Times are changing. Now that natural gas pipelines have become prevalent, only 30 percent of gas users in Taipei still use traditional bottled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This trend, along with an amendment to the Labor Standards Act that will soon take effect, is having an impact on LPG companies’ business. Statistics show that there were about 476 conventional LPG companies in Taipei 30 years ago., but now only 92 such businesses remain — less than a fifth of what there used to be. This is an industry in decline.
Taipei LPG Association director Lin Ting-chung says that in the past LPG companies would coordinate with one another to deliver gas. They shared offices and manpower and distributed profits according to the percentage of each company’s client base, thereby reducing their costs. Even so, their employees’ daily work hours were still quite long, which made it hard to recruit new delivery men. Next year two days off per week will be implemented across the board, making the situation even more difficult for LPG companies. If they want to maintain the same service hours, the industry will have to make some big changes.
Lin says that “planned delivery” will change the convention of only calling for gas when you run out of it. LPG companies will use computers to calculate the time it takes for users to use up all their gas and then call them to ask if they need new supplies. By installing pressure regulators that have pressure gauges, the amount of residue in the cylinder can be known. Users can call for replacements before they use up all the gas, thus avoiding running out of hot water in the middle of a shower or running out of gas while cooking. LPG companies can also systematically arrange deliveries in advance, which requires less manpower, thereby allowing workers to have normal weekends and achieving a win-win situation.
Photo: Chen Ching-min, Taipei Times
照片：自由時報記者陳璟民
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
時代在變遷，隨著天然氣管線普及，北市瓦斯用戶僅剩百分之三十仍使用傳統桶裝瓦斯。這個趨勢，再加上即將上路的勞基法修正案，讓瓦斯行生意受衝擊。據統計，北市三十年前約有四百七十六家傳統瓦斯行，現僅剩九十二家，不到以往的五分之一，產業榮景不再。
台北市液化氣體燃料商業同業公會理事長林廷忠說，以往有瓦斯行自組「聯合配送」，以合併辦公室、運送人力方式經營，依客源比例分配利潤，降低成本。但即使如此，瓦斯行員工每日工時仍相當長，搬運工非常難找。明年週休二日上路，問題勢必雪上加霜，要維持既有服務時間，產業勢必要轉型。
林廷忠說，「計畫性配送」將改變「用光才叫」的習慣，瓦斯行會以電腦系統計算用戶桶裝瓦斯使用週期，主動電話詢問用戶需求，用戶只要安裝設有壓力表的減壓閥就可知道瓦斯剩餘量，快用完便能先行更換，能免於洗澡一半沒熱水、煮飯沒瓦斯的窘境。而瓦斯行事先系統性派發運送，節省運送人力，員工週末也能正常休假，達到雙贏。
（自由時報記者蕭婷方）
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