Dual Pricing

[durhamboy]

Went to Pattaya Water Park yesterday with 3 Thai people. Went to the go up the observation tower - B100 for my Thai relatives and B200 for me a Farang. When will Thailand join the real world and understand that this is racist pricing? I would hate it if my Thai relatives (or any Thai for that matter) were charged more in my country (UK) than me. We didnt bother going up the tower - stuff them! I tried to ask why it was I had to pay double but just got completely ignored.

We all know we get charged more than Thais but when it is as blatant as this it makes you quite angry. Btw, my Thai relatives also thought it was wrong.

[David48]

Yyou didn't get charged double ... the Thai's got a discount.

It all comes down to attitude.

Not saying that I agree with ... but I'm not going to let it ruin my day.

BTW ... maybe the Thai's were just agreeing with you to save your face (they're great actors) and privately thought

... 'why he complaining'? He Farang, he rich" they're relatives by marriage ... not by blood.

.

[isawasnake]

In my opinion, it depends on your situation. When I lived close to Disneyland, they'd have discounts for "local residents", seems perfectly reasonable to me, and hardly "racist". If you are working here, paying taxes on a Thai salary, show a work permit and still don't give you the same price, I think you may have a legit gripe. Since that probably isn't the case (nothing personal, just "odds are"), I don't think you have a legit gripe.

[Jingthing]

In my opinion, it depends on your situation. When I lived close to Disneyland, they'd have discounts for "local residents", seems perfectly reasonable to me, and hardly "racist". If you are working here, paying taxes on a Thai salary, show a work permit and still don't give you the same price, I think you may have a legit gripe. Since that probably isn't the case (nothing personal, just "odds are"), I don't think you have a legit gripe.

Local residents. Not all Californians. Not all Americans. Not all people with appearance of a certain race. Not the same thing at all.

[isawasnake]

Well, it is the same things because we oh rational ones define our residencies with an ID; in Thailand they do it visually. If you are in fact Thai, when they say your aren't, pull out the proper ID and then it IS in fact in keeping with ye old oh rationals ones. Their way is a bit quicker if you think about it too.

My only real point here: if you are a legit worker, you should really be able to get out of this almost every time. This is true in practice, and they deserve credit for that. If you are not a legit worker, and aren't a Thai, why in the world isn't it reasonable to charge a different price? Hell, ask the Thais how much they paid in tuition fees to go to a US college as compared to the US students.

[Neeranam]

Did you all them in Thai or English?

Makes me laugh when guys say they were ignored when they were speaking a foreign language

Residents around the world get discount, it's fine with me.

[mogandave]

I almost always get the Thai price when I show the work permit, even the driver license works pretty often.

But hey, you showed them.

[Neeranam]

I almost always get the Thai price when I show the work permit, even the driver license works pretty often.

But hey, you showed them.

I never carry my work permit. My work keeps it. Usually just by speaking Thai gets me the local price. Sometimes I have to show my drivers license.

[Neeranam]

In my opinion, it depends on your situation. When I lived close to Disneyland, they'd have discounts for "local residents", seems perfectly reasonable to me, and hardly "racist". If you are working here, paying taxes on a Thai salary, show a work permit and still don't give you the same price, I think you may have a legit gripe. Since that probably isn't the case (nothing personal, just "odds are"), I don't think you have a legit gripe.

Exactly, good post. I, as a tax payer should get some benefits over tourists or even retirees.

Edited December 31, 2012 by Neeranam

[trainman34014]

Yawn; how many threads have we had in the past year about dual pricing? How much have those threads changed anything? TIT; live with it or don't go anywhere because the Thai's are not going to change anything that they consider to be normal behaviour....period.

[isawasnake]

I think part of the "problem" here is when we try to act like all things should be equal, or the same, in different countries/cultures.

Look, a Thai is going to be able to ID another Thai about 95% of the time on visuals alone (that is within scientific standards btw ). If the Thai in question SPEAKS with the cashier, that 95% is going to shoot up into the stars. Not only will she know if she is Thai or not, she will know where she is from, how many kids she has, and hell, maybe even what she had for breakfast. This isn't true in western culture; we need ID's. Correct or not, it is efficacious, and if you have an ID you can show it, so no harm, no foul - correct?

[7by7]

The different prices at such tourist attractions are for residents and non residents; show that you are a resident and you will get the resident's price.

I'm not a resident, but have found that speaking a few words of Thai often gets me the resident's price!

When my wife first moved to the UK she was amazed that I, a Brit, had to pay the same price for places such as the Tower of London as a tourist did.

But hey, durhamboy, you refused to pay an extra 100baht; just over £2, and your principle meant your family missed out. Bet you're proud.

