The challenge board
Real challenges from Bangkok businesses, groups and neighbors. Say “Me too” if you have one, or “I’d build this” if you want to help build.
- Jobs and workVote0
Disabled people who want to earn from home don't know what they could sell, and run into job scams
A man with no feeling in his legs asks for work he can do from home with no capital, and the replies are generic: online admin, data entry, selling online. One reply warns that most 'pack goods at home' posts are scams. Another disabled job seeker reports quitting his old job after a company confirmed a start date, then being told he failed a trial day and had no job, and warns others about job ap
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Elderly careVote0
Families can't tell whether an older relative's pills are safe, spaced right, or mixed with medicine they bought on their own
A man found that an older relative in his care, who has stage 3B kidney disease, had bought three medicines from a nearby pharmacist without mentioning the kidney problem, and only noticed pills lying on the table. He asked Pantip in the evening because he had no time to go back, then stopped the medicine until a hospital visit next day. Another caregiver asked if a four-times-a-day antibiotic sti
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Learning and languageVote0
Teens in poor families quit school to nurse a parent or pay their own way, and can't find the scholarship or study route that fits
A 15 year old wrote that next month he must leave school to care for his unconscious father and his grandmother, and keep his 11 year old sister in school. He asks what to do, and commenters throw out vocational study, กยศ., scholarships and กศน. in a scattered thread. Another poster, a vocational-certificate graduate whose parents died when he was 15, paid for his own studies and could not get a
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Elderly careVote0
Working adults caring for sick or bedridden parents run out of sleep, leave days and money
A man living with parents aged 70 to 75 says they take turns falling sick almost every week, so he takes leave for hospital runs, wakes at night to mix medicine, and drives to the ER between midnight and 4 AM. He has microsleeps at the wheel and nearly crashed, but cannot quit because he is the only earner. Another poster describes an acquaintance who works, hires a day carer, picks up a primary-s
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - HealthVote0
Families of disabled or bedridden people get sent between offices and miss benefits they can claim
One Pantip poster was told by the district office to get a disability certificate at the hospital, and by the hospital to file at the district office. Others can't tell the disability card (800 baht a month) from social security disability pay (about half of average wages), or worry that holding the card will cost them a job. Bangkok opened free adult diapers (3 a day) on Traffy Fondue in August 2
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Learning and languageVote0
Teachers who run school lunch spend more time on daily photo reports than on lessons, and the per-child budget doesn't cover the menu
A teacher who runs her school's lunch program says she now does more lunch paperwork than lesson prep: photos of incoming ingredients, cooking, finished food and every tray, posted to the school page daily. Her example is 120 pupils at 24 baht each, 2,880 baht a day, with about 600 baht going to labor, gas and transport, while pork is 100 baht a kilo in the official price system and 130 to 150 at
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Small businessVote0
Market stall sellers pay 300 to 500 baht a day for a spot and can't tell how much to cook or if it will pay
A Pantip post (April 2026) says Bangkok night markets such as One Ratchada, Jodd Fairs and Talad Indy closed in 2025. A Samut Sakhon cook says her daily sales fell to 30 to 40% of before, some nights under 1,000 baht, and she throws food away. A drink seller pays 300 to 500 baht a day and sellers put break-even at 1,500 to 2,000 baht. In October 2026 a would-be seller asks Pantip if a 300 baht a d
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it A 67-year-old man with no savings asked Pantip where free food is handed out (September 2025). A jobless woman asked in January 2025 if Wat Khu Bon would give rice in exchange for cleaning after going 10 days without eating. In July 2026 a worker with 165 baht left until payday on the 3rd asked how others survive. Meanwhile a poster in October 2025 asks what to do with alms food monks cannot finis
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle itA Thai Chamber of Commerce University survey of 1,243 riders found 64.2% use no ride app, citing hassle, not knowing how, and extra cost, and they say customers stopped walking to the win; riders on apps earned 1,741.95 baht more a month. Riders average 974.81 baht a day, but fuel, bike installments and vest rent take about 11,634 baht a month, and 69.4% carry debt of around 185,858 baht. In March
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it- Food and marketsVote0
Fried-food stalls reuse oil until it turns dark because testing it and selling it back are both a hassle
Thai rules cap polar compounds in frying oil at 25% of its weight, and PPTV notes the level climbs with every reuse. A Pantip commenter says stall vendors buy big bags of reused oil and fry with it openly. A would-be fried chicken shop owner asks Pantip how shops dispose of used oil, whether they can sell it, and whether a grease trap is required. Bangchak buys used oil at 20 baht a kilo, but the
