On 7/8/2025 at 12:32 PM, KhunBENQ said:

Beware!

If you buy at TOPS and see a discount on a product, you will get this only with the membership (aka registered phone number). Otherwise regular price.

Saves me a significant amount over the year.

 

Interesting. I recently signed up after getting a new sim and didn't know that. Got some good discounts on there recently including Coles Olive Oil Spread, Coles English Mustard (not very good) and 2 for 1 on Pringles. Also, they're the only place that still does Salt & Vinegar crisps at a reasonable price. 😂

 

There's a big squeezy bottle of Coles Mayonaisse at a reasonable price but I'm a bit hesitant after the mustard. 🤔

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"...a medium size frig..."

I suppose a medium-sized fck is better than a small fck.

Not a hotel room size frig, those small or even tall ones.  Definitely something most can live out of, which actually did for 10 yrs or so, and something like 15cu.  It's taller than the wife.  Only bought another, larger since we started doing everything from scratch.  Served us well, and had it since 2011, still going strong 👍👍

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Only by virtue of buying a franchise, the privately-owned shops are privately owned by CP.

CP owns or franchises all 7-11 in TH.  Own ~51%, and ~49% are franchised - wiki

 

 

10 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Not a hotel room size frig, those small or even tall ones.  Definitely something most can live out of, which actually did for 10 yrs or so, and something like 15cu.  It's taller than the wife.  Only bought another, larger since we started doing everything from scratch.  Served us well, and had it since 2011, still going strong 👍👍

Gawd...   There's a massive difference between "frig" [sic], the vulgar slang for having sex and the machine used for keeping things cold called a "fridge" which is what, I believe, you are referring to.

19 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Gawd...   There's a massive difference between "frig" [sic], the vulgar slang for having sex and the machine used for keeping things cold called a "fridge" which is what, I believe, you are referring to.

Yet you understood my meaning the very first time I typed it.  

 

I've never used frig as slang for having sex, and only as an alternative to slang 'F', and not in reference to sew.  Which was probably decades ago, as I just say 'F' now, and apparently way too often, as wife pointed out the other day.

 

I working on that issue, as she did notice, when my brother & sis came for a visit, I didn't say it once ... hmm.  I'll need to talk to the dog about that in our therapy session today at the park 

 

There's a new thread idea for the resident social phycologist ...

... "Do you say 'F' often, and what does your Thai partner think about that ? " ...

On 7/8/2025 at 1:36 PM, KhunLA said:

Makro is easily 10-20% cheaper than the other chains.  When I had the choice of all 4 & VM in Udon Thani, we still did 95% of our shopping at Makro.

 

 

Maybe where you live, but where I live I find that Lotus is cheaper than Makro on many items.

I just leave it all to my wife, she has them all, PTT garage seems to give out loads of points, she gets big discounts for the movies, Starbucks have a points system sometimes we get a free coffee, 

I have a Big C card - apparently it gives me a 5% discount on my purchases.

The One Card collects points. It used to be at Tops the cashier would note how many points I had and ask if I wanted to exchange some and get a discount on my bill (it was a couple hundred baht discount) but I haven't done that in ages. It can also be used in other stores as well (HomePro and such).

I have a Fascino card as well and it gives a 5% discount on any purchases. 

You can register for Villa Market online and then I guess you show them the number (or Q code or whatever) on your phone and get a discount there as well.

I tried to get a 7-11 membership but - as mentioned elsewhere - they want a Thai ID card number. 

I collect the stamps when 7-11 hands them out. I have a bunch of stuff from the special promotions they've run in the past, like a complete, large set of "Doremon" tupperware containers, a "Doremon" wastebasket with hinged lid. A "Winnie the Pooh" waste basket with hinged lid and a couple other items somewhere I've forgotten about.

The big stores used to have some awesome promotions where you'd get stickers for everything you bought (except alcohol) and then could trade them for special items like Vivo double-walled glass tumblers, special kitchen knife sets, cookware sets and so on. Usually high quality items that they don't sell in the store.

That's how I got my fancy pots with glass lids, a large, deep frying pan (with glass lid), the double-walled glasses and a fancy "vegetable" knife.

When the Tops store opened in The Chilled mall on Soi Khao Noi they had a lot of promotions. Buy your groceries then take your receipt to the customer service counter and get stuff like plastic laundry baskets or novelty insulated mugs and stuff.

One promotion was crazy - for every pack of Fisherman's friends you bought - you got a free small (6oz ?) glass tumbler. I used to buy 6 packs of Fisherman's friends at a time because the glasses came packed 6 to a box.

I think I've got 4 1/2 boxes of those glasses before that promotion ended. Got them stashed on a storage shelf. Give them out to people who move into a new house or apartment.

The discounts and promotions aren't a huge savings at the time - but over time they can add up. I probably spend 10-12,000 a month on groceries alone so a 5% discount would equal 5-600 baht per month in savings. Over the course of a year that's about 6-7,200 baht in savings. Multiplied by the number of years I've been doing it.

The promotions and 7-11 stickers are just a bit of fun. I'm buying stuff anyways so I toss the stickers into the little promotion card thingy and then one day paste them onto the card and see if I have enough to get something useful like a beach mat - or another waste basket.

I didn't pay attention to the last one and had half a card worth of stickers. Bummer, a couple more trips for snacks and I could have gotten set of cheap plastic "Doremon" bowls with lids.
Oh well, maybe next time.
 

Pretty much every single time I buy something at 7-11, they ask me if I'm a member. As I clearly look foreign, I can only assume that they have foreign members, otherwise why would they bother to ask?

 

I use the TrueMoney wallet, so I already get "coins" for 7-11 purchases. With a ridiculously low monthly cap that I've typically maxxed out around the 5th of each month. That doesn't amount to a lot in actual baht and I just cannot be bothered to check if becoming a "member" gives me significantly more benefits.

 

The owners of CP need the money a lot more than I do, in any case. 555

23 hours ago, Kerryd said:

I have a Big C card - apparently it gives me a 5% discount on my purchases.

Never heard of this. 

Is this really true???

 

I used to have BigC membership. All I got for it were endless (like, a meter long) slips of paper.

Neither I, nor any Thai I asked,  ever figured out anything useful from these slips. 

So now I always say,  I don't have membership.  Faster,  anyway. 

 

Am I missing something? 

5% on all BigC purchases would be a lot, I hardly shop anywhere else. 

On 7/11/2025 at 12:39 PM, Kerryd said:

I have a Big C card - apparently it gives me a 5% discount on my purchases.

It's not the membership that gets you a discount. 

It's the BigC credit card that gets you a discount. 

Completely different. 

People are broke azz

On 7/10/2025 at 5:07 PM, Lacessit said:

You get a Thai ID when you take the trouble to acquire the pink card. Apparently it also is the Thai tax number.

 

A fair bit of paperwork, it has paid off a few times.

 

The pink card again lol

 

I've withdrawn 100k thb with my Thai license. I lost t that due to dlt BS.

 

Now gone, just use my ppt on that rare banking occasion.

 

Pink card 🤣

I give them my number at Big C. I also have 1+ thru tops. It's just my #

 

I bet I've been given a few thousand baht back over the years.

 

 

Only those two set up decades ago. I don't like the tracking.

23 minutes ago, KhaoHom said:

 

The pink card again lol

 

I've withdrawn 100k thb with my Thai license. I lost t that due to dlt BS.

 

Now gone, just use my ppt on that rare banking occasion.

 

Pink card 🤣

Let me know when you are ready to post something intelligible.

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Let me know when you are ready to post something intelligible.

I would rather that it didn't bother posting!