Double pricing system in Thailand

[expl]

Like it or not, market forces are at work here. Very simplified a price is based on what the buyer agrees to pay.
As long as enough foreigners are capable and willing to pay extra, double prices will prevail. It would be economically foolish for enterprises like the Aquarium or Safari park not to take advantage.
The official double pricing system, with signs posted such as Thai=200Bt, Foreigner=500Bt, is however ethically problematic, much more so than a tuk-tuk driver who decides his (different) fare on the spot.
As to the teachers, if the schools would find qualified "farang" teachers that would work for same salary as their Thai colleagues, they would not pay them more. Schools however need a certain percentage of "farang" teachers, because they are perceived to be better schools if "farang" teachers are employed. This enables those schools to charge higher tuition fees etc.
On the other hand if no Thai teacher would be willing to work for less then their foreign colleagues, salaries would have to be increased, with all the repercussions.
(Foreign) managers' salaries and packages are only as high as they are, because lesser compensations would not be accepted. If a company could find anybody as qualified and integer for less, they would not spend more than they have to.

[ozrob]

I think government owned facilities (such as national parks) may have a case for differential pricing. As stated earlier tax payers money goes into supporting these facilities so there is a case for people not paying taxes to pay more. However, I think a foreigner paying 400 Baht where a Thai pays 80 is out of order. Actually the last time I went to a national park Thais were paying 40 Baht so perhaps that has changed.

What I do disagree with is private businesses charging foreigners more. There is no basis for doing so other than lining their pockets. I tend to stay away from businesses that do this.

I don't buy into the ‘we earn more so should pay more’ argument. I guarantee that some Thais earn more than me. Pricing structure is not based on the customer’s earning capacity in any normal situation.

[jphoto_guy]

I often have this conversation with my Thai friends about the "double pricing" system. Many of them agreed that foreign visitors who do not contribute to the tax base - or contribute their expertise to Thailand should on principle be charged a bit extra. But they all completely agreed that those people who contribute (ie. work permit or visa) should be treated the same as Thai's when it comes to paying.

Greed plays too often a role in the double charging scheme -

[ATM]

1. When our children go abroad to study, we have to pay the international student fee...we pay MORE. A LOT more.
2. The ones who usually charge you extra are probably those who make a LOT less than you do. All they're trying to do is get out of the "unfavorable" circumstances there were born into. Born as a poor Thai --> cannot afford good education --> still poor and trying to make a living driving taxis and selling stuff to tourists, hoping that someday they will have 1/5th or 1/10th of what "farangs" have. 7000 baht versus 30,000 or even 70,000 baht.

When you come to Thailand, what do you do with your money? How many of you have NEVER tipped a girl in a bar? If you gave that same tip to a food vendor or a taxi driver, maybe they won't charge you extra.

The funny thing is its usually not the "born as poor thai" that overcharge I can get food at any street vendor and pay the same price as any thai but when I go to play golf the poor thai who arrives in his mercedes pays 500 baht less then me please explain this to me, nothing annoys me more then thais complaining about how poor they are and using it to justify theft and corruption. Paying more for entrance to national parks doesn't bother me as they are funded in part by thai tax payers money. This is why you have to pay the international student fee at foreign universities as they receive large amounts of funding from the government and unlike thailand people in western countries pay huge amounts in personal income tax. This is not my country as I have been told many times by arrogant thais then why should I have to pay more just because Thailand can't or won't educate their people and by doing so makes it impossible for them to ever get ahead in life. All double pricing does is give thailand and its people a reputation as liars and cheats.

[mutley]

Double pricing is just out and out racism and unfortunately it appears to be government sponsored as in National parks and other historical sites. They even try to hide it by printing two sets of tickets, one having the old Thai numerals on them saying 10baht. Who uses the old Thai numerals these days? It strikes me that they are ashamed of what they are doing or why would they try to hide the truth.

[bkkjourney]

the double pricing system is unfair when taken in mind that if Thai people visit a foreign country, they don't have to pay more than the native people.

[travis]

I've visited, lived, and worked here at different times for over 40 years and I can say that almost every Thai I meet tries to cheat me.

Never have I been made to feel so unwelcome in any other country, and I visit many in the course of my employment. The pity of this is that I have never signed any business deal with Thais. I learned long ago that they lie and cheat each other just as much as foreigners, if not more so.

[Voice]

No need to apologise Travis I am Thai and I do feel the same. One thing I learnt about being Thai you need more than money you got to have power as well as good decant moral to stand above them even that they will try to their very best to rip you off if your back is turning.

[Victor]

Cheating is a natural human instinct for survival. Some society may has more tendency to cheat than others due to various reasons, ranging from the built-in inferiority complex that do not change over time, to how the persons being cheated on conducted themselves.
But for those that has been constantly cheated on it won't hurt if they take an un-bias (another human trait) look at themselves in the mirror once in a while to see what made them such an easy target for cheating.

[tones]

This is all pretty simple. A lot of thais say oh we pay taxes and oh thai teachers get paid less but the real reason is that Farangs are thought of as always rich and having tons of cash all the time. I have had to pay the farang price here and their, i don't mind it when its something i really want to see and other times its easily avoidable.

If there are tickets involved i get my Thai-American wife to go up and buy the tickets at thai price than we walk in, OH btw they charge farangs for using that shuttle bus at chiang mai zoo, honestly you can just jump on for free... I've never been confronted while doing this.

Some times the hike isn't bad maybe 100% but other times like siam ocean world its a total knife in the back. Thai adults pay 200baht, Farang adults pay 900 Baht thats almost 30 us dollars.

Either way i love thailand but not enough to teach a class filled with 40-60 kids for around 900-1k usd a month at least not yet, double pricing eh, but watch out for those 40 baht pic holes near wat arun