Thammasat University students protest about excessive food prices

[webfact]

Thammasat University students protest about excessive food prices

BANGKOK, 28 August 2014 (NNT) - College students in Thammasat University have been seen holding signs protesting against high prices of the food sold in the central cafeteria of the university’s Rangsit Campus.

The cafeteria was supposed to undergo renovation to become a “Green Canteen” two years ago. However, the contractor had abandoned this project and another private company took over instead. The most noticeable change is the rising food cost that most students find it difficult to afford.

A dish of rice with curry that was previously sold at 17 baht has now gone up to 25 baht. Bottled water has increased to 7 baht from 5 baht. Students who order food to take home also have to pay an additional 5 baht to cover the costs of the food containers.

Apart from that, some dishes have also been priced nearly as high as those sold in department stores. The university’s Rangsit Campus is also located close to Talad Thai, which is a major distribution hub of raw food materials. Therefore, the students have felt outraged at the inordinately high food prices.


-- NNT 2014-08-28

[bkkgooner]

25 baht for a meal seems reasonable although it's always good to see university students out protesting

[Mango Bob]

It may be time to send in the police and Army to put down this uprising. We need Thai happiness through the country no matter the cost.

[Stradavarius37]

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It may be time to send in the police and Army to put down this uprising. We need Thai happiness through the country no matter the cost.

Poor Mango Bob - left to snipe at student protests - sign of the times...

[DrLom]

One can't but rice and curry on the street for 25 baht, never mind 17 baht in the comfort of an air-conditioned canteen. Bizarre student protest.

[rkidlad]

You can steal their money blind, you can take away what little democracy they had, you can make illegal any dissent, you can shoot them in the head in front of countless witnesses or run them down in your Ferrari - but don't, whatever you do, f*** with their food!

[Bluespunk]

"Students who order food to take home also have to pay an additional 5 baht to cover the costs of the food containers."

Good. If they don't want to pay for these, then they should bring their own containers.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Bluespunk

[greg71]

I see none of them protesting about the quality of there education standards .

[Misterwhisper]

Oh those pitiful students. How will they survive when they're not on campus? I mean, pretty much everywhere even street stalls already charge 30 to 35 Baht for a bowl of noodle soup.

And they have to pay 5 Baht for their convenient (lazy?), but not exactly environmentally friendly, styrofoam (polystyrene) food containers? Good! Maybe that will entice them to embrace the advantages of tupperware or some other type of re-usable containers. In my opinion an excellent move that should be introduced elsewhere, too. Charge for these containers, and plastic bags, and plastic spoons, and plastic straws, and...

[SiggiCM]

of course they cant afford, because off the iphones, ipads and Samsung S5, this is no problems for the students to have but a drink for 7 baht wow, 2 baht up time to prostest,

driving designed new motorbikes or cars for 1 million, make up for hundreds of baht,

and when they go out drinking then beer or whisky is not too expensive,

I just move close (500m) to Mae Jo University, so time for me and my son to ahve lunch for 50 baht together, they have Green Cantee too,

whatever it means

[tbthailand]

Thammasat University students protest about excessive food prices

Try talking to the guys with the free sandwiches

[razer]

SODEXO food contractor ??????????

[BSJ]

Students the world over whinge about anything. Take it with a grain of salt!

[Loles]

25 B for a dish ? What a scandal? Where do they live: a - moon, b - cambodia.

[ratcatcher]

It may be time to send in the police and Army to put down this uprising. We need Thai happiness through the country no matter the cost.

M16s or billy clubs Bob, whadya reckon? Crack a few skulls round the canteen walls, a little bloodshed for the international press?

[tbthailand]

Looks like a lot of (apparently) old farts are putting down the students for complaining.

When I went to college, not that long ago, the cafeteria was heavily subsidized. Later at work, the cafeteria was heavily subsidized. The former was to make it affordable for the kids to eat, the latter was an employee benefit.

I would suggest that the whiners about the whiners should suck it up. A lot of students don't have a lot of cash and a couple hundred bhat a week makes a difference.

[northernjohn]

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It may be time to send in the police and Army to put down this uprising. We need Thai happiness through the country no matter the cost.

Poor Mango Bob - left to snipe at student protests - sign of the times...

Some people just never learn to do any thing except complain. I wonder if he will get down to complaining about the price of worms to use as bait for fishing.

[recycled]

Looks like a lot of (apparently) old farts are putting down the students for complaining.

When I went to college, not that long ago, the cafeteria was heavily subsidized. Later at work, the cafeteria was heavily subsidized. The former was to make it affordable for the kids to eat, the latter was an employee benefit.

I would suggest that the whiners about the whiners should suck it up. A lot of students don't have a lot of cash and a couple hundred bhat a week makes a difference.

Get real sunshine, they are complaining because it is a couple of hundred baht less to spend on high end goods and entertainment.

[Bluespunk]

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<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

It may be time to send in the police and Army to put down this uprising. We need Thai happiness through the country no matter the cost.

