All of us who have been here for a while know there seems to be an endless need for photo copies by both businesses and governmental agencies.

As a small example, I'd bet a fair sum that KasikornBank has 14 - 16 copies of my passport alone not to mention rental agreements and everything else under the sun. Does anyone have a clue what they do with all these copies? Besides it being a expense matter for a business or agency, it requires a lot of employee time which ultimately translates to cost.

I wonder why they make so many redundant copies and what happens to them. Is there a gigantic central storage facility hidden in the netherlands of LOS where this stuff is kept or do they simply put it all in file 13 for the benefit of identify thieves? I've never yet seen a shredder in LOS or SEA. Have you?

Any thought or theories on this? Curious minds ( my mind ) want to know.

TIA

Ha, I remember dealing with SCB who had at least 5 copies of my passport, WP etc., etc. and when they asked for them again for some dopey reason, I asked where are all my other copies? She said up on the 4th floor. So, not getting angry, I said why don't you go up there and get them? and of course her answer was ..'oh cannot' end of conversation. How the Thai banking system works is an Asian mystery. But as for everything else, it really is a bureaucracy gone mad. I can't begin to imagine doing real business here.

They're all sent to Chiang Mai at the end of the financial year (March), taken to the hills, burned and then blame the farmers.

Immigration has over fifty copies of my passport page and they still keep asking for more. BAY just got in on the act also, now that bank has five copies in under six months, I think their staff is being trained by Immigration, if I ever find out they're selling them ......!

I have from a reliable source, that all those documents are sent to Bangkok where somone copies them and...............

Jokes aside, it is somthing i ask myself also for years already and nobody has answered it by now. But not so long ago Thanachart Bank has built a new office on North Pattaya road, and at one time I noticed that behind the offices is something like a parking garage but with no windows at all and it's about 5 times the size of the actuall office building.

I guess that is where they stock the copies they make all day.

Some years ago you got them back when you bought little cones of nuts or things from street vendors. Used to be some interesting reading on some of them

Now who knows.

kindergastens maybe>

Edited October 25, 201213 yr by harrry

Buy papier mache futures.

The real reason for all the photocopies is so that some ranking paper stampers relative can run the photocopy machine and rake in the money. Of course all these copies are insanity, digital copies would suffice, problem is you just don't get that same orgasmic thrill stamping the computer monitor.

I'd bet a fair sum that KasikornBank has 14 - 16 copies of my passport

Yes, you're right. I have K-Bank (Kasikorn Thai) myself and normally I just show my DL, and that's it. However, sometimes they have newbies working and I show my DL, sure enough they want to make a copy of it. So on such days, I'll return a couple of hours later and do another withdrawal, just to make a point.

The real reason for all the photocopies is so that some ranking paper stampers relative can run the photocopy machine and rake in the money. Of course all these copies are insanity, digital copies would suffice, problem is you just don't get that same orgasmic thrill stamping the computer monitor.

Correct answer.

It's all nonsense that the immigration guy/gal should read and just send you on your way.

The real purpose is to make more work for all the paper-pushing cronies.

The actual cost of the copying is besides the point - filing, storing, retrieving using such inefficient methods is what enables such a huge percentage of the labor force here to get secure employment with good benefits, as a reward for supporting the even more lazy and corrupt people higher up the food chain.

The more obscure and irrational the bureaucracy, the more jobs for the old-boy network (gals included of course).

It's all nonsense that the immigration guy/gal should read and just send you on your way.

But that would imply trust of the staff - or more to the point, allow even the lowest clerks to accept backhanders without passing the proper percentages upstream - gotta have checks and balances!

Edited October 25, 201213 yr by BigJohnnyBKK

The real purpose is to make more work for all the paper-pushing cronies.

The actual cost of the copying is besides the point - filing, storing, retrieving using such inefficient methods is what enables such a huge percentage of the labor force here to get secure employment with good benefits, as a reward for supporting the even more lazy and corrupt people higher up the food chain.

The more obscure and irrational the bureaucracy, the more jobs for the old-boy network (gals included of course).

It's all nonsense that the immigration guy/gal should read and just send you on your way.

But that would imply trust of the staff - or more to the point, allow even the lowest clerks to accept backhanders without passing the proper percentages upstream - gotta have checks and balances!

At what level are back handers or where do they stop. ?

At what level are back handers or where do they stop. ?

If that's a real question as opposed to taking the piss, you'll have to phrase it more specifically, but in that case we're not allowed to discuss it in the public forum.

Quick answer - all levels, and they never do.

What Happens To All The Photo Copies?

Paper planes?

What Happens To All The Photo Copies?

