I haven't seen a 7-Eleven in the states for years. I thought they were a dying breed until I step foot into Taiwan where they seem to have sprung up like wild flowers. Driving down any road, you don't have to go far to see one of these familiar signs. What is different from what I remembered is all the things you can do at 7-eleven. You can do everything but take a shower. Ok, not everything, but you could wash up in their bathrooms.
Here are some of the services offered by Taiwan's friendly neighborhood 7-Eleven:
1. You can pay your utility bills. This include phone bills, cable bills and the usuals; gas, water, and electric.
2. You can fax documents and make photo copies from a hard copy, USB flash drive, SD card or even by sending it from your computer at home (see Photocopying: From your computer to 7-Eleven ibon) USB flash drives and SD cards are inserted in an ibon kiosk that is usually situated next to the copy machine.
3. You can buy train tickets, high speed train tickets and bus tickets using the ibon kiosk.
4. You can buy tickets to concerts, exhibitions and many events Island wide using their ibon kiosk.
5. Use ibon stubs to get discounts at Starbucks, Mr. Donuts, Cold Stone and other businesses (The machine you use to buy train, HSR and bus tickets, concert tickets and much more). For example, at Starbucks, you can get a second cup of coffee for half price. Cold Stone gives you a second ice cream dish for free.
6. You can have a taxi dispatched to the 7-eleven location you are at by using the ibon kiosk.
7. You can have goods, bought online from Taiwanese stores, mailed to 7-Eleven for COD.
8. You can pay for parking ticket fees and traffic fines.
9. Use can use Wifi for free inside the store.
10. You can buy an e-tag (electron toll paying device for the expressways), add money, check your current balance and pay any outstanding debt on your e-tag. This is all done on ibon.
11. You can purchase a prepaid SIM card.
12. You can purchase an Easy Card (Chinese name: 悠遊卡; pinyin: yōuyóu kǎ) and add money to it. (a handy debit card that can be used to take the bus and MRT and make purchases at my different stores)
13. You can recycle batteries, old laptops, and old cell phones.
14. You can mail a package DHL.
15. You can buy stamps.
16. You can buy minutes to use on Skype on ibon. (Purchasing minutes for Skype using Family Mart's system seems to be a little less complicated to implement).
17. You can buy movie tickets for the movie theaters at Top City, Tiger City and Mode Mall.
The downside with the ibon kiosk is that there is no English platform. If you can't find a Chinese speaking friend to go with you, try speaking simply English to the clerk. If that doesn't work, try putting key words on an English - Chinese dictionary to show the clerk.
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