[TommoPhysicist]

Just leave the relatives waiting at the bottom while you go up, even cheaper than paying for everyone at 100bht each.

Edited December 31, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[nong38]

When I show my Thai driving licence I get the Thai price, so, so long as the lowest price then I am happy

[loong]

I don't quite understand this argument that Thais pay taxes and are therefore entitled to a lower entry price.

The vast majority of Thais that I know pay no taxes at all apart from VAT and duty on purchases.

The fact is that I spend a lot more on purchase each month than these people, therefore I contribute a lot more to the goverment coffers each month than the majority of the Thais that I know, and receive none of the benefits.

Apart from that is Pattaya Water Park run by the government? Does it receive any benefit from government taxes? If not, then the fact that some Thais pay taxes has no relevance to this thread.

Just playing devil's advocate here as it doesn't bother me that much. If they choose to charge me more than they charge Thais, I simply choose not to go, unless it is something that i really want to do.

[mogandave]

I don't quite understand this argument that Thais pay taxes and are therefore entitled to a lower entry price.

The vast majority of Thais that I know pay no taxes at all apart from VAT and duty on purchases.

The fact is that I spend a lot more on purchase each month than these people, therefore I contribute a lot more to the goverment coffers each month than the majority of the Thais that I know, and receive none of the benefits.

Apart from that is Pattaya Water Park run by the government? Does it receive any benefit from government taxes? If not, then the fact that some Thais pay taxes has no relevance to this thread.

Just playing devil's advocate here as it doesn't bother me that much. If they choose to charge me more than they charge Thais, I simply choose not to go, unless it is something that i really want to do.

That's it. if you want to go, go. If you don't want to go, don't go.

[loong]

Yawn; how many threads have we had in the past year about dual pricing? How much have those threads changed anything? TIT; live with it or don't go anywhere because the Thai's are not going to change anything that they consider to be normal behaviour....period.

The thread title didn't give you any sort of clue what it was about?

Yet you still chose to read it even though you knew that it was a rehash of many old threads and would be boring??!!

Do you realise that it is not compulsory to read every thread? You can simply look for titles that may stir your interest instead of posting your predictable response in a thread that you have no interest in, therefore making it even more boring!

Every single thread on dual pricing has the same predictable response as yours

[7by7]

Loong, with respect I think you have missed the point.

It is not just Thais who pay the lower price; it's all residents of Thailand.

.

As is repeated many times every time this subject comes up; show you are a resident and you get the resident's price.

[isawasnake]

I don't quite understand this argument that Thais pay taxes and are therefore entitled to a lower entry price.

Maybe because that is not the argument. I have no idea if a Thai would put it this way, but the "theory" is, and I find this true for the most part, that you will be making a relatively large salary in other parts of the world. If you work here, you will be working on a Thai salary. It doesn't have to do with paying taxes, that would just be a way to show you are working. Anyway, wouldn't showing the fact that you do in fact pay "enough" taxes be a total logistical nightmare anyway. So, the my theory being they have built some of these places for foreigners (a good thing right? what else would there be to do?), and the Thai workers, who otherwise would not be able to afford it, can enjoy them with a discount. I don't know, to be perfectly honest it all seems very simple, straightforward, more than fair, and utterly ridiculous to complain about.

[Semper]

B100 for my Thai relatives and B200 for me a Farang

Did they force you to buy a ticket?

[rene123]

Yyou didn't get charged double ... the Thai's got a discount.

It all comes down to attitude.

Not saying that I agree with ... but I'm not going to let it ruin my day.

BTW ... maybe the Thai's were just agreeing with you to save your face (they're great actors) and privately thought

... 'why he complaining'? He Farang, he rich" they're relatives by marriage ... not by blood.

.

I like that way of thinking. I never complain about anything because I know I already have it better than 75% of the people around me. Can I see faults in things? Certainly, but they are everywhere and all you can do is accept it. The bad goes with the good. Life is an adventure worth living. I don't worry about jerks, scammers, tightwads, crooks, thieves, cheap charlies or just unpleasant people. The world is full of them. That is their problem to deal with. The world is also full of very nice people who will enrich your life if you let them.

[isawasnake]

If people think pricing is bad here, they should try Cuba. Two different currencies, one for tourists, one for Cubans.

The other thing to point out is people will always (almost) agree with the point of view that financially suits them. Just an unfortunate fact of life. You aren't going to see a millionaire oil tycoon be on board with Obama tax policies over Mitt Romney's. The relatives saying that it wasn't fair may just be expressing the fact that money has just effectively left the family's pockets. Similarly, farang expressing distaste is from a biased pov.

