Farang /Thai Pricing System

[Gutte]

I've many times managed to pay the Thai admission to museums, national parks etc by showing my yellow housebook and/or Thai driver's license. Anything that can prove you are a resident rather than a tourist seems to do the trick.

I agree with Wanderlust regarding this particular example of dual pricing. The rest is irritating but I guess we will have it for as long as tourists come here and think everything is dirt cheap and pay 100 % tip just for a laugh.

[redzonerocker]

maybe when you are a 'resident' & working 60 hours a week for 6,000 baht a month you maybe entitled to pay the same entrance fee as the average thai?
just a thought

[kendo]

Bangkok taxi's have got to be the worst offenders, with the wife (Thai) when we touch down we allways go to are hotel shower and then taxi to MBK some times we have to try 6 taxi's before we can get one that will put the meter on they even say meter sleeping,they have no regard for the law or the big sign on the roof.When leaving MBK there is a well organized queue but some taxi's still wont put the meter on, basically they quote you double.

[buksida]

maybe when you are a 'resident' & working 60 hours a week for 6,000 baht a month you maybe entitled to pay the same entrance fee as the average thai?

Maybe when you have to pay ten times more tax than a Thai you should also get in for the same price.

Just a thought

[kendo]

Buksida,if you dont mind me asking wot percentage do farang's pay compaired to a Thai.

[crazy88]

Kendo

I can only speak for central Bkk .No taxi in a sub-soi esp. outside a hotel will use the meter .Walk to the main drag and they will all use the meter .Sometimes they won't take you because of traffic congestion .In the time its taken for that conversation another 10 have gone past .

Forget the deep breath,you're in Bangkok so just...

Crazy 88

[buksida]

Buksida,if you dont mind me asking wot percentage do farang's pay compaired to a Thai.

The majority of Thais don't even pay tax ... hence the lack of health and education - things are slowly changing though. Farangs are taxed on a minimum income of 50k per month regardless of what they earn, the percentage works out at around 7-8% so before you say it yes it is less tax than the UK but that's not the subject of this thread so ...

[kendo]

The Thai pricing system,do you have a sales tax,on some items, and if you do, do they wave this for a Thai that normaly pays cash for everything, were farang will use his card but you dont see any tax on recipt.

[redzonerocker]

Maybe when you have to pay ten times more tax than a Thai you should also get in for the same price.

Just a thought

but, i bet you don't earn 6,000 baht a month & work 60/70 hours a week though

[buksida]

I may as well do at the moment ... theres bugger all left at the end of the month

[redzonerocker]

I may as well do at the moment ... theres bugger all left at the end of the month

i know the feeling buksi

if this credit crunch gets any worse, it'll be the farangs getting the cheaper entrance fees

[margaretcarnes]

Good points Buksi.
Lindosfans acceptance of dual pricing in Greece - at least its transparent, and preferable to the bar scams with drinks in places like Ibiza, eg short measures, which are very easy to get away with.
As for taxis - agreed Crazy - Bangkok taxis can be very annoying. But last Monday I was almost booted out of a taxi in Hamburg because the driver thought the trip I needed was too short. In reality he probably didn't know the Strasse/Hotel I wanted, but I didn't know which way to go and was left trailing along with a heavy bag. Would gladly have paid a few Euro over the odds but didn't get the chance

[HuaHinR]

For what it's worth, the same "dual pricing" system exists in (P.R.) China, and in many (most? all?) "poor" countries. Increased serenity comes from a combination of the mental gymnastic of viewing the foreigners' price as the "normal" price (invariably cheaper than at home, right?) and the locals' price as a discount, and viewing the differential as sort of a "tax" we pay for being a resident of their country (a bit like paying a cop 200 baht for not having a helmet on when riding a motorcycle while many Thais without helmets ride by unhindered. (I'm not supporting the differential, just suggesting ways to accept it more comfortably.)

[Cowtown Comedy]

it happened again this morning folks...so my buying days are over....this time it was a egg vendor in chat chai, a vendor my gf, her parents, her aunts, and her grandmother have used for decades....she completely ripped me off, and again "price and farang" were in the same sentence. My gf politely told her, neither she nor her family would ever buy eggs from her again. sum num na....

[BaaBaa.]

My gf politely told her, neither she nor her family would ever buy eggs from her again. sum num na....

Thais really dont see the logic of having repeated, consistent sales or ripping someone for a quick buck do they.

Its the same as the TukTuks, they'd rather sit on there arses trying to rip someone off, but have alot of customers walkaway, than they would give a fair price but actually have customers.