Exchanging Travelers Cheques is now a Major PITA!

[Rider]

Ok, a bit of a rant here.

Pre-2011 you could change travelers cheques almost as quickly as ordinary cash.

NOW it takes nearly 20 minutes or so for any sizeable amount!

The woman cashier has to ring through EVERY individual note with a touch-dial phone for confirmation THEN go through the usual rigmarole of having you sign every one.

What the fck is happening to this place? This took place with the Bangkok Bank and Siam Commercial. Is every exchange outlet doing this now?

[STEVE G]

To be honest, I didn't realise that they still existed but I just had a quick look on the net and apparently the world is awash with fake ones which I imagine is the source of your problem.

[Rider]

What a shame, it just makes the queue run and run.
Centralized ways make everything grind to a halt ultimately.

[Sanctum]

Travellers cheques? Do they still exist? A VISA-card connected to a bank account anywhere in the world, will produce any local cash amount you need from all the ATM's you walk by.

Travellers cheques, I'm told, cannot be sniffed by cash dogs at airports, and thus still popular in certain circles. And they come in quite high denominations.

Bureaucracy: How to make processes last for years, without anybody ever being blamed for total lack of results.

[Big Boy]

Travellers cheques? Do they still exist? A VISA-card connected to a bank account anywhere in the world, will produce any local cash amount you need from all the ATM's you walk by.

At significant cost, and a lower exchange rate.

[Homer]

Travellers cheques? Do they still exist? A VISA-card connected to a bank account anywhere in the world, will produce any local cash amount you need from all the ATM's you walk by.

At significant cost, and a lower exchange rate.

NOW it takes nearly 20 minutes or so for any sizeable amount!

So to get cash now one has to choose between either spending more time or more money than one wants. 7-11's business model is based on most people choosing to save the time. Bonus points for anyone who knows why they named it 7-11.

[Pleng]

So to get cash now one has to choose between either spending more time or more money than one wants.

Well that's normally a choice we have to make in every wake of life. Time or Money.

Anyway do travellers cheques really offer that much of a better exchange rate over atms? I never noticed it when I used them.

7-11's business model is based on most people choosing to save the time. Bonus points for anyone who knows why they named it 7-11.

Their opening hours before they turned 24/7?

(by the way I disagree on their model being base on people choosing to save time. From all the Thais I've encountered, it seems that 7/11 have managed to convince them that they're actually cheap (which we clearly know is not the case).

[johnnyk]

TCs have become more of a pain to cash for sure. It would help if the banks actually trained some of their staff given that HH is a tourist town. I have found KrungThai bank on the corner of SaSong by the night market to be one of the least bureaucratic.

[Big Boy]

Anyway do travellers cheques really offer that much of a better exchange rate over atms? I never noticed it when I used them.

I'm not sure about the exchange rate, but my UK bank charges a fee for the transaction, as does the Thai Bank for using the ATM. Maybe there isn't much difference in the exchange rate, but they get you in other ways when using the ATM.

[Homer]

Well that's normally a choice we have to make in every wake of life. Time or Money.

Exactly. One could say it's one of the pillars of Economics. Still, that doesn't stop some people from mentioning it like it's new or useful information.

Their opening hours before they turned 24/7?

Yes. Hard to imagine now that grocery stores in the US were only open from 9am to 9pm in my childhood. 7-11 sold a lot of milk, bread and the like in those days.

(by the way I disagree on their model being base on people choosing to save time. From all the Thais I've encountered, it seems that 7/11 have managed to convince them that they're actually cheap (which we clearly know is not the case).

I was referring to 7/11's business model, not their business model in Thailand.