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uwe_rayong

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Posts posted by uwe_rayong

  1. Where is the logic in closing a very well ventilated beaches but allowing public transport in Bangkok like this:

    BTS-MAI-2020.thumb.png.99332afdd16c6f68a4b9174e11f45dfb.png

     

    20200504_174929-696x522.jpg.6af61b8265e2c6e0b55cb6363adc8680.jpg

     

     

    IMHO it is a lot more likely to get infected in a crowded air conditioned train compared to sitting with social distance on a beach.
    Rules are a lot easier to follow, if people understand the logic behind those rules.

     


     

    • Like 1
  2. If we want to know the real fatality rate, we have to to Antibody tests.

    Some people say, well those tests are not accurate yet, just 90% to 95 %.

     

     

    I would say, to know something with a 90% chance of it being correct is a lot better compared of not knowing it at all.

     

    Prof. Streeck in Germany did an Antibody Test in Gangelt (3 weeks ago!), result was death fatality rate in Gangelt was 0.37%.

    Stanford University calculated also between 0.2% to 0.3%, published a couple of days ago.

     

     

    Still a scary number.

     

    Population 70 Million. Lets say 60% get infected before it fades out, you have 42 Million.

    42 Million at 0.4% death rate is 168000 death in a short time. Flu season 2017 in Thailand - death by flu and pneumonia 60.000 spread over the year.


    168000 in 2-3 month would be painful, the health system would collapse.
    Sure less people would die if we flatten the curve.

    On the other hand, in the USA the chances of surviving, once on a ventilator,  are not that great. Maybe 10%-20% will survive. 

     

     

    Still the average age of a Covid 19 related death in Italy is 79 years, in Germany it is around 81 years. That age is already above the average life expectancy in those countries.

     

    The news loves to mention that also "healthy 24 year old men with no known pre-existing conditions" are dying of this sickness, but if the average age is 81 years there must also some "healthy 96 years old men" die because of Covid 19, otherwise it would not be possible to have an average 81. 

     

    It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.

     

     

     

     

     

    • Thanks 2
  3. 16 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

    Nonsense. My Cargo Dog friends are flying their backsides off. My airline which has cut 90 percent of flying is operating empty planes just for cargo. UPS (USA) is leasing planes and crew for extra capacity. Your statement that international cargo is grounded is complete rubbish. Why do people on this site comment authoritatively on topics they have zero knowledge of ? The mind boggles.

    Just because some companies like UPS, DHL and a couple of other still offer that service, does not mean all are able to do it.

     

    How about the prices?  I am a customer of a couple of Courier services and all charges now premium prices called "Emergency Surcharge".

    Before I could send a 10 gram letter for 19 THB to the US, now the same letter cost me 290 THB. Yes, it will arrive within 14 days in the states but the prices increased like 1500%.


    So, yes it is possible to send from the States to Thailand or vice versa. It may also only takes 2-3 days longer for those Express Services. But it cost premium.

     

    If you buy some Vitamin for 20 Bucks are you willing to pay 80 USD for an express courier service (plus the import tax they are famous for to charge) ? 

     

    Thailand Post does not forward any mail by air since late March. If you have tracking, you'll see that it is still in Bangkok.

    Last successful dispatch day from my post office was 18. March. Everything dispatched after that day did not leave Thailand. 

    Incoming mail is slower as usually but they still deliver.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     


     

    • Like 1
  4. 8 hours ago, DavisH said:

    This virus can be shed for 4-5 days before one shows symptoms. This is one of the reasons it is now recommended to wear masks even if one *thinks* they are not infected. If course, the mask needs to be used properly and disposed of (or washed, if it is a washable one). 


    Not only is the virus shed up to 5 days or longer before any symptoms shown, you can also expect 20-30% of the infected to be totally or partly asymptomatic.

    https://www.dw.com/en/up-to-30-of-coronavirus-cases-asymptomatic/a-52900988

     

     

  5.  

    20 minutes ago, kotsak said:

    And here is an excerpt of the teleconference with the experts.. ????

     

     

     

    I think CP has enough money to buy a couple of full automated machines similar to this one:
     

     

    Couple of weeks ago there was a report in a big newspaper in Bangkok ???? that such a machine was 71.000 USD before (now not available I suppose) and return of investment is now in 12-14 days production time or so....

    It is like printing money....

