dean Posted October 26, 2013 Report Share Posted October 26, 2013 I sent a package to a friend in CM, whose son is in the Thai army and had requested army boots. At the tip of the boot, I put three $20 bills and 450 baht, rolled up. I mailed the package on October 12 and as of yesterday, it had not arrived. I have sent many packages to CM from the U.S. over the years and they usually take 10 to 12 days to arrive. I tracked the package to Thai Customs, where it has set since 10 AM October 22. About 10 years ago, I sent a letter to the same friend, with a $20 bill inside of 3 folded pieces of paper. The letter never made it to the friend. I believe that Thai Postal officials and Custom agents have a sixth sense when it comes to finding cash in packages/envelopes. This box was sealed twice. Once with masking tape and then covered with brown paper and sealed again with clear tape. Any predictions on whether the package makes it to CM and, if it does, will the money be gone? At least it is insured for $125, which would compensate me for the boots and the $60 but not the $53 shipping costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baa99 Posted October 26, 2013 Report Share Posted October 26, 2013 The probability is inversely proportional to the value of the package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Reminds me of the story of the farang who received an old pair of worn postal worker's pants from his mother for his birthday while living in LOS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Thais can smell money, haven't you noticed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaiRai Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Several months ago was pickpocketed on Suk. Was a lesson in humility as I had prior viewed other victims as naive tourists. Crossed a concrete overpass on Suk near soi 12 and was walking to meet my friends. From my flank came a Katoey out of the shadows feigning to be very drunk and practically fell on me like they were collapsing. No, I'm not into Katoeys and had no desire to pick one up (nothing against people who do) - the irony is i actually felt bad for this person as he/she could barely walk (or so it seemed) and offered to put he/she in a cab. Waved me off and stumbled on into the night onto their way and I went to meet my friends near Sunrise Tacos. Only upon getting there did I realize my wallet was gone, about 8k baht in cash, a credit card, and my Schwab Debit/ATM (which was an enormous loss for me at the time as I used that for all my spending money). Went back to the apartment, got on skype and had Schwab cancel the card and mail out another to my US address, ditto with the Credit Card. Friend in the states picked them up a few days later and sent them to me via DHL taped inside a used DVD. Received in 5 days no problem. Another time had a friend ship over some games and she also inserted 500USD into the games that she owed me (I honestly didn't know she was gonna do that) - also via DHL. Received in 5 days again no problem. You pay a higher postage rate, but after that limited test group I can recommend DHL for future use. YMMV. Ps. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 My wife once forgot her jeans skirt at our house in Bangkok when she went back to work in Chiang Mai. She called and asked me to send it to her. I did so, slipping a 500 baht note into the pocket. She later told me the package had been opened before she got it, but the skirt was still there. I asked if there was anything in the pocket. Nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YimSiam Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Yeah, I have a couple of "I [fill in the blank]. I asked her if she found the money there. She said no." (Tho I differentiate, Flash, b/w a story of your wife, and of the women in my stories!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioman Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Can't be sure but I think they x-ray all incoming mail. If notes show up on these I think you can pretty much say it will disappear, unless it's literally tracked door to door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioman Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 If you need to send cash use an international transfer service. Some would say Western Union but ignore that rather ridiculous example. I'm not sure who in LOS offers this but in M.E there are plenty of places set up for sending money out. I'm regularly transferring money both to Thailand and UK using a transfer service which costs me about 170 baht on this end and then the Thai bank takes about 200 baht, irrespective of amount. So far I've done amounts from 15,000 to 200,000 baht always with the same charges. The charges to UK are slightly higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted October 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 I had to send $30 two months ago and ended up paying Moneygram an additional $10 and got a lousy exchange rate. I'm hoping that x rays show just the paper usually put in new shoes to keep their shape. I'll check again tomorrow to see if the package has made it past Customs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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