Time is money….. or maybe not.

Time is money….. or maybe not.
By Steve Graham (Magazine Issue 12 Jan/Mar 2010)

We have all heard of the old phrase that time is money; however, this may not be the case in Thailand, which could explain some of the anomalies faced by foreigners living in Udon Thani province.

Recently, I had a problem with my car electrics. There were various things like my horn not working, my extra set of lights playing up and starting the engine seemed to be difficult at times, so it was obviously time to get them seen to.

I wrote some time ago about the Mitsubishi man who can speak excellent English, but had disappeared from Udon for a while. Well, good news, he’s back. Apparently, there’s a new Mitsubishi dealership opened up on the ring road near Rungsina Market. As I had found him, I thought I would see what they could do for me whilst they were in their temporary building while their new building was being built.

The really interesting thing is that I was there for five and a half hours, everything was fixed, they saved me about 8,000 baht and it cost me only 550 baht. I didn’t even have to pay for the coffee, water and internet access that I helped myself to while the work was completed.

I asked why it was so cheap, bearing in mind that five and a half hours labour in England would equate to a small house in Thailand and was told that it was just for the two switches they bought to fit into my steering wheel.

The 8,000 baht saving was because they decided to rescue the airbag and do a rather professional modification to the horn to save me the trauma of buying a whole new unit.

This could explain a lot. Time is not money in Thailand, not everywhere anyway. In the west, everything is by the hour. The idea of calling out a plumber when a water pipe bursts fills everyone with trepidation (except the plumber that is). Labour, time and a half after 4.30 pm etc. etc. and please, don’t mention the call out charge, it’s all too much!

I suppose that when you are working for a company in Thailand, it is possible that your time is not valued the same way in which you value it. I know that I will never be rich by being a teacher in Udon Thani; however, I don’t think that it is unreasonable to be able to ask for 500 baht an hour for extra work at my university when teachers in Bangkok receive between 1250 and 1500 baht an hour.

On the other hand, maybe it is unreasonable when you consider that the mechanic who worked for five and a half hours on my car for 550 baht, receives ……….. nothing, except his wages of course. It puts a different perspective on things doesn’t it? Time is money, but not for everyone.

Glad to read that Khummorn is back in Udon. After buying my Mitsu pick-up he went out of his way to help me get a Thai driving licence. Nice guy.

Probably the single most recurring pleasant surprise in Udon Thani is the cost of getting something repaired. Recently our master bedroom air-conditioner would not start when activating the remote control. Called the Saijo Denki office on the ring road. Two repairmen arrived, dismanteled the unit, found a dead gecko welded to the back of a circuit board and a blown fuse. They cleaned the circuit board, replaced the fuse, tested all electrical connections and re-assembled the unit. It works perfectly now.

Total cost, including house call = 300 baht. Yipee! Pleasant, courteous, prompt and professional repair job for less than $10.00 USD. Total time, probably one hour or so for two technicians.

Very nice article! It is great to hear the positives when they happen.

I recall a similar experience when having our car repaired. Being conditioned in America to expect a comma for pretty much any repair (2008 I was bent over for $1,600 to repair a tail light on a PT Cruiser! ), I had to reconfirm we were being charged enough for the bill for a list of maintenance repairs to our SUV which included engine diagnostics, new timing chain, suspension parts on all 4 points, oil change, etc, etc. I was expecting to pay out the wazooo, but I think the final bill was THB 6k or something for a full day of work.

It's service and genuine care like in the OP that make Thailand really shine. I would certainly keep going back. Bravo!

I believe the nan that helped ya is A good person.I never fail to leave A generous tip when someone saves me quite A bit of money.

MALC wrote:nice one shado nice to see these stories. if u have there phone no ill keep it in my book in case i need them or i can recomend them if asked in the future thanks malc

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The wife always make the call. She speaks better Thai than I do.

Sometimes it's embarrassing the prices they charge, for instance, when I get the motorbike tyres pumped up the guy charges me 2 baht, If I give him 5 baht I never know if I should wait for the change or not.
My barber only charges 60 baht for a decent haircut, that'd be a tenner in London (500baht+), takes his time over it as well.

I noticed i had a flat tyre on my motorbike this morning, found a little shop where they fixed it for me. The man made clear to me that the inner tube couldn't be fixed and had to be replaced. I agreed, and he took a new one out of the wrapping. Everything was done in less then ten minutes, he also checked the air in the other wheel and asked 100 baht for it. Now i don't know about the prices of inner tubes here, but it looked incredible cheap to me.

