Guys, I have a confession to make.
I have been living in Taiwan for almost 5 years now, and I only JUST figured out how to print stuff at 7-11. This is me, a teacher, someone who has to print stuff at least once a day.
I knew this was something you could do, but I never actually figured out how... until this week.
And my God, it was glorious.
My days of running to the studio to print something before class, or riding my bicycle in the heat to the nearest print shop, are over. This island and its convenience stores never cease to amaze me. So in honor of this new discovery, I thought I'd celebrate some of the amazing things you can do in a Taiwan 7-Eleven (that you certainly couldn't at a 7-Eleven back home).
If you're in Taiwan, I hope this list is useful to you. If you're in the US, or somewhere else where 7-Elevens aren't nearly as cool (though I hear Japan's could give Taiwan a run for its money), then I hope your jealousy of this magical place is manageable.
Here are 10 amazing things you can do at 7-Eleven in Taiwan:
1 ) Print stuff
Yes, as I just recently learned, 7-Eleven is a great place to print out your lesson plans last-minute. This other blog post from a helpful person details the process for you, but essentially here's what you do:
email your document to the ibon machine
wait for a reply to your email with a unique code
enter that code in ANY ibon machine at ANY 7-Eleven
and voila! Your stuff is printed.
You can even change the print settings if you want to adjust for paper size, color printing, or page layout. Easy peasy, lemon squeezey! (I can't believe it took me 5 years to figure it out.)
2 ) Pay your bills
Phone bills, health insurance bills, utility bills, you name it. Whether you get your bills the old fashioned way (snail mail) or just a text message reminding you that something is due, odds are you can pay it at 7-Eleven.
In some cases (like phone bills), you can use the ibon machine to print out a receipt and then pay it at the counter. For others (like health insurance), you can skip the ibon and just bring your mail to the cashier, where they'll scan the barcode directly.
If you look like a confused foreigner (because you are a confused foreigner), the employees at 7-Eleven can usually take the hint and are happy to help figure out what you need to do.
3 ) Send/receive mail
Yep, 7-Eleven also works something like a post office within Taiwan. If you need to ship something to someone else in Taiwan, just find out the address of their nearest 7-Eleven and send it from yours!
How? You guessed it: the ibon machine! Use the Google Translate camera feature (or a friendly employee who isn't too busy) to select the buttons for 店到店 (store-to-store) shipping, and select the 7-Eleven you want to send to. You'll also need to include the recipient's name and phone number, so they can identify themselves when they pick it up.
Once you fill out all the information on the machine, it will print out a little shipping label sticker. Just stick that somewhere on your package, and bring it to the cashier. They'll do the rest!
4 ) Sit there... all day, if you want
7-Eleven stores in Taiwan are very comfortable (hello air conditioning), and most of them are very clean. Many of them have tables or seating areas, and you are allowed to sit and work there for as long as you want. They won't kick you out (unless you're being disruptive, I assume... but don't be that person anyway)!
I used to have my Chinese lessons at a local 7-Eleven. Sometimes I would buy a drink from them, but not always, and they didn't seem to mind either way.
I have even seen some 7-Elevens (mostly near universities) that have entire separate rooms, or even second and third floors, full of seating and work areas. It's a great place to sit and get stuff done without worrying if you're intruding on anyone's space! Plus, free Wi-Fi and A/C... sign me up.
5 ) Buy a beer (and drink it)
As an American, this one was wild to me in the beginning. 7-Eleven has a pretty decent (and decently priced) beer selection, and some locations have a rotating list of local and imported craft beers.
In Taiwan, there's nothing wrong with buying a beer and cracking it open to enjoy right there in the store (or out on the sidewalk, if it's a nice night). Hell, if you get a bottle, they'll help open it for you when you pay at the counter.
Some locations even have a built-in bar, with local beer on tap for you to enjoy right there in the store!
Buying drinks at 7-Eleven is such a staple of living here that I even made a whole painting about it. (It's still available, by the way!)
6 ) Order a taxi
If you've heard me gush about how Oscar and I first met, you'll know this one already... because he was the one who introduced me to this trick! (The short version: It was my first week here, I was a damsel in distress stranded on the beach, he brought me to 7-Eleven on his scooter and called me a taxi. What a hunk.)
If you're brave enough to use the ibon machine by yourself, you can figure out how to do this one on your own. Otherwise, you can politely ask the staff to help you out. They'll give you a little receipt with the taxi's information, and tell you how long you'll have to wait for it to arrive. Usually it's less than ten minutes!
7 ) Get fresh tea or coffee (or ice cream, or donuts, or sweet potatoes...)
The little cafe that's built in to most 7-Elevens here is actually not bad, and you can order way more than just a plain coffee or tea... they've got a Starbucks-level menu with all kinds of local favorites, and it's a popular morning stop for many before heading into work.
They also have some local snacks available to try, like bao zi (buns), tea eggs, and baked sweet potatoes. And unlike the toxic pizza- and hot dog-shaped monstrosities of the 7-Elevens in my homeland, these snacks are actually tasty.
Some locations, like this super fancy one, even have mini-stores like Cold Stone or Mister Donut. Talk about convenience!
8 ) Have a hot meal
Like many convenience stores, the 7-Elevens in Taiwan have an abundance of instant noodles and quick meals.
Unlike anything I've seen back home, though, it is perfectly fine to ask the cashier to heat up your food right there in the store. (They'll even give you some chopsticks or a spoon so you can enjoy it right then and there.)
And, because there are so many places to sit--see # 4 on this list--it's the perfect spot for a quick lunch.
9 ) Buy tickets
Have somewhere to be and not sure how to navigate the online ticketing process (but don't feel like trying your luck at the box office)? Not a problem.
Once you learn how to use that ibon machine, the world is truly your oyster. You can buy tickets to baseball games, concerts, and events. You can buy train tickets, bus tickets, even High Speed Rail tickets. You can probably buy tickets to things I don't know about and have never heard of.
Seriously, there are so many buttons on this machine. Someday (when there's no one waiting impatiently behind me), I'll use Google Translate to figure out what they all mean... because I'm sure I've only just scratched the surface.
10 ) Play the lottery
Okay, so technically this is one you an do at virtually ANY business in Taiwan, not just 7-Eleven. But I still think it's great.
Here's how it works:
You buy something at 7-Eleven. Maybe a tea, or a sweet potato, or a beer...
They give you a receipt for your purchase.
You DO NOT throw the receipt away, or recycle it, or let it get lost in the bottom of your backpack. Instead, you keep it somewhere safe, along with all your other receipts from 7-Eleven and elsewhere.
Around the 25th of every second month, you Google "Taiwan Receipt Lottery" + the previous two months (i.e. if it's currently May 2023, I would search for March-April 2023).
If the winning numbers have been announced, you'll see a news story about it. Click on it.
Compare the winning numbers to the numbers on your receipts.*
If you have a match (or in some cases, a partial match), then hooray! You're a lottery winner!
*If you buy a lot of stuff and don't want this part to take forever, you'll need a system. I like to organize them by the last digit (all the 0s in one pile, 1s in another, etc.).
If you win a small amount, you can take your winning receipt and exchange it for cash right there in 7-Eleven.
Seriously, this place has it all.
There are so many things to love about living in Taiwan, and 7-Eleven is certainly one of them. Clearly, I still have a lot to learn, even after five years.
So tell me: What have I missed? What's your favorite thing to do at a Taiwan 7-Eleven?
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