In my opinion real man always carry cash. I hope that digital currency never takes over. I love having a wad of cash in my pocket. Always have and always will. 

I think it's a matter of age. 

Spidermike reached already an age where it's not so easy anymore to work with your mobile phone typing numbers and pressing the right button with clumsy fingers. In addition he needs his reading glasses. But what happens if he can't remember where there are? 

So he decided to go out with some thousand Baht notes in his pocket knowing that his bill for coffee and cake will never exceed this amount. He would hand over the note and would receive the change with a smile.

This is a real man's attitude and behaviour, isn't it?

Sorry, Spidermike, I'm just joking 🥳🤣🤗☺️. It's not any personal thing. I wish you all the best.

THA didn't ditch cash 😂 until I can no longer get cash from ATMs or money changers, it's not ditched. Plus, there are far too many poor people in the informal economy to making ditching imminent. Stop the scar mongering. 

While I can see the benifits of cashless payments in terms of convenience to individuals, business and governments, I don't see the convenience outweighing the risks to the individual's freedoms. Let's say someone of importance does not like your views and reports you to the government who in turn freezes all your bank accounts. What are going to do? Where is your backup to continue living?  Better still lets say you had been misidentidied as a terrorist or money launderer by some AI inteligence softare used by governments or banks.  What are you going to do when your bank accounts are frozen and the responsible clerks refuse to accept that the AI sofware is wrong. I always pay with cash on principle.

Sorry, if this is a stupid question. I see many write about QR codes and phones; is it not possible to pay using contact free payment with the chip on a credit card?

 

In Denmark, which I believe was the frontrunner in digital payment, not Sweden, we use contact less payment with a credit card. Very fast and very convenient.

Imagine this in the future. A device will be able to scan you as a person to see if you can afford to go inside a building and then you’ll be put or only allowed into certain places. Along with one day (I’m hoping) the system will completely crash and your bank account closes overnight leaving you with not having the opportunity to buy anything. 
 

I work in the festival industry and sometimes the signal is poor and you cannot take card payment. Some parents couldn’t buy food or a treat for their children….thankfully those which experienced this always carries cash now.