Gas stations are trying to lure customers with promotional giveaways and gimmickry, but a consumer advocacy group says customers may be getting a raw deal when they accept free gifts that are improperly labeled.
Consumers' first concern should be safety when they accept gifts from gas stations said a report issued by the Consumers' Foundation (
Gas stations affiliated with the Chinese Petroleum Corp (
In August, the foundation randomly checked 51 bottles of water taken from various gas stations in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Hualien after receiving complaints from consumers who claimed water they had received as gifts from gas stations had a strange taste.
Although all the samples passed the health examination, the foundation found that the makers of two brands of bottled water illegally attached the GMP, or good manufacturing practice, logo on their products, while two others failed to clearly indicate expiry dates or their company address on the label.
"To protect consumers, bottled-water manufacturers should clearly label their products and legally obtain food-safety certificates," foundation secretary-general Cheng Jen-hung (
The GMP food-safety logo is applied to products that meet strict quality and hygiene practices during manufacturing by the China Food GMP Development Association (
"Besides water-bottlers, gas stations should also keep an eye on the gifts they are offering, because they would both be legally responsible were the products to harm consumers," Cheng warned.
Chinese Petroleum, the nation's largest oil company, said its gifts met all regulations. The company supplies 70 percent of the nation's oil products and owns 1,600 gas stations
"We require companies to provide relevant certificates and guarantees for their products, and of course, the company which tenders the lowest price wins the contract," said a Chinese Petroleum official.
Grace Huang (
Still, most consumers seem to be unconcerned about the safety of the promotional products.
"I rarely look at the expiration date or to see if there is GMP logo on the water bottle, since they are free," Ian Chen (
Ethan Tsai (
"I don't think the water will kill me anyway," he said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last