Tourism Min in search for ways to boost popularity of Thai brands

[zydeco]

..........Thai products?.......I have no need to buy Thai made products. They might be cheaper than well known brand items, but the dependability, and the quality of workmanship is very debatable. Ive bought an oven, a good size one, the oven walls are about 1/2 inches thick, with no insulation between the outer and inside walls. The glass door has a 1/8 gap on all four sides. A very crudely made product made by "GillMaster" 2300 baht. A Thai brand blender 900baht....Junk.........Thai Toaster......300baht.....junk. Water hose 240 baht.....junk. and countless other items junk. Now I only buy items made by well known brands.

It seems most of the products made in Thailand are out of cheap recycled plastic that does not hold up good in hot weather, or are so cheaply made, the thin plastic breaks. I have no confidence in anything made in Thailand any more.

Could it also be there are no testing Laboratories that check products out for the consumer, and give ratings on quality, service, and dependability? The only popularity of Thai products are the cheap prices. There isn't any quality, or guarantee, or replacement if broken. Its Sucker beware purchase!

If Thailand wants to boost the popularity of Made in Thailand, they need to overhaul its work force by a mandatory quality control staff. Put their products through a ridged testing ground. Compare quality brands of similar products. Match or exceed quality of time and wear. Then lower the price below the competitor's price plus import tax. I Know, Thailand products can exceed other brands, but the desire to just manufacture and sell without regards to quality is just not there. For workers its just a punch in the clock, and punch out at the end of the day, day in and day out seven days a week. I look at, "Made in Thailand" the same as what we use to get out of Twain, in the 50's and 60's, cheap plastic toy's. It's time to get out of the Third world manufacturing, and enter the market with quality products.

When it comes to electronics, it doesn't matter which brand you buy. They all tend to break. I used to buy top brand stuff, but it caught fire, burned out, or just plain broke in short order. Now, I just buy the cheapest thing out there. I'm going to need to buy it again anyway. Toasters, stoves, ovens, coffee makers, DVD players, fans, computers, TVs, printers, air conditioners? All junk. The only thing reliable over five years has been the refrigerator.

[zydeco]

BTW, the air in the potato chip bags is probably doing you a favor. It cushions the contents, which would probably be all crumbs without the air bags. And it probably costs them money to puff up the bags, because they can't fit as many bags on the shelves as the could without. That's probably the entire reason for doing it. With no air in the bags, the store clerks would likely cram as many as they could on a shelf and crush everything to smithereens.

[StefanBBK]

Typical tourists are on a budget. If that was an average of 48k last year, it means that it was about 1200 Euros. Say this year budgets of European Tourists rose 5%, that makes it 1260 Euros. With the current rate of exchange the spending ought to drop to 44k baht.

Other currencies are affected by the strong baht as well, so in my opinion tourist spending in baht will go down or stagnate.

What are the products tourists buy to take home? I think most go for some fashion stuff or souvenirs , not necessarily branded.

Brand name items can be had cheaper abroad.

[kingalfred]

Even by adding a 100% import tariff on most goods by saying its is a "luxury'item" cant persuade me to buy their junk!

[NickJ]

Quick repair kits for jet ski's

Extra large womens clothes for men.

[Strangebrew]

They need new slogan but adjust exchange rate first then say come LOS where the new exchange rate and Soi cowboy teamed up to give visitors more bang for your buck. Even NANA Plaza is offering a free Pecker checker. with Beer and Boom going for 500 baht. Enjoy the sight of ladyboy stool's seats 4 Where you may get rear ended, but what happens in Thailand never happened or at least the RTP will issue statement to that effect.

[kurce]

BTW, the air in the potato chip bags is probably doing you a favor. It cushions the contents, which would probably be all crumbs without the air bags. And it probably costs them money to puff up the bags, because they can't fit as many bags on the shelves as the could without. That's probably the entire reason for doing it. With no air in the bags, the store clerks would likely cram as many as they could on a shelf and crush everything to smithereens.

Exactly, I'll choose a bag of chips cushioned for protection over one not cushioned every time. I want full chips not crumbs.

Consumers, by now, should be fully aware that a packets/containers size doesn't always represent the amount of contents. If in doubt read the net weight, it's clearly labelled.

If you buy a bag of chips that is labelled 75 g then that's what it is, regardless of the packet size. If your fooled by it, then silly you.

Cheers.

[taony]

Good idea - come up with more ways to annoy tourists