The only thing more surprising than someone using a personal check at a supermarket is a store cashier that actually knows how to process a personal check.
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As long as it isn’t one of my students … you may luck out. Especially if the cashier is a retiree.
The only checks I write regularly is to my sax/clarinet player, as he doesn’t have Venmo or PayPal. And then I send it to him through snail mail 
Thank you. Pay with cash/check, but have it ready. What, you didn’t know you’d have to pay?
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We are having a lot of trouble here with “check washing” - checks being stolen out of the USPS collection boxes and then being altered. When I have to send checks snail mail, I actually drive to the Post Office to mail them. And I use allegedly tamper-proof ink. Way too much effort for not much security.
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I use Money Orders to pay my rent. (Not exactly a check but kind of close. It’s kind of a pain.)
A lot of places charge fees for credit cards. I’ve seen fees as high as five percent. 
For example, a previous veterinarian I used now charges 2.5% for all credit card transactions. I’ve seen vendors do the same, and many charge more than 2.5%. Therefore, I use cash for all vendor transactions and people that do work on my house, and for that vet when I was a client, for takeout, and basically any other chance I can. In the rare event I am unable to get to the bank during business hours to get enough cash (ATM withdrawal limits frustrate me), then I write a check.
Avoidable fees, like ones attached to the mere use of a credit card when other mechanisms for payment exist, I try to, well, avoid. 
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Other cards give you air miles the more you use them. I generally won’t pay for extra charge fees, but I’ll charge all I can, and pay off the balance. Been back and forth to Phoenix many many times to visit my mom because of that love. Brought my wife and kids, too. Credit cards are worth it if you know how to handle credit. Cash is also good. The idea of going paperless is way off into the future. If you manage your credit you’ll get the bennies, if you don’t, you’ll pay the fees and interest.
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I have asked freshman college students : if you had to choose between 2 credit cards, one with great perks but a high interest rate, and the other with no perks but a low interest rate, they inevitably choose low interest rate. Then I explain to them that if you pay off the balance in full each month, the interest rate doesn’t matter - then we get into a discussion of credit. It scares me how unknowledgeable they are about finances, including don’t finance lifestyle indulgences with credit.
And that’s on top of student loans …
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Many years ago, I was approached by a young co-worker. He was seeking advice on his finances and why he couldn’t get ahead.
After further discussion, he disclosed that everything he owned had a loan on it. His new car, his new furniture, and his new BIG screen TV (basically everything). We went over each loan and I showed him how much he was paying in interest over the life of the loan. His answer was he thought he could afford the payments on these items and didn’t really think about the interest. And yes, he could (barely) afford to make the payments each month, but there was nothing left over for “fun” activities or long term savings.
No one had ever explained to him how much interest he was actually paying on those items (over the life of the loan) or the concept of saving up for the items he wanted. (delayed gratification).
I gave him one last bit of advice… I told him “Interest is the killer of dreams”
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It’s evidently difficult for people to understand how much the interest in loans actually costs them, and that not paying interest is an incredible return on savings. Credit card interest hasn’t been deductible for decades …Interest is a killer of dreams. Never finance your operating expenses with capital borrowing. I’m old . If I want to indulge myself in the grocery store, I can. I have no mortgage. And I can do this now, because I did delay gratification (most of the time ).
And I’m not ashamed to say, I’m a pretty good bargain shopper.
But … I don’t buy stuff I don’t need, or can’t really use, just because it’s on sale. Including groceries! I really have no reason to buy a container of mustard as big as my bathtub. (Looking at you Costco … Love ‘ya, but nope)
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At that same job, the owner gave everyone “year end” bonuses. The company had an exceptional year and the owner wanted to do “something nice” for the employees. (This was a small - family owned business).
Everyone was talking about this (new found) money and what they were going to do with it. Various items were discussed… new Televisions, small trips/vacations, new dining room table, etc.
One individual asked me what I was going to do with my bonus, I said “Send it to my mortgage company and pay down my mortgage” (this mortgage had no pre-payment penalty) I further explained – anytime I had extra money I sent it in to pay down my mortgage. The guy looked at me like I had three heads. Two years later I paid off the mortgage balance and owned my home free and clear.
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The peace of mind is valuable, too. Brightens my mood at the stove … or when I have to replace the stove.
