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Who uses fax machines these days?

ctt1wbw

ctt1wbw

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 17, 2008
1,730
2
Seaford VA
So, our old job last year required us to use a fax machine to fax over summaries. I could never figure out why people continue to use these pieces of **** devices. I can scan a document and email it faster, and you know that if it's a business you have to fax billing sheets to, that they have a network with an email server and a laser printer, right?

So now, I got a new job as roadside assistance for the insurance companies and the company I work for requires us to fax our insurance call sheets to them... again, a damn fax.

We cut our home phones off to save money since our whole family has iPhones now... so no fax machine in the house.

So. We had to fax our first order last night. We went to Office Max, cuz it was the only place open at 8 pm. You know they charge $1.25 PER SHEET??? Per sheet!!! To fax!!! Even to an 800 number???!!!! Holy **** balls that's crazy. That's $1.15 MORE than it costs to make a photocopy of a page on the Xerox!
 
Yeah I agree with you but there are still a lot of company using faxes so we have to cope with. Moreover on a legal aspect I think it has more value than email.

For my company I know that some of customers like to fax orders rather than emailing. But I use an online fax service (eFax not to quote it) which allows me to receive faxes by email. I would never buy toner again lol !
 
At work we still have ours and most of the customers i look after have one too. Mostly for sending purchase orders or legal documents.
 
I prefer to scan and email. Saves on the phone bill. Plus, the output looks exactly the same from an email versus a fax.

What are some good reliable ways to scan documents and use the computer to send them to a fax machine? I've never ever done that before.
 
I own a business that sells and installs phone systems (among other things). I can't believe that virtually all installations we do still have several fax machines that are used as part of their normal business process.

A recent installation at a company of about 200 people had 15 fax machines! The really funny part is that they'll use the fax to send a contract and will fax all 80 pages of the contract rather than just the signature page. Crazy people.
 
ctt1wbw said:
What are some good reliable ways to scan documents and use the computer to send them to a fax machine? I've never ever done that before.
Click to expand...

There are several email-to-fax/fax-to-email services out there...

efax
send2fax
smartfax
faxzero
 
We have one at home. It gets used as a copier mostly, but once in awhile we'll fax something out, and once in a great while, to get a fax. We don't have a scanner. Don't need one, what with the fax machine doing the job.
 
I'd love to ditch my old fax machine, but I still have a few clients who send me faxes.
 
Unfortunately, the government will not allow me to accept a signed scanned email attachment as its not a legal document according to them -- for our purposes anyway. They will allow us to accept a fax. It's terribly inconvenient for our clients, but there's nothing I can do about it. I've found government regulations lag technology by about 10 years.
 
barkomatic said:
Unfortunately, the government will not allow me to accept a signed scanned email attachment as its not a legal document according to them -- for our purposes anyway. They will allow us to accept a fax. It's terribly inconvenient for our clients, but there's nothing I can do about it. I've found government regulations lag technology by about 10 years.
Click to expand...

They won't even accept an E-Signed doc?
 
DiamondGCoupe said:
You still need a phone line to fax from a PC.
Click to expand...

Not always true. There are online fax services that will do everything over the internet for you just like VOIP or something similar. I used to use efax a long time ago, but haven't had any need for fax services at home in a long time. At work we use an all computerized system called RightFax. Just do a search for online fax transmission and you will get numerous options. From what i know most of them charge a monthly service fee. It will just depend on what your work usage will be do determine what is worth doing.
 
We might get one or two purchase orders via fax a month - but they're usually from NHS departments, so they often for quite big sums of money.
 
They're for old people who cannot get used to computers. No offense to anyone that still uses them. That comment was mainly aimed at my parents that live off the machine because there business depends on it so much for contacting their suppliers and manufacturers.
 
There are still uses for them.

For example, one time I took a day off work because I was sick (like four years ago). The boss wanted a note from my doctor, and the doctor sent it by fax directly to my boss, who doesn't use email.

Also, if someone in my family needs to send a form or something to the insurance company (for example), it's sent by fax. I know there are fax services out there, but why go through the trouble of signing up for something if you can just pay $0.15 and send it at the post office?
 
I am a college student and an housing office assistant at UCI Extension.....


and i FAX!!!! STUFF!!!!!:p;):D


makes me feel old......somehow?!:eek:
 
I use them pretty regularly. I have a form that I have to send to two different locations at the end of every work day. The government requires those locations to have the forms stored in paper form, so even if I were to scan and e-mail them on my end, they'd still have to print them on their end. Plus, the end of my work day can be pretty much anywhere, and fax machines are ubiquitous at hotels, so it usually ends up being easier to fax than scan and e-mail.
 
A ton of people do. I however use an eFax as I'm a remote worker. I still have to scan stuff from time to time to fax.
 
I fax. I often have to send documents overseas and in some countries, a fax is like the newest thing around. ;)
 
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