It does my heart good to hear people share happy experiances in Thailand as it does get a lot of bad press and as you know nice stories dont sell newspapers or interest the media. That said i would like to share my nice experiance in Pattaya of all places.I took my then GF and her cousin to Pattaya from UT as they had never been and were curious we went to Ripleys Museum and from there a tuk tuk to Pattaya Tower Park. I had with me a digital cam corder and dig camera as i was recording all my travel experiances.On arrival at PTP in my excitment yes youve guessed it i left my photo eqip on the tuk tuk....My GF looked at me in total disbelief and i felt like a complete clown... my heart sank not only for the expence of the equip but the loss of all the footage and photos.There were tuk tuks everwhere as it is a very busy place we went back to Ripleys TT rank where i was met straight away by a thai gent who seemed to be in charge of the rank how the hell he recognised me beggers belief but he told me the TT driver spotted my equip and handed it in to thier office and if i waited for him to return all would be sorted out. Sure enough about ten mins he returned with TT smiled at me took me and the girls to head office i identified my equip signed for it and job was done.Iasked the TT driver to return us back to PTP and in the TT asked my GF what i should do to thank him she said up to you how important are cameras.We arrived at PTP again and the driver asked for the fare 120 bht i think ipaid him and asked my GF to translate for me how thankful i was and he was an honest man and a credit to all TT drivers and thai people etc.....Then i popped a 1000 bht into his top pocket he immediately trid his hardest to give it me back but i was adamant he should keep it. Iwill never forget how happy and proud he looked. i know how easily i could of lost everthing from TT driver to other passengers or simpley sliding out the back and it would have been all my fault. we had a great day out at PTP but for me the high light of the day was my honest TT driver

MALC wrote:hi have been to 3 different barbers in udon in robinsons next to mo jos and a nother one nr karin hotel always 300 bht.ive had it cut to day in uk burnley and its cheaper here.

Malc. Looks like they saw you coming . I, until recently, when my stylist left, always went to Hair the salon on the 2nd floor of Robinsons. I had a shampoo before and after cutting, the hair in my nose and ears trimmed, plus my eyebrows tidied, all for the "Astronomical" sum of 260bht.The shoulder massage was thrown in for good measure. In search of my departed stylist I went into the one next door to Karin Hotel last monday. It was a very basic cut but with ears, nose and neck shave , it cost me 60bht.I have since found my reguarly man. They have opened a new salon further along the road from the Karin towards the complex, near the traffic lights, called VIP Barber. I popped in to say hello and checked their prices. Haircut 60bht adult, 40bht junior. Shampoo 40bht. In new fully airconned premises. I am assured they do not have a different pricing structure for farangs .Never been next dooor to Mojo's or Burnley so can't comment on them .

Like trubrit, have used barbers next to Karin. Hair and ears, good old fashioned job, attention to detail, 60 baht. Fair value.

Time is money... or not?? shhhhhhhh!!! don't get the Thais started on charging the hourly fees we get in our home countries.. LoL

seriously, there is a distinct cultural difference with Thais, particularly rural Thais where they do not put a value on their time.. An example.. a couple of years ago, my neice who is a farmer living south of Udon decided to "make some money".. She planted quite a large patch of mint during the dry season and invested a number of weeks in watering/weeding and walking to the field (maybe 1 kilo) before the mint was ready to pick.. I figure she probably produced maybe 20 kilos of bundled up mint.. For her investment in time of perhaps 120 hours, she got around 200 Baht total when she sold the mint at market.. When I asked her if she thought that was rather a small amount of money for the time invested, she gave me a typical Thai answer, "Uncle, if I hadn't done it I wouldn't have the 200 Baht." To her, the 200 Baht was "free" because if she hadn't invested all that time in watering/weeding/walking back and forth to the fields, she'd have been doing nothing except laying under the house and gotten zero Baht... It's the anithesis of the westen mind set where we put a set value on our time...

Comming back from Fang, north West Chaing Mai, the trailer broke a wheel and dislocated the axel, Rice fields for miles around , I was on Highway 1, and just as the wheel came off I passed a little grass hut shop, I was doing about 60k, the trailers axel dug into the ground, pulling the bike to the left sharpy, the bike brakes went on with an all mighty jab, and the legs went down fast to try and keep the bike up right, stopped in about 20 metres, and saw the wheel go pass me, just as I was trying to right the bike, the trailer was pulling it over as it lost a wheel, a girl pipes up and said , We help you,looking behind she and a man were holding the trailer level, while another girl retrived the lost wheel, Papa fix papa fix, Ok I said limping the bike and trailer into her land.

Papa comes out to help, takes it around to a work shop and begings to fix the axel and wheel, 1 hour later all finished, How much, No No No, Free!. I buy coke from the road side shop daughter shop of Papa, give cokes to dad and son, give 500B to daughter for coke and ride off quickly