why are there still fax machines????

[Mungla]

RightFax solves all of these problems. My company has a co-location in a Verizon data center where we have a PRI brought directly to the server. Unlimited 1-800 numbers, super cheap long distance (almost non-existent), and integration with our Exchange environment equals an increase in fax volume over the former traditional fax setup. With over 500 employees across two states, this solution paid for itself in less than 12 months and continues to save us tons of money for stupid faxes.

 

[RESmonkey]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Legal signed, binding documents. If you think a fax machine is not necessary then you have no fucking clue on legally binding contracts.

ANY contract or binding agreement I sign is a HARD document or facsimile. The law is on my side if I do this.

Anybody that doesn't understand this has no business commenting on it, nor have you ever signed contracts. E-mail is so easily spoofed and modified that it should be legally binding is laughable.

Faxes can be spoofed as well, can't they?

 

[a123456]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: spidey07
Legal signed, binding documents. If you think a fax machine is not necessary then you have no fucking clue on legally binding contracts.

ANY contract or binding agreement I sign is a HARD document or facsimile. The law is on my side if I do this.

Anybody that doesn't understand this has no business commenting on it, nor have you ever signed contracts. E-mail is so easily spoofed and modified that it should be legally binding is laughable.

Faxes can be spoofed as well, can't they?

You can spoof anything, including notarized documents, passports, driver's license, birth certificate, US dollars, etc.

But emails are much easier to spoof.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

being in construction, I get dozens of faxes in the few hours before any bid. Sometimes the fax machine runs non stop for extended periods. Many subs I do business with don't do email, and some still don't have fax machines.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
real estate

Yeah... that pissed me off. All of the real estate listings are online now, but I must have had to fax about 50 pages worth of offers and counter-offers before we were finished with closing. We ended up having to rewrite many of the documents from scratch, since they were illegible from being faxed so many times.

I bought my current house by scanning to pdf and emailing everything up to closing in person.

 

[Rubycon]

Because "Just The Fax" sounds so cool.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: spidey07
Legal signed, binding documents. If you think a fax machine is not necessary then you have no fucking clue on legally binding contracts.

ANY contract or binding agreement I sign is a HARD document or facsimile. The law is on my side if I do this.

Anybody that doesn't understand this has no business commenting on it, nor have you ever signed contracts. E-mail is so easily spoofed and modified that it should be legally binding is laughable.

Faxes can be spoofed as well, can't they?

Not nearly as easily. By law a facsimile has much more legal power than an E-mail. "reasonable facsimile" is there for a reason. Why do you think legal departments demand a "reasonable facsimile"? Email, being clear text, is not considered a "reasonable facsimile".

I'm tired of making this point. Does anybody know that true contractual agreements are done with HARD documents?

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: spidey07
I'm tired of making this point. Does anybody know that true contractual agreements are done with HARD documents?

Very few people realize that.

I'm government. Most of our inter- and intra-department communication is done via fax. Second to that is business done on computer networks in controlled environments (i.e. branches of the same office communicating via a central email server).

 

[blurredvision]

My paycheck every week relies on fax staying around for quite a while, and it will. I actually work on fax firmware for a large printer manufacturer, and we don't forsee it going away anytime soon.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: spidey07
I'm tired of making this point. Does anybody know that true contractual agreements are done with HARD documents?

Very few people realize that.

I'm government. Most of our inter- and intra-department communication is done via fax. Second to that is business done on computer networks in controlled environments (i.e. branches of the same office communicating via a central email server).

I know. I just think young people that don't know what a hard document is (at their own demise), it is legally binding. An E-mail is not. Anybody that hasn't had to physically sign a hard document or reasonable facsimile would know this.

If they don't know this they do so at their own peril. Your hand signature of a document is approval and legally binding.

 

[Jeff7181]

It's because there's a lack of a reliable way to electronically sign documents and ensure their delivery. Until everyone has the equivalent of an electronic fingerprint, people will still want to see a picture of your signature on a piece of paper.

