How do you know if old banknotes are not valid anymore?

[pong]

Fist time I came here there were still the large 1 and 5 bt coins and the brown 10 bt note. All gone. Perhaps some of you may also remember them. At that time 10 bt was often enough for a streetstall simple meal.
As I got a few older notes this week on exchange with the old king on them, I started to wonder how this is regulated here. So only long time living here people can know. Ever seen any announcements or the like about withdrawal? How does that work? F.e. the new plastic green 20 bt notes-replacing the old paper ones.
After all good old cash, as bills/notes, remains about the only way to hand out the gratifications for services rendered by our dear guys. Would not want to fob them off - though they likely also will not accept old notes.

[Gaybutton]

How does that work?

As far as I know, sooner or later most bank notes end up right where they started - in the bank. When the notes become unusable, the bank destroys them and replaces them with new ones.

The notes with the image of King Bhumipol are still valid and still very much in circulation. Nobody is likely to be unwilling to accept those.

If you have any notes you've been holding since before the Earth was formed, sometimes if they are in good condition they become valuable to collectors. Otherwise the bank will probably exchange them for new ones. If nobody will accept them - banks, collectors, shops, someone you're trying to tip, or whatever - now you're out of luck.

[Jun]

Compared with some neighbouring countries, the situation with Thai bank notes seems relatively straightforward.

Put the notes in the wallet, take them out and they are ALWAYS accepted. Except for the few places that only accept cashless payments. Or perhaps a neglected vending machine that doesn't take the new 20 baht note.

Compare with Myanmar, where your large denomination USD notes need to be in PERFECT condition. If your $50 bill has been folded, forget it.
Cambodia has some of that, but not quite as bad. Obviously people can't expect the central bank to replace those.

[Gaybutton]

Would not want to fob them off - though they likely also will not accept old notes.

What makes you think they would not accept old notes? No matter how old and wrinkled the notes might be - and some were even taped where they had been torn - no one has ever refused to accept them from me or ever asked for a different, better condition, note.

Have you had any problems with anyone rejecting any notes you tried to give? If that ever happened, in what condition were the notes?

[pong]

Well, sorry, then was not clear enough My country now has the €, but before every 5-10 years some older notes would be replaced by newer ones or small notes by coins and after a period of both in circulation, there were stringent formal announcements that old notes would cease to be valid for direct payment-one could still exchange them in any bank-at that time, pre 2000, there were at least some 10x as much real banks operating as now. Post office would also do. That sets my
In fact with the € there are also no formal announcements-or I have never seen them, but every few yrs a certain banknote gets restyled and newer print released and after a while the old ones disappear.
So would the old 10 bt brown banknote in TH still be valid as such? Ever seen an announcement that it ceases?

[Jun]

In the UK, a new note is introduced, then the old one will be withdrawn, perhaps 6 months later. It would be accepted by banks for a while & after that, you need to go to the Bank of England.
However, I think that's when a new note is introduced to deter forgery.
We have had a recent change of monarch, as QE2 was replaced by KC3. There are a lot of very durable plastic bank notes with QE2 on them. Including the new £50 note, oddly introduced in 2021. I'm not aware of any plan to retire the QE2 notes. Although new bank notes with KC3 exist, I've not seen one.

Has anyone ever heard of Thailand introducing a new note and quickly withdrawing the old one ? Not me.

[Gaybutton]

So would the old 10 bt brown banknote in TH still be valid as such? Ever seen an announcement that it ceases?

That must be quite old. I don't recall ever seeing one, let alone an announcement about it. My guess is most Thais would reject it.

My suggestion would be to see if a Thai bank will accept it or maybe see if a collector would be interested.

How many of those do you have? Unless you have a lot of them, why the fuss about a few 10 baht notes?


"You want to wake people up? Go to a bank where you have to stand in one of those common feeder lines for a long time - a very long time. When you finally reach the teller, ask 'Can I have change for a nickel?' They'll all come to stare at you."
- George Carlin

[Bangkokian]

When the new generation of notes were introduced, they had one big disadvantage in my opinion. The printed value moved to the bottom right hand corner of the note.
So, if you are in poor light and it is difficult to distinguish between colours, then you have to take the wad out of the wallet to read the values.
I wrote and pointed this out to the Bank of Thailand and what do you know?, surprisingly, they completely ignored me.
Please don't tell me to put the notes in upside down that would be impossible with me being a neat freak.

[Jun]

That must be quite old. I don't recall ever seeing one, let alone an announcement about it.

So since you haven't seen a 10 baht note, how long is it since your first trip to Thailand ?
I also haven't seen one in 16 years.

10 baht notes seem about as relevant as horse drawn trams or airlines running biplanes.

Wikipedia suggests that the 10 baht note was replaced by the coin in 1988 and that the notes are accepted in banks.

[Gaybutton]

So since you haven't seen a 10 baht note, how long is it since your first trip to Thailand ?

It's been so long I don't exactly remember when my first trip was other than it was the early 1990s. That was back when I could get a round trip ticket from Miami-Bangkok-Miami for a little less than US $800 and often could get a bump-up to business class simply for the asking. Those days and prices are long gone, along with plenty of boys at the gay Dongtan beach, all hunting for farang hook-ups, long before the apps existed, when the Boyztown area, Soi Day-Night, and Sunee Plaza were all thriving with multiple go-go bars, when if there was a boy you liked you often had to reserve him, when off fees were standard 250 baht. But if there were still 10 baht notes, I don't recall ever seeing any.

Gone With The Wind . . .