Cold Hard Fax
Only three faxes last year! Is it worth it? Photo by herby_fr
Dirty Fax
My print/scan/copy/fax unit has been insulting me.
First it said my black toner was ‘old’ (after all I did for it).
Now it says my yellow printhead ‘isn’t there’ (though it is).
What it really means is the printhead needs replacing (thank you Sonia).
Like the magenta one last year.
Are black and cyan next?
Seems I need a new unit.
This could cost $1000.
Do I need a fax?
Quick Fax
In 2009, I sent no faxes.
I received three, two of which were spam.
The other was a receipt, which now comes by email.
My fax line costs $3/month.
Can I ignore the fax?
Fax Checking
A fax number used to be the sign of a professional business.
These days, some people don’t even have land lines.
Will it hurt my brand if I stick it to the fax?
Fax Me
Do you still send and receive faxes?
If so, why aren’t they emails?
If not, did you save money buying a faxless combo unit?
If so, what did you buy, what did you save and how’s it going?
I gotta get my fax straight.
Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire
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Our friends at @Carbonite made the comment to me over Twitter that ’sometimes its quicker to fax than sign, scan and email’…I tend to agree, if your work involves lots of sign-offs. And I don’t know about you, but I like to mark up design work on hard copy, which is much easier to fax.
Hi, Megan. I see their point and I hope we get a variety of other industry commentators.
I optimise a lot of product pagacking (boxes) for fans, heaters and other appliances. They come to me as PDFs. I mark them up in Acrobat and email them back.
As this is very detailed four-colour printing (photos, diagrams, reverse type) and the boxes are quite large in two dimensions, there’s no way we could do this by fax.
I even prefer to do little DL brochures via emailed PDF. This could be due to the obsessive level of detail I bring to the work. If it’s out by a micron, it HAS to be fixed! I can’t be that pedantic by fax either!
Can’t wait to see what everyone else says.
Ooh! You’ve gotta be pretty chuffed with that one Cobba?
I reckon you might be reformatting the ‘Ha’ in Haiku?
I’m at risk of becoming ‘enfaxuated’…Ooh! Ok! My bad
What crax my fax is that the only time I’ve used a fax in the last 10 years has been under the duress of Banks or Lawyers, who argue that they are legally bound to require faxes for some forms of communication.
So on those occasions I dust off my ol’ Microsoft Fax Software (that yet comes standard with Windows Operating Systems).
Yep! Same PC, same phone lines, same everything…slightly different software.
Ah Yes! Good ol’ Constant & Never Ending Improvement! It’s such a comfort that such artifax of common-sense and efficiency have shaped and are shaping the minds of generations, don’t you think?
Good luck with gettin’ those fax straight mate…on a planet where 1+1 doesn’t necessarily equal 2, those of us that dream of straight fax certainly are getting our work cut-out…
Cheers
Stephen G
Nice one, Stephen. You’re right; I think I did whack a bit of Basho in that one.
With regard to banks, a nice lass who retweeted this post responded to my question ‘Are faxes dead?’ with ‘God I hope so. Although banks cling on 2 these archaic machines with vengeance.’
That’s two data points. Perhaps we can draw a word from the finance sector before I join the dots to get a donkey!
Hi Megan
Did you ask @Carbonite where their hard copy comes from in the first place? Do they print it from digital copies?
Such practices would only be required when the original is actually in hard copy and arrives so on my desk and I’m unable to access a digital copy…pretty uncommon these days.
A single scan of one’s signature?
…and if that’s not enough, ’secure’ digital signatures have been around for a long time…no printing required at either end.
Cheers
Stephen G
I just did this shout out on Twitter:
‘Does your #bank still use #faxes? Our balanced debate seeks a #finance sector comment: http://bit.ly/6KEd8b ‘
By using the hashtags (#) I knew anyone with a Twitter watching brief on ‘bank’, ‘faxes’ or ‘finance’ would get a heads up.
Sure enough, a chap I’ve never seen before, ‘D’, gave permission to use his comments:
‘Faxes still in common use in financial institutions. Aside from operational uses, customers ask if docs can be faxed through.
