How Low Will You Go?

[Jingthing]

Back to the issue about the relevancy of any value of satang coins. If you had saved up a big bag of satang coins and the total value was 1000 baht, would a Thai beggar/homeless person appreciate it/find it useful if you gave them that bag? I don't think they would. You can't really spend them. On the contrary if you gave an American beggar/homeless person a bag filled with pennies worth 30 dollars, most of them would accept the gift and be able to find a way to spend them.

[Meridian007]

I bring my 25 and 50 satang pieces to the temple to add into the alms bowls they use for merit making. (for example, the ones at Wat Pho)

I think they are the only people who can use them.

[bkkjames]

Back to the issue about the relevancy of any value of satang coins. If you had saved up a big bag of satang coins and the total value was 1000 baht, would a Thai beggar/homeless person appreciate it/find it useful if you gave them that bag? I don't think they would. You can't really spend them. On the contrary if you gave an American beggar/homeless person a bag filled with pennies worth 30 dollars, most of them would accept the gift and be able to find a way to spend them.

Don't the banks take the small coins to be used internally?

[Jingthing]

Back to the issue about the relevancy of any value of satang coins. If you had saved up a big bag of satang coins and the total value was 1000 baht, would a Thai beggar/homeless person appreciate it/find it useful if you gave them that bag? I don't think they would. You can't really spend them. On the contrary if you gave an American beggar/homeless person a bag filled with pennies worth 30 dollars, most of them would accept the gift and be able to find a way to spend them.

Don't the banks take the small coins to be used internally?

I question whether the typical Thai bank would welcome a smelly street person approaching them with a big bag of satang coins. I really don't know. Of course we are talking about 25 and 50's as there does seem to be agreement that the 1, 5, and 10s are rare in circulation. For the sake of this thread and to not get overly hung up on this trivial issue, I think we can assume they probably exist, awaiting someone who can prove otherwise.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Jingthing

[bkkjames]

Back to the issue about the relevancy of any value of satang coins. If you had saved up a big bag of satang coins and the total value was 1000 baht, would a Thai beggar/homeless person appreciate it/find it useful if you gave them that bag? I don't think they would. You can't really spend them. On the contrary if you gave an American beggar/homeless person a bag filled with pennies worth 30 dollars, most of them would accept the gift and be able to find a way to spend them.

Don't the banks take the small coins to be used internally?

I question whether the typical Thai bank would welcome a smelly street person approaching them with a big bag of satang coins. I really don't know. Of course we are talking about 25 and 50's as there does seem to be agreement that the 1, 5, and 10s are rare in circulation. For the sake of this thread and to not get overly hung up on this trivial issue, I think we can assume they probably exist, awaiting someone who can prove otherwise.

I will make you a deal, if I can prove it either way, will you ask some higher authority to close this topic?

[Jingthing]

I will make you a deal, if I can prove it either way, will you ask some higher authority to close this topic?

No deal. If you don't like this thread, steer away from it. I get the distinct feeling you are trying to get a rise out of me. Please don't bother. Good day, sir.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Jingthing

[bkkjames]

I will make you a deal, if I can prove it either way, will you ask some higher authority to close this topic?

No deal. If you don't like this thread, steer away from it. I get the distinct feeling you are trying to get a rise out of me. Please don't bother. Good day, sir.

Not trying to get a rise out of you JT. Any rise you are currently facing has been brought on by something else.

Did you see this by the way? http://www.answers.com/topic/one-satang

Edit to add - this link is very informative... http://www.crnindia.com/currency/baht.html

Edited December 9, 2009 by bkkjames

[Jingthing]

I will make you a deal, if I can prove it either way, will you ask some higher authority to close this topic?

No deal. If you don't like this thread, steer away from it. I get the distinct feeling you are trying to get a rise out of me. Please don't bother. Good day, sir.

Not trying to get a rise out of you JT. Any rise you are currently facing has been brought on by something else.

