Local massage vendors in Phuket protest over foreign investors allegedly operating

[misskit]

About 80 local massage vendors in Phuket protested at the Phuket City Hall complaining about massage shops which were allegedly being invested in by foreigners operating with much lower prices, hurting their business.

The protest yesterday morning (August 19th) was led by Mr. Tansiwit Klaichaem from local massage vendors associations. They filed a letter to the Phuket Governor.


Mr. Tansiwit told The Phuket Express, “There is a massage shop chain which has been invested in by foreigners but operated by Thais. They have many shops in Phuket, all essentially a copy of each other. Normally, the price for a massage in Phuket as agreed upon by local massage associations is about 300 baht but this shops massage fee is only 150 baht. This price is impossible as the cost should be higher than that. This chain does not participate in local associations and has refused to listen to us. So now we must go to a higher level of authority.”

“Other local massage shops that have been closed during the Covid -19 pandemic are unable to reopen as they cannot afford to operate with that low price. Other local massage shops that are being opened now also have fewer customers as they all are using the lower price chain massage shops.”
The Phuket Vice Governor Arnuparp Rodkwan Yodrabam told The Phuket Express, “We will find a solution for this issue as soon as possible and to check the massage shops to see if they are compliant. It is unclear if the chain is doing anything illegal at this point and will need further investigation but as they are upsetting many people locally and causing unrest a peaceful solution and compromise must be found between the different parties.”

The name of the chain was withheld pending the further investigation.

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[harrybarracuda]

So:

The chain against which they are protesting is called "150 Massage by Ked".

The group protesting is the "Karon Traditional Massage Community Enterprise Group".
I wonder if they will be investigated for price fixing? *



* I'm joking, obviously.

[Seekingasylum]

When I first came to Thailand I, like most others, assumed that being a capitalist based economy the retail sector would be pretty much similar to the West and shopping around would reward one with savings.

A delusion indeed - there is no competition in this country, Thai form cartels and operate monopolies. And if these are challenged then they sanction the offender with whatever weapon might be to hand.

Lazada as a platform was the first to upend this orthodoxy but is of course limited to online consumerism only.

Years ago I was in the market for the forerunner to streaming speakers and focused on the B & W Zeppelin - no matter where I went, dept store, independent or chain, the price was exactly the same for months.

[TTraveler]

Do they have unions in the U.S. sense?

[PAG]

Do they have unions in the U.S. sense?

No, they call them 'associations', the most notorious of which are the taxi/tuk tuk groups. KED have three shops, Patong, Rawai and Chalong.

[Bonecollector]

It's called money laundering

[misskit]

^ Ooh. I think you hit on something there. Lots of cash running though….

[David48atTD]

In Bangkok, BHT 150, standard price for a foot massage, though cheap for an oil/back massage.

As of 2 years ago ... haven't been to the Kingdom for a while.

[BLD]

Will there be a happy ending?

[baldrick]

Will there be a happy ending?

only after an eyelash extension

[katie23]

^heh.

In PH, whole body massage costs ~ 500 pesos (don't know the rate for back massage). But if someone/ some shop offered it at half the price, then the other massage shops would most likely protest. As per the OP, local shops wouldn't be able to compete with such low prices.

[harrybarracuda]

^heh.

In PH, whole body massage costs ~ 500 pesos (don't know the rate for back massage). But if someone/ some shop offered it at half the price, then the other massage shops would most likely protest. As per the OP, local shops wouldn't be able to compete with such low prices.

Yes, but if all the shops are colluding to artificially inflate prices, they really don't have much right to moan.

[Neverna]

Will there be a happy ending?

Apparently not.

[cyrille]

Yes, but if all the shops are colluding to artificially inflate prices, they really don't have much right to moan.

[Bonecollector]

Will there be a happy ending?

Legend