Winning Invoice Numbers

Ever since I arrived on-island back in 1997, I’ve carefully saved purchase receipts and filed them away in my desk. Why?  Some years ago (prior to my arrival, anyway), the government of Taiwan, in an effort to encourage businesses to pay their taxes, began printing numbers on the top of receipts which customers could redeem if they matched one of several winning numbers. This practice encouraged customers to hold businesses accountable who did not give out receipts. See this page for an example of how it looks today.

Today I finally got around to looking at my receipts from last November and December. No, I didn’t win the 2 million New Taiwan dollar grand prize, but I did match 4 of 8 digits, which means I can collect 1000 NT (currently just under $29 US).

No, I’ve never even come close to winning the big money, but I’ve come away at least 3 times with 1000 NT, and 200 NT maybe a half dozen times or so. Yes, this is small money (and they keep reducing the number of winning combinations). I think from time to time about not bothering to save the receipts anymore (a lot of people donate them to charities), but I experience the adrenalin  rush of winning just enough to keep the suspense alive, at least for now…

Anyway, this reminds me of the stories Jesus shares in Luke 15 about the man who went out looking after the one lost sheep that got separated from the 99 others, and the woman who searches after one lost coin among ten silver coins. Both were precious to their owners. In the end, both the man and the woman call together their friends and neighbors, inviting them to share in their joy after what was lost is found. Jesus concludes: “Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Anyway, I invite the two or three of you who actually bother to read this blog regularly to similarly rejoice with me in my recovered spendings. Dinner and drinks are on me!

 

 

3/12 Update: Oops. I goofed. Today when I went to cash my earnings, I discovered that the last four digits were only countable on the total # from the 1st prize, not the grand prize #. So I only walked away with 200 NT this time. :-( Until recently, all the #’s were counted the same.

Submitting Car Insurance Claims, Taiwanese-Style

Note: What follows is probably not that far off the mark from how insurance claims are sometimes filed in the U.S. or other countries, but Taiwan is the only place I’ve purchased a new vehicle. I’m not trying to be biased here, just report what I’ve heard and experienced.

I took out a year of comprehensive insurance on the new car I purchased last March. Now, with the insurance expiring in 9 days and me not planning to pay out that kind of money a second year, a Taiwanese friend who knows a lot about cars and how the system works here recommended that I have some scratches and a minor dent from where somebody dinged the car removed by having the car shop repaint a door or two, etc. wholly at the insurance company’s expense. After all, that’s what I paid for.

Today when I paid for another year of reduced insurance with a different (local) carrier, I explained to them the situation and showed them the marks on the car. They knew the previous year's insurance was purchased with someone else so I figured I'd get straight answers. They told me, that, just like in the West, any claim would first have to  be reported before any work could be done. But then the XiaoJie took me aside and explained that I could get around this by having a friend come forward to claim falsely that his car and mine were involved in an accident and then have him file with me to get the repairs done for free.

I wasn't willing to go that far, but when I went by the dealer later in the afternoon to ask their take on the same situation, I was told they could repair up to 4 scratch marks/dents, etc. without having to have any claim whatsoever filed. So this is what I am going to do.

Later, I was talking with another friend who told me their friend had been in a situation where a driver hit their parked car, dented it badly, and then fled. Because there was no second car to report, there was absolutely nothing they could do to have the damages paid for. Explaining this to the Laoban of their car shop, he told them to move away from their car. He then rammed his car into their car. Both vehicle owners were then able to file a claim without losing any money.

Interesting how the system works in a place where societal  "rules" are different, where people scratch other peoples’ backs in reciprocal arrangements due to Guanxi relationships.

On a related note, this past week I had some interesting conversations with locals on another topic. The local middle school here has had a very bad reputation for the past 8 years or so, resulting in many, many parents sending their kids to junior high schools in nearby towns. In order to do this, they must 轉戶口 (transfer household registration). When I asked how this was possible, I was told that all that was necessary was to have a friend in another town willing to let them use their address (this must really throw off accuracy in government reporting of population and registration data).

On a second related note, the girl from the car insurance company above who took me aside to explain a possible solution to my problem reminds me of last spring, when I had to pay taxes in a ridiculously high tax bracket (tripling my taxes for the year?) just because I missed being on-island half of the previous calendar year by just a week or so. All the workers at the counter thought this was extremely unfair since I just missed the deadline by a few days, and since my salary came from the United States anyway and so should not have to pay any taxes. The governmental worker disappeared behind closed doors, talked to her boss, came back out again, and took me aside. She then explained that if I chose not to pay that year's taxes, the chances were next to none that I would ever get caught. So that was her recommendation. However, there was a small chance that a customs worker doing a random check at the airport might discover I had not paid, etc. I paid them all the same (especially since I get reimbursed by my organization anyway). The shocker was  being told I could get away without paying by someone who actually worked for the tax office! I guess learning a little Taiwanese these past two years is helping me to assimilate a little more into the culture... Don't want to entirely go native though.

Taiwan MK "brandjacks" Burger King

Former Taiwan MK Caleb Kramer, now in college back in the United States,  recently drew some attention after successfully brandjacking Burger King on twitter. Google "Burger King" and his name, or read on his blog about some lessons he learned.

Chinese New Year Banner Distributions

Prior to and during Chinese New Year, our team gave away hundreds of 春聯 (Chun1Lian2 -- Spring Festival Couplets) with Beautiful News about Jesus Christ written on the back.

Compared to my teammates, who passed out more than 300 in the township where they live, I gave away relatively few (partly due to being sick with a stomach virus beginning a few days prior to the New Year).

However, this afternoon I was still hopeful that God could still miraculously take advantage of what I distributed in a way that might change lives. Today one little girl from a single-parent household told me she would be sure to put her banners up in her bedroom. Maybe she'll hold onto them, years from now taking another look at what's written on the back. Or maybe God's Spirit will lead someone else in her family to check them out. Anyway, it was a pleasure to bless kids in this way in the school and in the neighborhood.

Western Yunlin Clam Harvest

The Wednesday before Chinese New Year, Roger Lu, Director of Academic Affairs at a nearby Middle School where I volunteer, invited me to come watch the clam harvest on his farm about 20 minutes southwest of here on the coast.

After the clams are dregged up off the bottom of the ponds, the living clams are hand-separated from empty shells.

The living clams are hosed down and filtered through grates of various width in order to sort by size. Then, they're packed into bags and trucked off (Sadly, there's a lot more to this process than I can remember now having waited more than a week to write up this blog entry).

 

Roger hired locals to help bring in the harvest, selling his clams to a seafood wholesaler in Kaohsiung County.

He did not turn much of a profit his first 3 years of learning the trade. But the last 5 years or so he's done very well. This year, in fact, he brought in bigger and healthier clams than most other farmers.

Roger attributes his success to the special attention he pays to maintaining balance in his pond ecosystem.

In addition to clams, Roger raises shrimp and fish in his three ponds.

In addition to here in Western Yunlin County, clams are grown in salt water ponds along the coast in Tainan to the south and ChangHua to the north.

(All Pictures Courtesy of Lorne White)