"RoseGarden" - - - - - - - from - nscave

Why do some companies still use the Fax machine? I suppose each has their own particular reason for doing so, but aren’t they kind of old tech now?

Now days when some place requests you fax a form back to them or something similar, it becomes  a bit of a pain. You can search out a local business or post office and for a fee that is usually way too much they will send the fax for you. Figure in the cost of fuel and your time and the cost per sheet can be more than reasonable.

This spring I had some dealings with Sony corporation where they had to send me a form by e-mail to sign, and I was requested to send it back.

Their instructions: Please print out the attached form, sign it, then scan and send it back to us by e-mail. If that is not possible, please find a local fax machine.

What a novel idea. Print it, scan it, and e-mail it. Kudos to Sony. The process was completed in about 15 minutes.

Most computer users have a scanner these days, why can’t more companies and businesses follow this procedure? And most scanners will scan directly to PDF, the most universal type of document.

If the above process is not possible, my next preferred method would be to use Skype. Yes Skype does Fax. Partnered with PamFax it is possible to Fax at a reasonable cost. The only catch is you need to put a small amount in an account. The price is reasonable per page, but if you only need to send one page once in a long while, the rest of your deposit may sit there for awhile.

Still, if you drive all over town and find that place that will fax your one page, the cost per page, plus the fuel you used will likely exceed that deposit.

This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License