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What are your pet peeves about Bangkok supermarkets? I’ve spent some time in that city, and appreciated that Foodland outlets were all 24 hours. However, I mostly went to Emporium in the Phrom Phong neighborhood, since they had good snacks and local juices. I wish they had a larger Thai take-out selection, since I don’t always have cash for the street stalls (and can’t do the QR payments).
Wax nostalgic at all for Japanese supermarkets?
And since you’re in Bangkok, have you tried jungle curry yet?
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Fifty dollars cash to make a transaction and then another and so on remains $50. That same $50 used to transact business by credit card and so on by credit card disappears pretty fast.
Haha, yes, we are in agreement with regard to credit card perks and not running a balance. believe my mom gets miles or hotel stays from her Amex, but I don’t travel like she does so it would not benefit me. 
I just don’t want to pay fees for using credit cards. Case in point: I had triple pane windows installed in my new house. The vendor charged 4.5% for credit card payments. Total was just shy of 30k. Cash it is. 
I didn’t really have any pet peeves about them, but found many things to like…especially when compared to Japanese supermarkets.
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Lots of “BOGO” deals…especially on real (not processed) cheeses and cured meats. The items usually expire in a few days and in the case of the cured meats, amounts were small and thus it was no problem to finish them before expiring. Japanese supermarkets have lousy cheese and cured meats and shopping in dept. store food halls is too pricey to even begin to think about.
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Express lanes for 10 items or less. Non-existent in Japan.
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Self-service registers that you can operate in English! Even the receipts are in English. This was very convenient for me as other than greetings, I speak no Thai.
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Every supermarket and even convenience stores carry multiple types of whole wheat/whole grain bread. The prices are very reasonable and all the breads I tried were tasty! A bit off topic, but prices at convenience stores are the same or even cheaper than supermarkets. One brand of cured meat I found and liked is cheaper in convenience stores than supermarkets!
and last…
- The Thai government doesn’t seem to be in the least bit overprotective of the marketplace. Foreign foods of all types and even other groceries like shampoo and detergent from all over the world are easily found and many (not most, though) are not overpriced. As for the same subject in Japan….HA! The Japanese government is soooo overprotective of the marketplace. That’s totally because of the agricultural lobby and processed food manufacturers.
I never got to visit a Foodland, but in order of preference, my favorite supermarkets here are:
- (appropriately) Tops
- Big C (lousy name though which I had to explain to friends why)
- Lotus’s (no, not a typo…that’s how it’s written)
Honorable mention to Villa Market, a chain clearly designed for expats. Very interesting selection, but pricey. Even pricier, “Gourmet Market”, a chain found in shopping malls. Some items were priced the same as regular supermarkets, but not many. At one location I did finally sample some durian. It was much better than I expected, but once was enough.
The only thing I miss about Japanese supermarkets is being able to speak the language.
I leave Thailand this evening for Penang, Malaysia for 4 nights. I will return to Japan on the morning of January 10th. I have a 16 hr 45 minute layover in Kuala Lumpur, but a shorter () connection of 8 hours was approximately USD $150.00 more. Yeah, not gonna do that!
No, I haven’t tried jungle curry. I ate what appealed to me or what my Japanese friend and his Thai wife recommended to me and that was fine for me.
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Definitely not your fault and the store needs to honor its commitments.
But here anyway, the checkers in the local groceries have little power to correct store mistakes, except if a manager happens to be covering for a regular checker who’s on break. So i just pay, then head to customer service (CS here later) and get it fixed quickly.
But i recognize some stores have better CS desks than others, and some (e.g. a Walmart superstore) are downright dismal at the CS
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The customer service desk doesn’t open until 9:00am (at my store), at 6:00am-6:30am (when I’m securing my sale items) the checker is the only one who can correct any errors.
In theory, I could pay… leave and come back when the customer service desk opens at 9:00am, but that is beyond inconvenient.
There was an instance (recently) where I picked up a bag of onions on sale and the sku was not in the computer at all. It didn’t ring up anything and simply created an error on the checker’s computer. She asked me how much the bag of onions was, I showed her my digital coupon list and she charged me that amount. Not her fault, but it was nice to be able to take my onions home vs. coming back at 9:00am when the customer service desk opened.
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Yeah i gotta admit that would change my thinking entirely. Here (amended - here at the stores i frequent) if the store is open, then they have someone at CS, or who can be called to CS at minimum.
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