You can use encrypted email and security certificates, but the average Joe doesn't know how. Most people with an IQ above 100 can use a pen, paper and fax machine, though.

*EDIT* Of course, people who use fax machines to send "non-legal documents" should be slapped. Fax machines suck and should only be used when you have to for legal purposes.

 

[MovingTarget]

Aside from legal/document concerns, the simple answer is "because it still works". Why do some cars still use carbeurators when fuel injection is around? Same reason.

1. Place document on fax.
2. Dial
3. Press button

--or--

1. Load document into scanner
2. Press button
3. Save file as .pdf
4. Open/launch email client
5. Address email
6. Click 'send'

See?

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: MovingTarget
Aside from legal/document concerns, the simple answer is "because it still works". Why do some cars still use carbeurators when fuel injection is around? Same reason.

1. Place document on fax.
2. Dial
3. Press button

--or--

1. Load document into scanner
2. Press button
3. Save file as .pdf
4. Open/launch email client
5. Address email
6. Click 'send'

See?

Some higher-end business class machines take care of the emailing in the same amount of steps as faxing, and it is already working its way down to consumer devices as well. Some devices that my company just released in the past couple of months can send a scanned email almost as quickly as a fax, however, in my own personal opinion, it still needs to be streamlined just a tad more.

 

[dbk]

every important document is faxed at work (gov)

 

[rockyct]

A place I was working for still did almost all of their purchase orders through fax and this was only a couple years ago. It was pretty ridiculous about how many people handled an order. If someone needed a part they would send an email to their supervisor with the request. The request would get forwarded to a purchasing coordinator. The purchasing coordinator would create the order document in the system and print it out. He got that approved and signed by the manager and the purchasing coordinator would then fax the order in. The part comes in and the receiving people log and check contents. The packing slip and a copy of the order would get sent to a different receiving person who would update the order in the system. He then would pass it to finance were it would bounce around a little bit until it got paid and then back to the receiving person to update the order as paid.

Half the time there would be some hiccup in the line and a vendor would call asking where their money is or some guy never got the part he wanted. It was also pretty funny when some guy need a $2 fuse or some simple electronic part that Fry's had down the street.


Anyway, bottom line is that a faxed signed document is just about the same as the original in view of the law.

 

[MedicBob]

Where I work, the software we use will only fax records.

 

[Kanalua]

One of the first things I got when I got a law firm job...use it daily...

 

[oogabooga]

Contracts. We send out loaner agreements via email, but they have to printed, signed, and faxed back. No one's ever asked to scan and send it back either, it seems like everyone has a fax machine (or at least access to one) and knows they'll need to be able to send signed documents back and forth this way.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: Phoenix86

Originally posted by: lupi
more secure than email.

This.

You can't transmit medical info via e-mail for the most part for example.

Like you say, for the most part.

As most places aren't willing to rely on people to setup, maintain and keep safe encryption keys for email - emails with PHI usually require IT infrastructure that automatically encrypts the email (based on a keyword in the subject or something) and creates a secure web link for the recipient.

That's all well and good for hospitals, universities and other large institutions. But a small private practice likely isn't going to want to deal with that.

 

[dennilfloss]

why are there still fax machines????

It's one of the fax of life.

Originally posted by: NSFW
Its not like every person that needs something faxed to them doesn't have email.

My family physician's office has fax but no email.

 

[Leros]

It keeps Kinko in business. I spend $3 a year at Kinkos faxing stuff.

 

[Raincity]

I seem to get better response faxing my resume than email for some reason.

 

[preCRT]

Never mind fax machines, why do they still sell/use carbon paper?

 

[0roo0roo]

like it or not many technophones don't understand email very well. its easier to understand the fax=phone dialing concept.

 

[Koing]

Becuase ghetto brokers in Egypt use fax still...

Koing