Jingjok
7-Eleven: also a bank, a post office and a bill desk
cham-rá
The 7-Eleven counter does much more than sell snacks. Bring a paper bill with a barcode, such as electricity, water, phone or a credit-card statement, and the clerk scans it. You pay cash plus a small ค่าบริการ (service fee), often around 10 to 20 baht, and get a printed receipt. Bills and signs use the formal word ชำระ 'to pay' (รับชำระ 'payments accepted', ชำระภายใน 'pay by'), but at the counter everyone just says จ่าย. Prepaid phones are topped up here: give the amount and your number. Many branches also take cash deposits into some Thai bank accounts and handle parcels. And it is open late, which matters when a bill is due tomorrow.
Try this today
In your next 7-Eleven, find the word ชำระ on a counter sign or a bill and read it aloud.
The words that carry it
Learn this in “Phone, bank, apps” →
Your first 90 days of Thai
Culture cards in Jingjok are tied to the words that carry them, each ending in one thing to try today.
- WEEKS 1–2 · SURVIVEGreet anyone, pay, and order food and 7-Eleven exactly how you like it.
- WEEKS 3–6 · SETTLE INGet around by taxi, Grab and skytrain, find anything, and handle your landlord.
- WEEKS 7–12 · RUN YOUR LIFEPharmacy, bank, SIM and apps, how you feel, and a weekend away, all in Thai.
The first week is free.