‘Plenty of ppl still don’t have email. Fax offers an efficient/accessible means for them to quickly send an image of a document.’
Good points. As we learned in our printed Yellow Pages debate, latte-sipping townies do not rule the cosmos. Thank you, D, for your perspective.
How nifty are those jolly hashtags?!
I’m with Stephen. We use the Microsoft Fax software and its not much harder than a fax machine. It integrates directly to the scanner so you type in the recipient phone number and it scans and sends. Works a treat for outbound.
For inbound, you’d need to keep your PC on for any unexpected faxes coming across your landline, or do what we do..only give out our fax number on the odd occasion its required and only worry about the faxes that com in during business time when the PC is on anyway.
Re banks, when finalising my mortgage paperwork they didnt even wanna know about faxes-only the originals please via Australia Post. Dont see how it makes any difference. If I email them a PDF that they print it looks identical anyway. Methinks there’s some ancient law which has not yet caught up with technology. Thank goodness they update it for the post so we dont need stone tablets or sheckels!
Thanks for that, Sonia (and for your help yesterday).
I wonder if there’s a PC that can go on standby to save power, but wake up in time to receive faxes.
Otherwise, you’ve got your 450 W power source (plus a possible graphics card & fan) churning day and night for the odd chance of a missive.
As always, I greatly appreciate your input.
Hi Paul:
I loathe fax machines. But I keep one around for the handful of clients who want to fax info–it happens about once a year. And good thing it’s so infrequent because the fax toner cost $75!
I write a lot of healthcare copy and work with with physicians. Doctors adore antiquated technology. Sometimes they fax materials written in longhand–physicians’ longhand, i.e.: Unreadable.
All that said, I don’t think it would hurt your brand if you axed the fax. It kind of implies cool, more-digital-than-thou branding. ; >
Hi, Lorraine. I always feel good when you swing by our neck of the planet.
You’ve added just the sort of additional perspective I was hoping to get. Now I want to hit up some medicos for a comment. Thanks also for adding to my confidence with the axe. Best regards, P.
Impressive use of social media on the fly to ask a question of the web-o-sphere Paul. This whole interim net thing might just catch on.
The fax on my multifunction gets about a quarterly gig … it’s certainly handy at such times. Perhaps, if printing, scanning and copying, the fax functionality is no trouble to bolt on anyway.
Nice discussion. Good to remember we aren’t all just twitting from our iFaxes.
Thanks, Adam. This intramanet certainly is a multifarious beast.
Last year I turned part of a PDF blog pitch (downloadable from my website) into an article which I emailed to a prospective client in New Zealand.
Today they ran it as part of their newsletter, which was emailed to clients but also available online.
I just tweeted that link to my 9600 bestest mates. Now we’re sharing metrics.
The prospect is telling me how many people are reading the article. And I’m telling them how many are clicking from the article through to my website.
You need more than two cans and a bit of string these days!
I’ve been using mBox’s virtual fax service since I started my business, and I’m even getting rid of that now.
Faxing is wasteful, its reproduction quality is awful and it’s hideously expensive. Factor in how much paper, ink and phone line time that is wasted by massive fax farms that can send 100,000 spam faxes per hour (no lie), and I think faxes should be banned.
Nice one, Luke. Never heard of mBox. But I’m right with you on all your other points. Welcome back!
Another comment received via Twitter from @l_enigma:
I still need a fax – it enables those w/out access to email to still communicate w/out me being there, and when computers/accounts/servers are not working – it still enables written communication
Thanks for that Megan – I’m a little technology shy sometimes and always have some old technology around somewhere – just comes with the territory.
Sometimes old in an emergency can be a life-saver – literally. It was only recently that I had a power-of-attorney faxed through because there were no computers/phone lines – due to fires and that piece of paper saved many problems when getting things sorted out.
I didn’t even know it was coming, it was there when I got home with a note explaining what I needed to do. (had been sent from a Post Office some 40km away.
BTW – if anyone has an old fax – I’m happy to give it a new home – the old one got fried with the most recent lightening strike LOL.