     

     

    • Like 2
  6. 1 minute ago, MoD1977 said:

    What pisses me off is that I still see a lot of Thais without mask and nobody cares.

    Was shopping at Big C Extra Pattaya Klang yesterday and have seen at least 10 Thais without mask but not a single Foreigner.

    I also passed today the big Plot on the Khao Thalo / Sukhumvit Intersection and they setting up the monthly amusement park and market for the Thais.

    This country turned to such an racist place that i dont know for how long I can stand it.

     


    This was always the case in Thailand. As a foreigner one is welcome as long as they benefit from you.
    If they not benefit from the foreigner =  not welcome anymore. 


    Now they not only "not benefit" from us, many Thais think we pose a risk to their personal safety and bring financial burden over them.
    I mean, Thailand doing great in controlling this covid situation.
    They have just around 2000 infected in the whole country. Only 30 people on each Million. 
    Given that the very first infected person outside of China was in Thailand, that is so impressive.

    (Source: January 13, the WHO reported a case in Thailand, the first outside of China, in a woman who had arrived from Wuhan.)

     

    So if the number of covid infections in Thailand is accurate, we are all very lucky.
    All I can say is, I live 5km from Utaphao Airport , a major HUB for Chinese tourists - before.
    In December and January cough medicine was a very hot selling product in every pharmacy in this area.








     

  7. 12 minutes ago, Ohyesuare said:

    Plenty for sale at Central Festival right beside the supermarket on the ground floor. Just some cheap, useless cloth and other material ones that won't help one bit but it will make the Thais happy. 

    Standard face masks are widely available for next to nothing....
    Those masks may help to reduce the risk of infection for other people. WHO says it does not protect the people who wear them, or at least it is not proven.

    Anyhow, if those standard mask only have an effect if someone is sneezing or coughing, it already helps to reduce the risk for others. So one should were those mask when in a shop, post office etc. 
    Szenario: Not possible to keep 1.5 metre distance to other people.


    German virologists say, if you just walk by an infected person for a short time, like in a park, and even if the distance is less then 50cm, the risk of infection is close to zero.


    The ratio is time - distance. Sitting with someone for 10 minutes and drink a coffee or beer, chatting = high risk of infection. 


    Just walk past = almost zero risk.

     

    Many Thais I see even have a mask on when sitting in there own car alone or with there children.
    So they clearly not understand the concept why they should were the mask. 

    The certified masks are worldwide in short supply and since medical personal, which works with infected patients needs those, only they should use those masks now. Those workers need them for personal protection

     

     

    screenshot_3950.jpg

    screenshot_3952.jpg

  8. 1 hour ago, Nanaplaza666 said:

    Some kind of foodpoisening you don't get diahrrea from covid .

     

     

    source: https://www.businessinsider.com/signs-you-might-have-coronavirus-if-you-have-few-symptoms-2020-3

     

    The range of symptoms are very broad. Including a lot of people who have no symptoms at all.

    I'm very curious when a cheap, fast and reliable antibody test will available to test thousands of people if they had contact with that virus or not.

     

    It would be a big game changer, not only for the statistics.
    Right now in Spain or Italy mostly ill or dead people are tested. If only the dead and ill people are tested, we never know how many infections are asymptomatic.


    How many infections are asymptomatic ? 

     

    Some sources say 30%:

    https://www.dw.com/en/up-to-30-of-coronavirus-cases-asymptomatic/a-52900988

     

    But they not tested for antibody but the virus. So if one had the infection 6 weeks ago, without any symptoms, that person would not be included in the 30% asymptomatic.
    We need the antibody test to get that number.

     

    Countries like South Korea or Germany have a very low death rate. OK, one reason is the the health system. But both countries do also an awful lot of testing.

     


    Medical personal that already had the infection could work with minimal protection, people that had the infection are presumably not able to infect other with the virus for some time, so could also come in close contact with the most vulnerable groups without the risk to infect those (service , nursing home for the elderly , etc). 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     



     

     

     

    screenshot_3926.jpg

    • Like 1
  9. 10 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

    The experience I have with Thai post now is a small package send to Canada, it is located now at the airport in BKK for more than 3 weeks.

    Thai post answer me, there is no airplane to Canada who can bring.