Did you see this by the way? http://www.answers.com/topic/one-satang

That supports what I originally found on Wiki but hardly an official Thai source. Again, this isn't a big deal either way. The questions about 1, 5, and 10s are tangential to the general topic here anyway.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Jingthing

[mahtin]

What is the minimum coin to make you bend over?

I'm no historian, but didn't they offer the King's shilling for the army?

Sailors they had to press-gang.

Ooops, tangential to Thailand

[zzdocxx]

What is the minimum value to inspire you to bend over and pick it up?

Depends who is standing behind me.

Great poll!

[Tinkelbell]

While going up in all girls boarding school in BKK, the owner; Prince Kasemsri held this tradition on his birthday, at dawn we girls would gather infront of his residence ( Thai = tum-nuk) and sang a song (special writen expecially for this occasion) wishing him a happy birthday. He would woke up with the sound of our singing, with that the prince would proceed to the balcony and showered all of us with several hundreds brand new one baht coins, the coins landed on us, floor and bushes. We would tried to pick as much as we could and as fast as we could manage.

Some year I did very well, got over 30+ baht, some bad year got less than 10

Thais believe these coins ( the ones we had picked on happy occations ) is an auspicious money ( nguern-goan-tung), meaned to save never spend, for it would lead more financial prospeities to whoever hold on these coins.

From my very own experience, I believe it has some true.

[Heng]

If it's not in an unclean/dangerous/hard to get to environment (ie. restroom floors, in a hole in the middle of the street, on the street when I'm on a balcony or something), I'll pick up any amount, even 25 satang. What's funny is seeing people who laugh or make a joke about it doing the exact same thing later, saying that 'apparently' it may be the reason why I'm lucky in business.

No different from increasing one's profit margin on any product or increasing someone's rent.

[krading]

"See a penny and pick it up

the rest of the day you'll have good luck."

Mum.

[ThailandTigers]

All currency contains the picture of a man I respect and revere more than all others. I will always stop to pick up a coin with his image, because I honor the man and his ideals.

[Penefattore]

I pick up anything useful.

Nothing to do with being tight or not, the proper place for money is not the ground, it is my pocket.

Excellent

[carmine]

I would pick up any coin that I had dropped purely to avoid any awkward exchange of confused facial expressions with passers by. But I wouldn't pick up a coin that wasn't mine to begin with.

Interesting. Once I was walking with a friend in the US and he found a 100 dollar bill on the street. For real, I was there. Would you bend over for that?

Think the topics about coins though

[Jingthing]

All currency contains the picture of a man I respect and revere more than all others. I will always stop to pick up a coin with his image, because I honor the man and his ideals.

Interesting. Are you Thai?

[Jingthing]

I would pick up any coin that I had dropped purely to avoid any awkward exchange of confused facial expressions with passers by. But I wouldn't pick up a coin that wasn't mine to begin with.

Interesting. Once I was walking with a friend in the US and he found a 100 dollar bill on the street. For real, I was there. Would you bend over for that?

Think the topics about coins though

Yes, I think I would know that.

However, the idea that is wrong to pick up something on the street because it does not belong to you seems to be based on some kind of odd moralistic principle. So if the 10 baht coin does not belong to you, and you don't pick it up because of that based on morality, why is picking up the 100 dollar bill that ALSO does not belong to you magically become moral?

BTW, that 100 dollar bill my friend picked up was probably related to drug dealing (based on the neighborhood). The plot thickens ... Is there such thing as dirty money? Or is it all good? (To me, its all good but I have no morals, ha ha.)

Edited December 12, 2009 by Jingthing

[OxfordWill]

since when does a coin last more than 3 seconds on any Thai street? Just make sure you dont stamp on it if you drop one yourself.

[Jingthing]

since when does a coin last more than 3 seconds on any Thai street? Just make sure you dont stamp on it if you drop one yourself.

I see coins on the streets of Pattaya occasionally even in high traffic areas.

The idea for this topic came to me after I tripped on the street holding a 10 baht coin for the baht bus and it went flying. I looked for it for awhile but it was lost. No, not picked up as there weren't people around, just lost.