Poor Mango Bob - left to snipe at student protests - sign of the times...

Some people just never learn to do any thing except complain. I wonder if he will get down to complaining about the price of worms to use as bait for fishing.

Have you seen the price for those damn things recently?

[mallet36]

I see none of them protesting about the quality of there education standards .

Glad you are happy with the quality of your education ( there/their ) Which one should I use when speaking about people???

[Benmart]

I am not a student at this or any other Thai school.

I don't know how much money the students have in their pockets.

I don't know the financial status of the students, their families or whomever is providing their funding.

I don't know what type phones, bikes they have or anything else about them.

I only know that I don't know and won't profess to know otherwise.

[cornishcarlos]

Students the world over whinge about anything. Take it with a grain of salt!

Fish sauce, no salt... Think that is half the problem

[SoilSpoil]

17 to 25 is an inflation of almost 50%. I can imagine the frustration. I bet that most TV experts who criticized the students as being out of order would go berserk if their big LEO's go up from 50 to 75 baht a bottle!

[smileplur]

17 to 25 is an inflation of almost 50%. I can imagine the frustration. I bet that most TV experts who criticized the students as being out of order would go berserk if their big LEO's go up from 50 to 75 baht a bottle!

I don't drink Leo, but where are you getting it for 50 baht? That's a bargain! I didn't think they sold it that cheap anywhere in Thailand anymore. Please tell us!

[Thai at Heart]

Now I am all for protest, but what they are protesting is the removal of their subsidised food, because its more than that on the street.

And we all know that subsidies produce nothing but lazy, feckless, people who would love to be millionaire rice farmers but prefer to sit under trees drinking lao kao all day, so subsidies must go.

Happiness must prevail.

[rreddin]

Looks like a lot of (apparently) old farts are putting down the students for complaining.

When I went to college, not that long ago, the cafeteria was heavily subsidized. Later at work, the cafeteria was heavily subsidized. The former was to make it affordable for the kids to eat, the latter was an employee benefit.

I would suggest that the whiners about the whiners should suck it up. A lot of students don't have a lot of cash and a couple hundred bhat a week makes a difference.

Yes, some, but not all, companies I have worked for provided a canteen where the food was sold to employees at cost price, and very good it was too. At college the food was also sold at cost price. In both instances, the catering was in house. Unless I have read the OP incorrectly, the catering at this university is contracted out to a for profit company. Sorry students, you are not going to get food at cost price in such a scenario. The caterer has to make a profit. If you do not like that, lobby the university to provide in house catering or go and eat on the street where the vendors are struggling to cover costs at 30 or even 35 Baht for a bowl of noodle soup with all the foliage, sprouting beans, chillie, paste and drinking water Thais like to expect with it and take but do not always consume.

[tbthailand]

Looks like a lot of (apparently) old farts are putting down the students for complaining.

When I went to college, not that long ago, the cafeteria was heavily subsidized. Later at work, the cafeteria was heavily subsidized. The former was to make it affordable for the kids to eat, the latter was an employee benefit.

I would suggest that the whiners about the whiners should suck it up. A lot of students don't have a lot of cash and a couple hundred bhat a week makes a difference.

Yes, some, but not all, companies I have worked for provided a canteen where the food was sold to employees at cost price, and very good it was too. At college the food was also sold at cost price. In both instances, the catering was in house. Unless I have read the OP incorrectly, the catering at this university is contracted out to a for profit company. Sorry students, you are not going to get food at cost price in such a scenario. The caterer has to make a profit. If you do not like that, lobby the university to provide in house catering or go and eat on the street where the vendors are struggling to cover costs at 30 or even 35 Baht for a bowl of noodle soup with all the foliage, sprouting beans, chillie, paste and drinking water Thais like to expect with it and take but do not always consume.

for profit or in house, if the cafeteria is subsidized, it is not the private company subsidizing it. Depends on the University and the University policies.

[marsstar14]

Yes, some, but not all, companies I have worked for provided a canteen where the food was sold to employees at cost price, and very good it was too. At college the food was also sold at cost price. In both instances, the catering was in house. Unless I have read the OP incorrectly, the catering at this university is contracted out to a for profit company. Sorry students, you are not going to get food at cost price in such a scenario. The caterer has to make a profit. If you do not like that, lobby the university to provide in house catering or go and eat on the street where the vendors are struggling to cover costs at 30 or even 35 Baht for a bowl of noodle soup with all the foliage, sprouting beans, chillie, paste and drinking water Thais like to expect with it and take but do not always consume.

Well done! You have read the OP correctly.

[retell]

17 to 25 is an inflation of almost 50%. I can imagine the frustration. I bet that most TV experts who criticized the students as being out of order would go berserk if their big LEO's go up from 50 to 75 baht a bottle!

I don't drink Leo, but where are you getting it for 50 baht? That's a bargain! I didn't think they sold it that cheap anywhere in Thailand anymore. Please tell us!

60 in the pop and mom nearby now ,

[belg]

fuji restaurant prices went up 20-30% ... now that was a raise (again)