    How do you know it is still at the airport ? Canadian Post does not update the tracking, even if the receive the item. Last status in Thailand is: SUVARNABHUMI MAIL CENTRE In transit

    Besides that, even under perfect conditions shipments to Canada via Thaipost are super slow compared to other destinations. 
    This problem is known for years, because many Asian ebay or amazon sellers simply don't ship to Canada:

    https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/canada-post-reveals-it-is-the-reason-for-lengthy-parcel-delays-1.3447438

  10. 34 minutes ago, dogfish180 said:

    How are 322 people a burden on the health system?? ???? Or is there something you aren't sharing with us?

     

    Some people say the published numbers of infected people may not 100% accurate....
    Even in high developed countries it is not so easy to get tested for Corvid 19 as the test capacities are very limited.



    https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/thailand-coronavirus-update-crisis-proving-that-thailand-not-a-medical-hub-after-all!-private-hospitals-scamming-patients-especially-foreigners-while-

    • Like 2
  11. 10 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

    If you use an agent, no need to show anything to anyone, apart from the 25k bribe.

    Have you ever done this? There's no passbook, no money, no loan, no bank account.

    Just the bribe.

    Yes, in the past that was possible. Decision of the extension was done by one officer on the day of the application. Positive decision - deal done. 
    I am very positive that they added photoshoped copies of bank books just to have the documents in order in case they have a revision. 

    Now, they opened a door to request your bank book at a later point again. 

     

    That is a new big risk for the officer and the applicant.  If everybody at that immigration office plays along no problem. But what if Bangkok sends in a new officer?
    What you do if you supposed to show you bank book in 3 month ( after getting the extension ) and your "favourite" officer is transferred to a different office ????.

    The visa agent will disappear, he has been paid already. IO also been paid already and the problem is with the applicant. 

     

    This new rule will create a lot of problems and some very unhappy faces on all sides.  

     

     



     

    • Haha 1
  12. 3 hours ago, JLCrab said:

    At this point I would presume the word "transfer" indicates an international transaction and not from domestic KrungThai Bank to domestic Kasikorn bank

    That is an important question. 
    If I transfer money I use most times a provider like transferwise.com as it is cheaper, faster and the conversion rate is often also a little bit more.
    The difference is, if I receive a direct deposit from the EU it is declared as a "foreign currency deposit", if the transfer is made by transferwise it looks like a domestic transfer.

    So I doubt that immigration will accept the domestic transfers, as otherwise it would be pointless.

    If they would accept a domestic transfer, I could just give a 3rd person the amount in Thailand to deposit it into my account..????

     

    So the questionis :


    Does the monthly transfer have to originate from outside of Thailand?

     



     

  13. 8 hours ago, TonyClifton said:

    It's against your TOS with VISA/Mastercard.

    No one likes paying a fee.  Why should we?

     

    I will help you.

     

    Stop charging a surcharge fee.  Offer a discount for cash.

    You like that method more, because it gives you the feeling that you used your Credit card without any additional charges, right?
    Credit card companies also like that method. But in reality usually an extra is an extra.

     

    Maybe Thai Government should also apply that system for there National Parks. 

     

    Entrance fee for everybody is 200 Baht per Person.

    (in case you are holder of a Thai ID card you can proceed to our cash back centre upon leaving the park, and claim a 90% discount????).

     

    That way the tourists can no longer complain about two tiered pricing in Thailand, as everybody pays the same price. 

    • Like 1
  14. 3 minutes ago, coops said:

     

    So don't use your private email for those purposes.

     

    Paypal doesn't have my 'good' email address, nor does any of my credit card issuers... or even my UK Bank. Any spam, if there is, goes to my junk excite email address. Why would you willingly hand over your good/clean email address to these people if you know they sell your address on etc etc? Don't, and then enjoy a spam free POP3/IMAP email account. (If I was a Paypal seller etc or very heavy user and absolutely needed an email to my laptop email then I'd setup a separate one for them to keep the spam away).

     

     

    OK, for me Paypal is a payment partner. They have top priority on my email list. 
    Most online sellers use and monitoring at least a dozen email addresses, as you want for every market or seller profile a different address.

     

    However, you conveniently overlooked the fact that Credit card companies also save and sale all those data they collect.  So if you like to live an anonymous "buyer life" a Credit card will not be very beneficial for that. 

     

    However, I learned something through this thread discussion.
    1.)  Most people like to use Credit cards. 
    2.) They don't like to get hit with the transaction fee on top and expect it to be included in the sales price or be "free".