Edited December 12, 2009 by Jingthing

[Heng]

since when does a coin last more than 3 seconds on any Thai street? Just make sure you dont stamp on it if you drop one yourself.

Try this social experiment for grins: hold up a few 500's or 1000's and announce "did anyone drop/lose X amount?" And then if anyone tries to claim it just say "it was a rhetorical question. Who dat? Who dat?"

[desi]

I dislike small coins and useless wads of bills so I doubt that I'd stop for any on the street (but 5 or 10's are a slim possibility)

At home, over the years several containers have evolved...

1) A clay pot for bills from Burma, Iran, Romania, Egypt, and such (not worth much, so kept as curiosities... )

2) A silver bowl for 5 and 10 baht coins (I eventually use these).

3) A glass jar for coins not Thai, US, EU, or UK (kept as curiosities...)

4) A small silver box for US, EU, and UK coins (I grab these when needed).

5) Paper money from the US, EU, and UK goes in a drawer.

6) A larger silver bowl for smaller baht coins (the maid gets them eventually as I'm too lazy to roll them into coin containers... if they even do that here... and knowing that they are hers helps to keep the other coins/bills separated when they come out of luggage or pockets).

[mikebell]

I was a teacher before I came to Thailand and I used to smoke. One day my class and I were waiting for lunchtime bell on the playground. I picked up a 1p coin. This amused my students and some started throwing 1 & 2 pence coins on the floor which I picked up. A couple of show-offs threw some silver 5p coins and there was the odd 10 - all scooped up. The bell went for lunch. Some 20 minutes later I went to the corner shop for some cigarettes. There I found some of my class scrabbling about trying to raise enough for their packet. Smiling broadly I poured an avalanche of hot coins on to the counter and made my purchase.

[Heng]

Hopefully they'll have learned a lesson that most people never do until much much later in life.

That's the same grin I get when I see folks making car/house/credit card payments, it's the same concept only with real playing pieces, not gumdrops and potato chips.

[MrHammer]

Hopefully they'll have learned a lesson that most people never do until much much later in life.

That's the same grin I get when I see folks making car/house/credit card payments, it's the same concept only with real playing pieces, not gumdrops and potato chips.

Don't follow? You should pay your car payments with satangs that children throw on the street?

[IanForbes]

I pick up anything and everything. Once it was an envelope containing $12,000 which I returned to the bank from where it came. I've got a whole collection of coins from all over the world that I've found but have no use for.

[IanForbes]

I was a teacher before I came to Thailand and I used to smoke. One day my class and I were waiting for lunchtime bell on the playground. I picked up a 1p coin. This amused my students and some started throwing 1 & 2 pence coins on the floor which I picked up. A couple of show-offs threw some silver 5p coins and there was the odd 10 - all scooped up. The bell went for lunch. Some 20 minutes later I went to the corner shop for some cigarettes. There I found some of my class scrabbling about trying to raise enough for their packet. Smiling broadly I poured an avalanche of hot coins on to the counter and made my purchase.

Great story. Thanks.

[bino]

"See a penny and pick it up

the rest of the day you'll have good luck."

Mum.

My mum and grandma said this too. However, they would only pick it up if the "head" was showing. If the "tail" side was up, they would turn it over and leave it for another person to find and benefit from the luck.

[DegenFarang]

I hovered for about thirty seconds and then bent over to pick up 20 baht the other night at Q bar - but that was only because I wasn't sure how much the bill was, 20 baht and 1,000 baht look so similar. Don't think I'd bother bending over to pick up any coin unless I was really bored or with a Thai person who noticed the coin - to them its not about the money, its a matter of a picture of the King being on the ground, so you should pick it up out of respect.

[B Fuddled]

There's story about how Sam Bronfman of Seagrams used to spend many afternoons sitting at the bar in The McGill Club. It is rumored that he would put a crisp $50 bill in a clean urinal and then return as people exited to see who took it.