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Food and marketsVote0
New street food sellers set up where the same dish is already sold and only see it in a month of losses
A couple opened a rice-noodle stall in front of a market, wrote down income, costs and profit every day, and were about 25,000 baht in the red after month one with roughly 30,000 left; 4 or 5 long-established noodle sellers were nearby, the menu shrank to 3 or 4 dishes, and food was left over daily. A grilled-pork-skewer seller of a year said sales faded from about month 8 as five rivals opened in
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Small businessVote0
Corner grocers lose customers to a new CJ or 7-Eleven and can't see which items still earn their shelf space
A Pantip post from September 2026 by a small shop owner says that after a CJ opened nearby it discounted heavily and took the customers, and the shop now has almost none even after widening what it stocks. A Government Savings Bank research note (2019) counts 395,006 corner grocers earning about 51,666 baht a month with 21,761 in costs, names new chains as the main problem, and says a POS for a sh
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Small businessVote0
Small hotels and home barbers lose a slot every time a booking does not show and no deposit was taken
A small hotel owner posted that a caller booked a room for 8 pm, was still missing at 9, and ignored several calls, so the owner gave the room away and now worried about being blamed if the guest turned up at 10. Replies, in a thread of 62 comments, said most places hold a room only with a transfer deposit or full payment, so each owner ends up inventing their own rule. A home barber asked a lawye
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Small businessVote0
Corner grocers and neighbors run credit on a handwritten tab that neither side can check
A Pantip poster asking how grocers handle 'sign now, pay later' got replies that owners only allow it for neighbors they know well and are willing to chase, and that a signed slip for a few hundred baht is not a legal document and can't really be collected. Another poster says they signed for goods all month, thought it was about 5,000 baht, and was billed 9,500. Commenters told them to keep their
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Housing and condosVote0
Volunteer village committees can't prove who paid or where common fees went, so neighbors stop paying
A Pantip poster who took over the village books as a volunteer says the first president handled the money and some of it vanished, the president said he did not know, other committee members stayed silent, and an owner told her he had paid when her count by receipts said otherwise. Another resident says the committee collected extra 'support' money into a personal joint account with four names. A
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Small businessVote0
Small neighborhood market organizers hand out stall slots by phone and memory, and vendors fight over them
A Pantip vendor says the organizer gave her regular slot 2, she bought it in advance, and another vendor who had been in a standby slot wanted it, so the owner stepped in but the other vendor kept shouting at her and telling her to move. A family that opened a market in a residential area reports two weeks of bookings with no one signing up despite a banner and a loudspeaker truck, and worries abo
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - AnimalsVote0
Home animal rescuers and food donors can't find each other, and donors can't tell who is real
On Pantip a rescuer who took in an abandoned cat with broken claws says vaccines and medicine already cost thousands of baht and asks where free cat food is given out. Another poster holding dry food and canned food needed a new drop-off spot in Bangkok after the planned one became inconvenient, and related threads show a temple with about 58 cats and a carer of about 50 neutered strays asking for
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Community groupsVote0
Volunteer-run community savings groups and housing co-ops lose track of member money
The Khlong Kao housing community in Khlong Sam Wa has a credit union co-op of about 2,000 members that did not file annual reports or financial statements for 7 straight years (2014 to 2021) and is now in liquidation, with over 1,000 residents caught in a creditor dispute over more than 300 million baht. A Nonthaburi housing co-op that grew out of a 102-person savings group has no savings entries
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Learning and languageVote0
Teens choosing a university faculty rely on years-old forum guesses about whether graduates find jobs
On Dek-D a student who likes communication arts wrote that family wants doctor, nurse or engineering because they fear graduates won't find work, and replies split between 'study what you like' and 'study what has jobs'. A 2017 poster got scared when told a geology graduate ended up selling medical equipment, and got opposing answers: few government positions versus the best-paid science degree. A
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Housing and condosVote0
Condo off-plan buyers can't tell if a booking contract is fair and struggle to get money back when a project stalls
In December 2024 the OCPB received 99 condo complaints, 34% of its housing cases, and the top reason was refund requests (50), followed by requests to check the project (21). Thai PBS reported more than 400 buyers in one LINE group who signed in 2019 for a condo that was delayed, with the company unreachable and losses over 100 million baht. In July 2024 the OCPB published a draft standard booking