    3.) They don't understand that it cost money if a 3rd party is involved in a transaction.

    4.) They don't understand that if you get 1.5% cashback, that you probably already paid 3% or more then it was necessary.

     

    So quintessence is:  
    Factor in all possible sales associated costs that may appear and split the cost on all buyers

    Don't communicate to the buyer that a cash discount is possible unless he/she specifically asks for it. <----- That I learned from this thread ! 

     

     

  15. 14 minutes ago, coops said:

     

    What privacy issues?

     

    Your credit card doesn't include any email or other personal details to the shop.

    I have occasionally had a shop ask me for my email address or even my phone number - I refuse or make one up if the cashier gets all worked up...

     

    Online the same common sense applies about email - you should have at least two email addresses. One for people you trust and want to receive emails from, and another junk account precisely for online shopping, registering on online forums etc etc... and 'social media' if you must.

     

     

    If you use Paypal the seller gets your Paypal email address with each payment and I would consider the Paypal registered email address as an important one.

    So if you buy an item via ebay with a "junk address" or guest login and pay via Paypal, your Paypal registered address is also submitted to the buyer. 

     

    If you use your credit card frequently your credit card company has a nice buyer profile of what and where you like to buy your stuff.
    Same as those Customer Cards from Big C, Tesco etc.

     

    Credit card companies sale those data to online advertisers for good money.

    Mastercard, AmEx And Envestnet Profit From $400M Business Of Selling Transaction Data Source:


    https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2018/07/22/mastercard-amex-and-envestnet-profit-from-400m-business-of-selling-transaction-data/#33db51027722
     


     

     

     

    • Like 1
  16. 12 hours ago, Chou Anou said:

    Any merchant charging an extra fee for customers using a credit card would lose my business instantly. That's the lowest of the low. Paying the card processing fees you have to pay (as a merchant) is part of the cost of doing business, deal with it. And I'm a(n online) merchant myself--I have no problem paying Paypal 3.5% so I can accept credit cards through them. As others have noted, this is the 21st Century, not the 20th. Cash is dead. Not quite as dead yet in Thailand as it is in the West, but (thankfully) that's coming.

     

     

    When you doing online business international there is no way of doing it without Paypal. All your prices have those 3.5% Paypal transaction fee included.
    I started online business in Germany already in 2001.
    By that time 80-90% of all EU buyers used direct bank transfer (which is free). So the majority of the buyer paid by bank transfer. So the prices calculated without Paypal transactions fee.

     

    Now in 2018 in Germany 99% use Paypal for online shopping on ebay. So I included the transaction fee for Paypal in every  price. I also included the Ebay fees in the selling price. And if you accept Paypal there is a risk involved that even weeks or month after the transaction, the buyer wants his money back for some odd reason.

     

    You are always running the risk that Paypal freeze your account for silly reasons but anyway, now it is too late. Paypal is one of the standard payment method. 

     

    But if I have good customer I always offer him to order the items directly from me and pay via bank transfer.  Ebay cost me on average 14%-18%  (transaction fee, shop fee, promo fee, advertising fee etc),
    Paypal also around 3.5% plus the risks involved. So I am happy to offer 20% discount to the buyer that order directly and pays through bank transfer.


    So if you buy on ebay for 500 USD you can save yourself 100 bucks if you order directly. 

     

    So in short to all the people that says Creditcards, Amazon, Ebay and Lazada are so comfortable and I love them. You the buyer pay for that.
    Every business that don`t hit you with the Credit Card transaction fee has it already included in there sale price.

     

    And every cash buyer is subsidise you preference for that method of payment.

     

     

    In Thailand now times changing, in the past majority of the buyer preferred cash.
    In a couple of years it will be same as in US or Europe - and all sales prices have the Credit card transaction fees already included in the sales price.

     

    If Kasikorn or Homepro offers you a "a 0% - 10 month payment plan" - it is not free. You paid for it already in the sales price.

    If a seller offers you an item with "free shipping" it is not free, the cost of shipping is already in the sales price included.

    If you go to Sizzlers and they tell you, the Salad bar is free if you order a meal. It is not free, it is already in the meal price included.

     

    If you don`t like to eat from the Salad bar and just eat your Steak & Fries, but  the table next to you is a Fat guy that already went 8 times for the salad bar.
    Then it is you, among others, that subsidise the "free salad bar" for fat guy next to you.

     

      

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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