Prices are not cheaper !!!

wx40afp,

50,000 baht at 68 baht to the pound would be 735 pounds sterling or $1470 US Dollars at $2.00 Dollars to the pound.


That would be considered very good wages in the UK for a working man. What are you complaining about?

Is the Australian dollar similar to the US Dollar or lower??

wx40afp,

Yes. Point taken.

I am saying you are not nearly as badly off as you imply in many of your posts.


Also, maybe the Thais shop less often and stretch it further??? Dunno, just a guess.


What is the tax on that, I bet your taxes are better than the UK, for sure.

when I lived in Bkk i wouldn't shop at Tops because it's quite an expensive supermarket. Most thais on a budget would probably go to Tesco. Billy if you are feeling bored go and do a price comparison and report back,
all the best Ricky

First off, the really poor Thais don't shop in Tesco or Carrefour. They live off the land amongst other ways to feed their families.
They don't eat canned sardines or tuna. They go fishing in some pond.
I know, Tesco is full on Sundays. Absolutely FULL. Many of those shoppers are either well-off Thais or they have small food shops and are buying to stock the shelves in their little shophouse store. They add a few baht to each item when they resell the items.

Where I find the food too expensive in Pattaya is in restaurants. I know what they pay for pork and chicken, and the price for a 3 course dinner is much to high considering what they pay for the raw foods.

Poorer Thais shop in open air Thai markets and of course they know the local prices.

Poorer Thais shop in open air Thai markets and of course they know the local prices.


Hi,

In Pattaya Tam and I,when we are living in our House go to Tesco, Foodland, Friendship.

We go anywhere that supplies what we want.

In Kalasin, Kuchinarai area, I wake up to food his Mam has been and bought in the market and cooked in the morning, same in the afternoons.

Evenings,Tam and I, will go or send his brother to the local restaurant and order anything they want to eat for all of us.

Three fridges in the House full of water, Diet coke and ice creams only!

I can't remember the last time we we went to a Supermarket up here.

It is neither the done thing around here or necessary, we go with the flow and its good and just considered normal.

Well KQUILL,you are probaly not considerd a working class battler like the majority of us on here,and can afford to spend up.

Yes Good to hear from you RICKY(DROPTURVEY)I miss our meetings on Jomtien beach in the early hours,well i tried it without you and all i got sitting next to me was that old Thai bloke with no teeth.
Your friend the cashier guy Doon/toon or whatever his name is has left and gone back home about two days after you left,never to be seen again.

Feel free to email me,my pvt mesages are not working properly.

Dear Billy,

The way we eat is cheaper than supermarkets.

Second, at 200,000 baht a month, you can't consider yourself a working class battler really, can you??

You've made a statement, which I duly answered.

Very few would considered themselves "working class battlers" on that salary.

[Hmmm]

Not sure of your occupation Billy, but presumably not a mathematician. AUD$1350 is around THB36,000, not THB50,000. Or about THB144,000 a month, not THB200,000.
www.oanda.com (http://www.oanda.com)

.... the majority of people (western, expat) (and I say majority, obviously there is a minority of course) that live and work and holiday in Thailand are from working type class backgrounds.

They grew up in a 1950's 60's 70's economic environment which meant that money wasn't around, Im not saying poverty stricken, but in those days "economics" were totally different, people "had" what was necessary and that was it and now .... those people have money due to the dramatic change in economic activities.

Today, if one opens a business in the UK they can almost guarantee it will be a success (if they are savy of course), years ago, one never got the opportunity or had the money to open up a business and if they did the chances are it would fold up eventually.

The "next generation" or some of this generation may will not know what it is like to live in 2 different environments, as they will have grown up in a "I can do anything and have it all" environment.

I think if you speak to a lot of western people, how many times have they said "aah I remember when I had to save for this, save for that, didn't have this, didn't have that etc"

A very mixed class system indeed, and a lot of people forget where they come from sometimes - but there is an old saying "you can take the lad out of the village, but you can't take the village out of the lad".

NOW, Thailand is a totally different ball game!

