7-Eleven update Feb 2019

7-Eleven update Feb 2019

Over 2000 new branches in 2 years; copy/scan/print in 7-Eleven; 7-Eleven imitations. 

Over 2000 new branches in 2 years
When I published Words of praise: 7-Eleven shops on 12oct2016, there were over 11,000 7-Eleven shops in Thailand (I saw numbers above 11,000, but not above 12,000).
https://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2016/10/wop-7-eleven-shops.html

Last year (2018), 14,000 has been passed. Selected branches in  numerical order:
00010 Ladprao 101 สาขาลาดพร้าว 101 leaning building
00012 Nonthaburi 1 นนทบุรี 1
0036 Saphan Khwai 1
08888 Soi Convent
9988 Chaeng Wattana energy saving
10001 E of Central Chaeng Wattana W of purple building
11198 Ladprao 58/1
11418 Klong Toey Market Rama 4
11519 (?) a bit west of The Room (Rama 4 near Hua Lampong)
11603 FYI Rama 4 (opposite 11418)
11978 between Karnmanee Palace hotel and Pradipat Hotel
11993 (Sathorn Soi 1 India-Thai Chamber of Commerce) หอการค้าอินเดีย-ไทย (สาทรซอย1) with windows painted in Indian style
12024 บัวขาวบลูธาตี Pattaya Soi Bua Khao
12049 Thanon Chan Soi 18/7 Yaek 7
13024 directly S of Pattaya Floating Market
13143 (Regent House south of BTS Ratchadamri)
13156 Thanon Pan (middle of soi) ถนนปั้น (กลางซอย)
13243 (Soi Ngam Duplee about 200 m south of Ibis hotel) 
ร้านสวัสดิการทหารเรือ(ทุ่งมหาเมฆ)
13280 about opposite Sam Roi Yot Hospital 
โรงพยาบาลสามร้อยยอด
14220 near Mor Chit bus station under Expressway
14289 Ladprao between Soi 114 and 116
14538 Soi Tuk Com (South Pattaya) ซอยตึกคอม (พัทยาใต้) diagonally opposite Baan Dok Mai, seen on 7feb2019

And a 7-Eleven on South Pattaya road that recently opened and is the biggest in Thailand and stretches over two floors.
Article in "Der Farang" 18jan2019 page 11 (in German).
Video tour in Thai here:
ร้าน 7-11 เปิด Landmark ใหม่แห่งเมืองพัทยาใต้ รูปทรง เรือยอร์ช
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVFO8ASHj9E
Article in English here:
https://truepattaya.org/2018/12/27/seven-eleven-sci-fi-extravaganza/  

Update 17feb2019: that 7-Eleven has number 10000. They must have reserved number 10000 for that location, as 10000 was surpassed years ago, but that 7-Eleven opened only some weeks ago.

Currently (28jan-26feb2019) the 7-Eleven near Malaysia and Ibis Sathorn hotel is closed for renovation. It looks like they extend to the area where Siam Commercial Bank was (recently closed permanently).

Copy/Scan/Print in 7-Eleven
Since 2018, they have copy/scan/print machines in several branches. That is a welcome change, as there is no good option for printing around where I live (Soi Sribampen; the one remaining internet cafe is expensive and uses low quality paper and the one time I printed there, there were ink stains on my document; in Malaysia Hotel they once charged me 20 THB for use of computer to access document on USB stick in addition to fee for printing; library in Goethe institute has no printing service; other internet cafes are 15 minutes walk). 

Even color and A3 printing! Price per page:
Copy A4 b/w 2 THB, A4 color 15, A3 b/w 5, A3 color 30.
Print A4 b/w 4 THB, A4 color 25, A3 b/w 7, A3 color 40.

But whereas printing at 7-Eleven in Taiwan is a straightforward process (you print your documents from USB stick, get a bill and pay at the cashier), those in Thailand are made by Thais for Thais. I used those machines thrice, and only once managed to print my documents unassisted, and twice had to ask staff for help.  

In one case the machine did not accept my phone number (they ask for phone number to be able to contact you, how weird!), but the number of member of staff. 

The other case I learnt that you get no change from the machine. I paid with a 5 THB coin for a 4 THB print, and the program got into a loop what to do with 1 THB change. At the end, staff came with a slip (so here you can pay before you print), and as the bar code scanner was not operational had to enter the code which felt 50 digits long manually for every document.

For my case, printing 3 documents which is each one page, either pay upfront and enter the code manually, or have 3x4x1 THB coins ready. 

And then I learnt that you can only print .jpg and .pdf, but no .doc. The .doc on my USB stick were not shown, and staff said they cannot print .doc.

Overall, pretty similar to the public transport fuck-up (different cashless payment systems, most BTS ticket machines take only coins).

7-Eleven imitations
Screenshot from google streetview, 
W of hwy 4 N of Santorini park Petchaburi:

And many more that I saved on google maps or took pictures of.

Copyright 2019 ChristianPFC