[watcharacters]

In my opinion, it depends on your situation. When I lived close to Disneyland, they'd have discounts for "local residents", seems perfectly reasonable to me, and hardly "racist". If you are working here, paying taxes on a Thai salary, show a work permit and still don't give you the same price, I think you may have a legit gripe. Since that probably isn't the case (nothing personal, just "odds are"), I don't think you have a legit gripe.

Local residents. Not all Californians. Not all Americans. Not all people with appearance of a certain race. Not the same thing at all.

I was going to offer the same example.

I also don't are for the dual pricing, however.

[Heng]

The Thais have a right to practice racism, double/triple/etc. standards, and hypocrisy as much as any other group of people. If anything, the Thai brand of discrimination should be praised because despite being very widespread, the targets of such discrimination often STILL prefer living here and are very happy.

[Hedghog]

So your 3 Thai friends lost out.

Because you wouldnt pay 100bht extra (2 quid)

The Uk have many cities where local citizens access to local attractions are discounted or free.

And charge tourists exhorbitant prices.

[SlyAnimal]

I understand dual pricing, and agree with it. If you pay tax or council rates, which are then used to maintain the site, then it's only fair that you should get a discount to visit it since you've already paid. Likewise there is a certain racial aspect to it, whereby you're visiting your cultural history, and thus it's yours by birth right, if you're originally from the region.

We do the same thing in NZ, when my gf came with me to Waitangi, I got in for free but they asked her for $40 I think (about 1000THB). I managed to get her out of it by saying I pay tax/rates and since she's my de-facto spouse, that means that she essentially pays tax/rates as well, and they agreed that that was probably fair (They seemed like a really nice person).

But I do think, that if you live/work/pay tax in Thailand, you should get the Thai price, particularly as most Thai people don't even pay tax. As a result, I get really annoyed if they don't give me the Thai price.

However luckily, I can generally get the Thai price. Often without even needing to show my work permit /yellow book, as just by asking in Thai they'll often give it to me. I do find though, that if I go with my gf, if she asks then they'll want to charge me the farang price rather than the Thai price. So sometimes maybe they don't want to have to argue with a farang directly.

[geriatrickid]

I have observed some dual pricing that benefits foreigners. Notable examples are the vacation packages available outside of Thailand that see the hotel room rate far less than if I booked in Thailand. also, airfares purchased outside of Thailand, can now be less expensive than for domestic transactions. At least I have noticed that on my business class fares a few times in the past 2 years.

[Kilgore Trout]

The Thais have a right to practice racism, double/triple/etc. standards, and hypocrisy as much as any other group of people. If anything, the Thai brand of discrimination should be praised because despite being very widespread, the targets of such discrimination often STILL prefer living here and are very happy.

Agreed, I also think many blacks had it better under jim crowe laws in the US back in the day, sure they had less rights, but they knew their place. If they didnt like it they could just leave, like the people who left and started the country Liberia. USA is a majority WHITE country and therefore have the right to practice racism.

If you disagree with this sentiment, I think you are a hipocrite judging from what you wrote. I certainly don't agree with it.

[wigantojapan]

So your 3 Thai friends lost out.

Because you wouldnt pay 100bht extra (2 quid)

The Uk have many cities where local citizens access to local attractions are discounted or free.

And charge tourists exhorbitant prices

.

certainly not in Edinburgh where everybody pays the same no matter were they come from

.Well at least they did when i last visited an exhibition a few years back.

It was mainly a London attitude to charge people differently,

This i was told they inherited from the States

.No surprises there then

.Where did the Thai inherit this form of discriminaton from i wonder

Eton or Harvard or was it the Edinburgh school of economics?

.Fair minded people understand that tourists bring a lot of money into the local community so why should they be charged a penny more to go and see a tourist attraction which in most cases is an attraction for locals alike..

In general tourists are respected in the old hospitality way of a warm welcome NOT to be fleeced

.Most have spent a lot of time to have flown to dreary wet Edinburgh so why in the name of awayandboilyerheid should they be treated differently.

why would anyone even think of fleecing a guest,get the idea of fleecing a guest?

Aye some would steal the knickers of their old grannie if they thought they could get a cent for them , and no we are no talking about your stereo type Tight Scotsman ,but yer wide boys in for a penny ,in for a pound,type character

More discerning for the people of Edinburgh is having to pay for all the policing of politicians and members of the royal family and the likes.

[somchaismith]

The Thais have a right to practice racism, double/triple/etc. standards, and hypocrisy as much as any other group of people. If anything, the Thai brand of discrimination should be praised because despite being very widespread, the targets of such discrimination often STILL prefer living here and are very happy.

Lol, quite true Heng, there are plenty who like to flock onto that train.