Today, if one opens a business in the UK they can almost guarantee it will be a success (if they are savy of course)Really? I wonder what statistics you have to back this up. Some might argue that savvy people are almost guaranteed success anyway, so nothing has changed

Today, if one opens a business in the UK they can almost guarantee it will be a success (if they are savy of course)Really? I wonder what statistics you have to back this up. Some might argue that savvy people are almost guaranteed success anyway, so nothing has changed

Hi Whitedesire,

For the first time ever on this board, I agree with Homintern.

They say one in three new UK businesses fail.

Also, back to wx40afp. I was back home recently and it was actually on the BBC that the national average wage in the UK, at the moment, is 23,000 pounds Sterling.

It was mentioned to bring reality into the equation, when they were talking about all the new millionaires and Billionaires migrating to the UK.

So, if Billy is accurate with his salary, he is way above the national UK average, I believe? Correct or not???

Hmmm,

Thank you. I was calculating his figures in Thai baht as I am not familiar with Australian Dollars. He still at that figure scores around 5,000 pounds sterling higher than the national UK average.

A lot of UK people believe even the 23,000 pounds is not a true reflection of the UK wage and is inflated.

That is why a crash in house prices and a slump is believed by experts to be imminent.

Well thats working both days of the weekend,$2700 to around $3100 a fortnight, BEFORE tax depending if i work overtime,its not that much after tax .
Yes my wage is above average,but working weekends,working 12 hour shifts etc they are not giving it to me for nothing,i am a working class battler.


Well done Billy,

If we had men like you in the UK, The miners would have survived ,and Arthur Scargill would have taken you to be his right hand man!

[ned kelly-old]

A few pointers for the previous posters:
Comparing cost of living in foreign currencies can be easily misunderstood.....the $A has dropped 10% against the $US and Thai baht in the past week!!
Tax on average wages in Australia is higher than the UK
I'm not sure where Billy buys his toothpaste in Sydney, but most toiletries including toothpaste are at least 50% cheaper in Thailand
When they do shop in supermarkets, western style goods form a very small percentage of the average Thai family's purchases so comparisons are difficult
In recognizing the above however it is still difficult to appreciate how the average Thai family gets by......poorer families in the UK and Australia have other benefits like child endowments, rental assistance, etc where Thai's have only family assistance as a fall-back

[Wesley]

lets all go fishing in he pond and feed the whole bunch of you for a week. no need for a supermarket in the real Thailand as one astute poster took a few sentences to say.

Wesley

Today, if one opens a business in the UK they can almost guarantee it will be a success (if they are savy of course)Really? I wonder what statistics you have to back this up. Some might argue that savvy people are almost guaranteed success anyway, so nothing has changed

By reading my text, you can see it is a very ad-hoc remark I made, and a general view, based on "experience" and "being out there" - it doesn't take a mathmetician or economist to work it out - after reading my ad-hoc and generalisation remark and asking me for statistics to back it up, that is asking too much mate - are you a friend of the "new professor" on here or someat.

KQUILL

The reason they fail is because the people who started the business up in the first place were useless at doing it anyway - I've seen that time and time again happen, if there is "thought, research, hard work" - research is the key, then there is no reason why your business shouldn't work. I mean the times I have heard people opening up a beer bar in Thailand is unbelievable (although I am on about UK businesses, not Thailand, but you get the drift) - the inevitable happens.

A few pointers for the previous posters:
Comparing cost of living in foreign currencies can be easily misunderstood.....the $A has dropped 10% against the $US and Thai baht in the past week!!
Tax on average wages in Australia is higher than the UK
I'm not sure where Billy buys his toothpaste in Sydney, but most toiletries including toothpaste are at least 50% cheaper in Thailand
When they do shop in supermarkets, western style goods form a very small percentage of the average Thai family's purchases so comparisons are difficult
In recognizing the above however it is still difficult to appreciate how the average Thai family gets by......poorer families in the UK and Australia have other benefits like child endowments, rental assistance, etc where Thai's have only family assistance as a fall-back

Ned,

You forgot Foreign Aid assistance programme, Sugar Daddy benefit, boyfriend bucks benefactor benefit, BSB's [Buffalo is sick Benefit ] added together, it rounds up quite favourably.

I do take your point, interesting to note that you pay more tax than the UK.