@Paul: nice to be back! Sorry, I only tend to jump on when I see a topic I have experience with
@l_enigma via Megan, clients without access to email do not interest me. Our businesses are probably quite different, but I firmly believe in choosing my clients, and I expect my clientele to be modern communicators … it makes everything easier. I’ve actually seriously considered ditching my landline on this basis. So far I’ve put it on a super-short dial time before it goes to a voicemail message encouraging the caller to email me. The next step will probably be removing the number from my website and stationery. My fax number (soon to expire) hasn’t been general knowledge for a couple of years now.
Productivity considerations come into this for me too. Fewer possible avenues of communication = few interruptions = higher productivity. So if a business really needs to keep an incoming fax service, I highly recommend getting your faxes delivered by email
Now Paul, don’t say I didn’t patiently wait and give you ample opportunity to say this first…Ok?
ONYA SONYA!!!
Today Small Business Owner Blog, tomorrow ‘ze vorlt’ or ‘ze urrss’, or votever dus ze blowink-up of da skirtz… 
But Seriously…always good to see you Sonya
Good call too Luke…and good to see you back
Yep! I ditched my landline…in a world with so many communication options, a lot can get lost in the wash. When I was a sole trader way back in ‘2 months ago’ 
, I liked to have one phone and one email so I didn’t miss anyone. Worked for me.
Of course that’s a whole ‘nuther story for a larger business or company…which is where I’m going next. Ooh! That reminds me: Paul? Can I do a brazened, unabashed plug for the next evolution of noSh-it! Wood-Fired Pizza? It’s a noSh-it! R-Evolution…Doh!
Cheers
Stephen G
Re Comment from Luke Arms. What an uncommunicative business owner you seem to be. Assuming that you actually want to communicate with your clients, isn’t it true that in this day and age, the more options you give people to connect with you the better, eg facebook, twitter, blogs etc.
Whilst you state that you want choose and work with only “modern” clients, closing down options will surely restrict potential clients finding you, or perhaps you have so many clients you don’t need any more.
I had a fax this morning with a $3K product and service order. We send very few, but I love the product orders coming in by fax. It’s just one more way to communicate.
Nice one, Stephen; you beat me to it!
Please plug your evolution update straight into our three-phase power supply and knock yourself out! Thank you for the courtesy of asking, but I reckon you’ve earned the right to cross promote.
My thanks to Luke, I_enigma and Marlyn K for revealing far more depth to this debate than I ever envisaged while writing the post. I learn something here every day.
@Maralyn: I’m a photographer. My primary clientele is domestic. My business is primarily carried out online. Business that comes in via phone is typically from people who haven’t seen my work and therefore can only compare me with my competitors on the basis of price. I do not want those people as clients. I only want people who are excited about being photographed by me. I believe in selling my services an experience, not as a product. And yes, I have plenty of work
Would the way I’ve built my business be a good fit for every business? Of course not. But to suggest that I’m “uncommunicative” because I deliberately focus on communicating where it matters for the clientele I target is a bit … well, old-fashioned at least
Luke – well my post garnered a response, so I guess you’re not so uncommunicative after all. LOL
Domestic clients would certainly seem to have less opportunity for using a fax but I still question the wisdom of closing any line of potential communication – old fashioned that it may be.
You certainly have to get in quickly with a comment here or be religated to comment 1047. You have an impressive following Mr. Hassing and it’s getting bigger by the week it seems!
Anyway I found my home fax unplugged from the phone line last week and I can only assume it had been that way for many months. It was then relegated to the hard rubbish where it remained until collection while a broken cane chair was snapped up by some thifty junk nomad.
Enough said.
Thank you, Maralyn. In both world wars, carrier pigeons were sometimes the ONLY way to get messages through. Birds won medals for ‘bravery’ and their messages literally saved lives.
This medium is rather less popular now. The same goes for heliographs, telegrams and telexes (all vital in their times).
I do see your point about not slamming doors in people’s faces. However, I also respect Luke’s wish to filter out unsophisticated ‘tyre kickers’ so he can do his best for his A-List clients.
I’m grateful to both of you for raising your points. I’m even more grateful that we can retain the civil tone of this forum.