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it The Office of the Consumer Protection Board logged 79 beauty salon and clinic complaints in December 2024 alone, and 63 of them were refund requests for services not yet used. Another 17 were fitness contracts, 16 of them asking to cancel and get money back. One buyer of a 5,499 baht, 10-session physical therapy course found the clinic shut with about 5 sessions left, waited a month for a promised
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it- Learning and languageVote0
Khlong Toei kids who work mornings or have parents on long shifts can't keep up with school
A community coordinator in Khlong Toei, with an estimated 200,000 residents, says children work before school and many leave school to earn money; non-formal students can attend only on Sundays because weekday activities clash with work. A nearby kindergarten says long working days make supervision hard and demand exceeds places. One school starts at 10 AM so children can work first and adds two h
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Environment and airVote0
Neighborhood waste collectors and shops can't see recyclable prices and lose income when they drop
A Bangkok collector said recycler payments mostly fall, sometimes by several baht at once, and they cannot just stop trading. Waste paper dropped from about 7 baht to under 2 baht per kilo in early 2019, and a recycler lost over a million baht. About 1.5 million people collect recyclables and sell to roughly 30,000 registered buyers, while some market vendors earn extra by selling sorted recyclabl
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Learning and languageVote0
Bangkok families pay thousands of baht a month for tutoring because school lessons miss the entrance exams
A student quoted by Chiang Mai CityLife attends tutoring four to five times a week for 2,000 to 3,000 baht a month, over 7,000 near exams. A 2014 survey found 60.2 percent of high school students tutor because school lessons don't match entrance exams, and a professor says poorer students fear falling behind. KResearch put Bangkok parents' 2012 education spending, including tutoring, at about 22.5
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Small businessVote0
Pratunam and Bo Bae shop owners watch foot traffic vanish to livestream sales while rents stay high
A Thai PBS World report on LINE Today says Pratunam side-alley shops have lost over 50 percent of storefronts, with some garment sales down 35 to 40 percent and rents up about 20 percent a year. At Bo Bae, foot traffic reportedly fell up to 95 percent, and a sock vendor blames cheap imports and livestream selling. Some landlords cut rent from 40,000 to 8,000 baht without keeping tenants.
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Safety and scamsVote0
Older Bangkok residents get tricked online and don't know the laws or where to report
A Mahidol University study reported by Pattaya Mail found about 70.5 percent of older people had been tricked into sharing personal information online and 22.4 percent into buying low-quality products. Research in two Watthana District communities found many seniors use digital payments and chat but lack awareness of cybersecurity laws and official reporting channels.
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Elderly careVote0
Family caregivers of people with dementia in Bangkok burn out, with money worries and long daily hours
A Siriraj Hospital study of 155 dementia caregivers found 40 percent reported burden, and poorer quality of life tracked with financial problems, long daily hours, the caregiver's own illness and caring for other dependents. A study of 226 caregivers at three Bangkok memory clinics found that patients' behavior problems drove caregiver depression through burden, explaining 51.4 percent of depressi
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Environment and airVote0
Small shops and restaurants face a tripled Bangkok waste fee and don't know how to sort or measure to cut it
From October 2025, shops, restaurants and condos producing over 20 liters a day pay 120 baht per 20-liter unit, three times the old rate. The published registration steps focus on households and community groups, not businesses. Bang Khun Si Market has sorted waste into four types since 2018, cut daily waste from 1,200-1,300 kg to 1,000-1,200 kg, and vendors sell the recyclables.
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Getting aroundVote0
Bangkok bus riders can't tell where a bus goes after route renumbering, and stops show no arrival times
After a January 2024 renumbering, bus 59 became 1-8, and the ministry then proposed dropping the dash so 1-15 would read 115. Passengers called it confusing, complaints flooded the BMTA Facebook page, and a House committee and the union asked for the old numbers. In 2026 the BMA says commuters still face uncertain arrivals and route confusion across about 5,199 stops.
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it - Jobs and workVote0
Households can't find a trusted housekeeper, and daily housekeepers face cancellations and no set terms
A poster asks where people now find a trustworthy housekeeper a few days a week and gets no formal answer; related posts show pay of 300 to 350 baht a visit. A Bangkok resident said her housekeeper sometimes cancelled the same day and was hard to schedule, so she switched to a robot vacuum. Related thread previews mention a job listed 8 to 6 that ran to 8 PM.
No builders or owners yet5 ways to tackle it