KQUILL

The reason they fail is because the people who started the business up in the first place were useless at doing it anyway - I've seen that time and time again happen, if there is "thought, research, hard work" - research is the key, then there is no reason why your business shouldn't work. I mean the times I have heard people opening up a beer bar in Thailand is unbelievable (although I am on about UK businesses, not Thailand, but you get the drift) - the inevitable happens.
Whitedesire,

True, I'll bow out now gracefully, I'm tired and because its been pouring down and I have truthfully had nothing to do, I have had posting fever, I am going to take a break for a while and just read Billy's stories!

.... I've been a bit of a postie today ... and I'm at work now and it looks as if it is going to be very quiet and I'm going to be bored stiff, so will have to post on here.

[dab69]

maybe he won't be coming back to Thailand
and won't be cluttering the board with dribble

Poorer Thais shop in open air Thai markets and of course they know the local prices.


Hi,

In Pattaya Tam and I,when we are living in our House go to Tesco, Foodland, Friendship.

We go anywhere that supplies what we want.

In Kalasin, Kuchinarai area, I wake up to food his Mam has been and bought in the market and cooked in the morning, same in the afternoons.

Evenings,Tam and I, will go or send his brother to the local restaurant and order anything they want to eat for all of us.

Three fridges in the House full of water, Diet coke and ice creams only!

I can't remember the last time we we went to a Supermarket up here.

It is neither the done thing around here or necessary, we go with the flow and its good and just considered normal.


Like today, Friday is shopping day. All we need is mainly bought from local dealers, sometimes from Big C (or Tops’s which is more or less the same). Two days prior Supervisor will usually check all bargains carefully and decides what we need. He calculates fairly exact all expenses and takes just as much cash as needed. He bargained even at Big C if there is a chance, which is a joy to observe. He is very polite, all charmingly smiling but the sales staff know it’s either his price or there is maybe a next time and good by. As any good farmer Supervisor likes cash in hand and hated using his ATM card. In his humble opinion, mine plastic instead seams to be fare more flexible. Before shopping we have some food – since Supervisor found out that an empty stomach is promptly linked with higher shopping expenses.

Chicken, fish, eggs, rice, meat, fruits, vegetables, and of course rice etc. are mostly home grown or exchanged with other family members. At least at home we eat only free range / green products; Supervisor would hardly accept anything else.

Prices in small markets can be higher than Tesco etc.
I have seen on the same day the price of vegetables higher in small Thai only markets than I saw in Tesco. Of course the prices everywhere fluctuate. At best, nothing is certain in Thailand.

If we had men like you in the UK, The miners would have survived ,and Arthur Scargill would have taken you to be his right hand man!

I don't know if that is said as if it is meant to be a good thing. Frankly, I see nothing good about people having to work long hours for mediocre hourly rates. The current UK set-up is probably the cutting edge forefront exemplar of a knowledge-based open economy. Working smart is far more sensible than working long. We were amongst the first economies into the industrial revolution, which Thailand may enter some day soon, and currently we are amongst those countries leading the world into the knowledge revolution.

Decrying the passing of working class ethics is unnecesary. I never liked Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair but there is no doubt they have forced us into a smart self-reliance that will see us through most of the 21st century.

Prices in small markets can be higher than Tesco etc.
I have seen on the same day the price of vegetables higher in small Thai only markets than I saw in Tesco. Of course the prices everywhere fluctuate. At best, nothing is certain in Thailand.

Well, goods from superstores are usually better presented. But the quality of food is often very questionable; since a lot of preservatives or pesticides are needed to keep all “fresh”– and sometimes added water in order to gain up to 40 percent extra weight (especially on meet). You`ll get what you're paying for. While shopping do not trust your eyes only but use all senses ….

I personally do prefer to shop at an clean supermarket. Attending a smelly and often dirty open market is nothing I am very keen about but that’s probably a result of a long life training …

If you observe Thai people shopping, they usually look, feel, squeeze, and smell on most items before buying. They know why. Many peple are not clever enough to follow their own senses but are falling into proven marking traps.

Buying directly from known farmers makes a difference. That’s rather difficult while living in a city but that’s one of the advantages of rural live.