Paper planes?

Any other theories? Or is it just pure insanity?

I worked in the civil service for a number of years and after a certain time everything is sent to confidential waste and recycled albiet a ridiculous unnessary amount.

Recycle = carbon footprint

Red tape = jobs for self justification pen pushers.

<deleted> happened to the paperless office half of the Amazonian rainforest gets wasted ...what was i talking about again?

Every 90 days I do my immigration report. I need photocopies of my passport, immigration card, visa stamp and chanoot. Multiply that by the thousands of expats who do the same thing every 90 days and you have an aircraft hangar full of photocopies. It's just bureacracy gone mad.

Any other theories? Or is it just pure insanity?

If your American they are sent to the IRS

If your Euro they are sent to Germany

Everyone else's gets sent to Khaosan road to be sold on visas & diplomas

Kidding aside it is not insanity it is SOP bureaucracy defined

Not really any different than other countries

Any other theories? Or is it just pure insanity?

If your American they are sent to the IRS

If your Euro they are sent to Germany

Everyone else's gets sent to Khaosan road to be sold on visas & diplomas

Kidding aside it is not insanity it is SOP bureaucracy defined

Not really any different than other countries

And if you're a Brit the pages are perforated every five inches and hung in a karzi somewhere.

I have bought street food in the past (usually fried bananas, eggs or nuts) where they use a paper lining inside the plastic bag.

On quite a few occasions the paper that they have used was a photocopy of someone's ID card.

I don't know where the vendors get their lining paper from but whenever possible I will not hand over a photocopy with my personal details on it.

If I stop in a hotel in Thailand I will not hand over my passport for them to copy.

I show them my driving licence but I do not hand it over to be copied.

I have had only one hotel that would not let me check in without a copy, so I just went and stayed in the hotel next door (without a problem).

To get my annual visa I have to hand over a pile of document copies which is about an inch thick (and about the same amount for my work permit) and I have been doing this for around 14 years now, so god knows what they do with all of these copies.

However in this instance I do not have a choice in the matter.

As for the banks, every time they manage to get a photocopy of my passport and my contact details, I get cold calls from boiler room outfits for about a month (from all part of the world).

I know it's the bank giving out my information as only a few of my friends have my phone details and I only get the calls after I have given my details to the bank.

Edited October 26, 201213 yr by tonytigerbkk

I have no comment to make.

Being a eucalyptus farmer with the Double A paper company buying our trees I, for one, don't have any problems knowing the Immigration office in Udon Thani is going to get at least 50 copies of some thing or another per annum from me and others.

Not only Farang, TW must do some 10 to 15 copies of her ID card, Family Book etc every month.

Will expect Thailand to join the 21st century in about the year 2560 (that's the christian calendar NOT Thai).

Certainly is ripe for identity theft, must happen everyday.

All that paper goes into a land fill no doubt, Honestly how much longer has this country got with its refusal to implemement sustainable practices ? I think AEC is just going to eat it alive like a tiger would eat a very small monkey- in about 2 gulps.

I make it a practice to sign on top of the actual photo , not the margin of the copy and draw two lines through the signature.

Edited October 26, 201213 yr by MacChine

Ha, I remember dealing with SCB who had at least 5 copies of my passport, WP etc., etc. and when they asked for them again for some dopey reason, I asked where are all my other copies? She said up on the 4th floor. So, not getting angry, I said why don't you go up there and get them? and of course her answer was ..'oh cannot' end of conversation. How the Thai banking system works is an Asian mystery. But as for everything else, it really is a bureaucracy gone mad. I can't begin to imagine doing real business here.

If they had already taken 5 copies of your Passport, then by now you should know that they would require a copy. Why not just bring the documentation and save yourself needless consternation. The clerk at the counter has little to no say regarding what documents are required, they have to follow their procedures and ask each time.

If you hear yourself saying "But, whyyyyyyyyy ?"

This is a very good time to close your mouth and say nothing more.

Your all wrong. It was a toss up between Nuclear power or carry on the senseless use of burning paper for providing power. Paper won.

Today my family applied for their Thai passports. All documents that were required were scanned. No copies.

Today my family applied for their Thai passports. All documents that were required were scanned. No copies.

That's a very dangerous trend and I'm sure once TPTB find out they'll put a stop to it.

When I went to one SCB branch to change some US $ they photocopied

all the notes and they asked me to sign on the photocopies !

I do not see any doing it in other branches, maybe they did it in the backroom,

I do not know.

What a waste !!

Every time I have been asked for another copy of my passport or visa page I am required to sign it in front of the requester, that appears to be the reason why they have so many copies of my documents