Nice anecdote, Malcolm. Maybe you live in a fax blackout zone and the cane ended up in a smoke signal fire!
Thanks for your kind words. Our community does seem to be thriving. Great stuff! 
@Maralyn: I hear where you’re coming from, but I think there is more wisdom to be found in creating a product or service so desirable that people will contact you by whatever means possible in order to buy it. If having a fax number really is the difference between getting an order and not getting an order, it might be time for the business in question to look for new ways to differentiate itself.
Thanks mate
Nothin’ smancy, just a link to my blog. In the spirit of noSh-it!, I’ve kept the openness & ‘warts ‘n all’ thing happenin’…so because the ideas are still organising and very much up for discussion, it’s probably not the easiest of reads from me…but ya get that
Anyway, gotta start somewhere
. I do hope to engage some interested folks, as this time it’s definitely not a ‘one man show’. 
Thanks Paul and Megan and folks for your good will in allowing me this indulgence and opportunity.
Oh! That’s right…the link
– the link 
Cheers
Stephen G
I hate fax machines/faxes/faxing. But some people either prefer to, or need to use this antiquated method. So they’re not totally dead yet.
I don’t use any faxing software either; I just don’t have the need to send or receive faxes. But for those that do fax, I’d recommend looking into your option in this regard. It may be worth pointing there are two general ways to go here:
1. PC/Server based faxing software (like Stephen & Sonia mention) – this still requires a landline connection, but you can toss the fax machine. A good option if you rarely use a fax machine, as this will save you money maintaining it (a key point in Paul’s post above). You still pay for the line rental/call costs.
2. Online fax services (possibly what Luke was refering to?) – Doesn’t require a landline, or a fax machine. Usually operates via email. Costs vary, but you have no expenses for landlines or equipment as you only need an internet connection. (BTW – if you still think you need a phone service bundled with your internet, think again). This isn’t always cheaper, but it has the big advantage that you can easily send and receive faxes from anywhere in the world.
NB: As a non-user, I am not in a position to give specific advice about different faxing software or online services. I just thought it was a point worth making.
Luke Faxing is only one of any number of ways of communicating and it’s certainly not the only way in which we receive orders.
Yes, like you I dislike tyre kickers and those who shop on price alone. Price shoppers ignore the depth of knowledge, experience and bloody hard work that goes into making a premium product/service that many others are unable to match.
Let me just say, Stephen H, that your ‘non-user’ points are better than a truckload of ‘expert’ advice I’ve received over the years. Thanks, yet again, for being so generous with your knowledge.
Stephen H: re faxing software still needing a landline, yes you’re right but you can use the landline that your ADSL service uses (assuming it’s a normal full service line and not a ‘naked’ DSL service).
Luke: It’s interesting to see a photographer employ the ’selective client’ methodology. We’re certainly at the stage in our I.T. business where our clients have to fit a certain shape & attitude before we’ll work with them. It may sound kinda snobby, but we can’t work as effectively or deliver the best results for our clients if we’re trying to be all things to all people. I know a great story of an accountant who sacked 80% of his clients and his business took off. Could be another blog post topic in this one, Paul!
I hear you, Sonia. I’ve read about the 80:20 rule too often not to believe it.
Concentrating on A-list clients is good for you and good for them. C’s and D’s – the ones who spend bugger money all but never stop complaining – deserve new homes far away.
‘Sacking’ clients or letting them drift away is utterly counter intuitive to an (especially new) business. But, as you’ve heard, the payoffs are huge.
And when we have fun, our clients have fun. And everyone lives long and prospers. You’re spot on about that blog post, Sonia. Thanks for the idea.
Sonia – using a naked DSL service was what I was hinting at there. I wasn’t very clear on that point. Thanks for pointing that out.
It is going off on a bit of a tangent, but I see value in using naked DSL services.
For those who don’t know what naked DSL means, it is where the DSL isn’t provisioned over a line with a phone number. On the upside, this means you don’t pay line rental (last time I checked it was about $30/month). The downside is that you cannot receive normal telephone services over this line, although in my opinion this can be largely negated using VoIP and online faxing services.