What's the Fax Jacks?

[Big Dave]

Is a fax number on business correspondence and email signatures a relic?

Or keep them there?

[NighthawkNZ]

Is a fax number on business correspondence and email signatures a relic?

Or keep them there?


Depends on the kind of business... We use the fax, and email all the time at work...

[Virago]

The Fax is still a major part of my business.

You're better off with your fax number listed on all your correspondence, rather than in the phone book (if you want to avoid spam faxes).

[Jaxi]

Is a fax number on business correspondence and email signatures a relic?

Or keep them there?

Never really thought about it before but I work at a big law firm and there is still a load of faxing going on (all electronic though, faxes arrive in users mailboxes!)

Keep it there I would say......Gives people the option.

[Hitcher]

A relic. Remove. People will only spam you.

[Ixion]

Don't get me started . TWICE in the last month I have had to deal with idiots who insist that they can only send things by fax or snail mail.

F' Gawds sake, who the hell has fax machines now? I suppose they still have Telex machines too, and write with quill pens!

This is the 21st century, not the 19th. It's time fossils came to terms with that.

NO! Do not encourage the reactionaries by suggesting that a fax number be included on letterhead.

[wysper]

F' Gawds sake, who the hell has fax machines now? I suppose they still have Telex machines too, and write with quill pens!



In some cases the form or information requires a signature and the only way to get that is fax or post.

Keep the fax number there if you have one.

[Winston001]

Still pretty essential for many small businesses. We receive and send up to 100 fax pages a day. If you want to see a contract and the person at the other end doesn't have a scanner, or no idea how to use one, fax is sweet.

Also much faster than scanning. I can handwrite a note and fax it in about 20 seconds. Scanning takes at least a couple of minutes and if the email address has one single error in it, it will never be received. Fax/phone numbers are much easier to read and get. Theres no addressbook I've ever seen for email addresses.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer email but it will be quite a few years before faxes disappear.

[Virago]

...F' Gawds sake, who the hell has fax machines now?...

Alas, the bigger the organisation, the slower they can be to change.

Some government entities, such as the Companies Office, will only accept signed documents via fax.

It may be outdated technology, but it still has its place for a while yet.

[Headbanger]

Quite happy to have a fax in the office, Plenty of big contracts (by our standards) have come spitting out of our one.

Though the dell spam is a tad unfortunate, Just one of the numerous reasons why we don't buy their crap gear.

[sels1]

We use the fax quite a bit, works and puchase orders have to be signed by the appropriate person (with the financial authority for that project) and sent to suppiers and contractors. It may be able to be done electronically, but grabbing the order book, getting the right signature, and slapping it in the fax is still the quickest and easiest way....and the accounts dept is happy.

[Swoop]

Fax spammers are easily sorted out.

Get a few sheets of black paper and tape them together to form an endless loop that goes through your fax machine.

Once "working hours" are over, reply to the nice spammers fax machine. Let the bastard arrive in the morning to an empty toner cartridge and a bin of useless paper.

You may call this a Top Tip if you like.

[CookMySock]

All the technologies are there to replace signing a piece of paper and they're trivial to use and far far more robust than pen-on-paper - why the hell people don't use it I don't get. :yawn:

I get asked twice a year "wots ur fax number?" and I tell them to scan and email it, and they go "oh yeah, ok will do - good idea!" :yes:

Steve

[NighthawkNZ]

We get a few spam faxes at work... I couple from Dell (which in the end we got our new monitors from) :doh: but since all faxes get sent to to the PC as a pdf or tiff file before they are printed we simply delete them.

Most faxes I send out are proof sheets and are directly from our data base, via PC. Since we require a signature on the proof sheet we sent them it is a lot easier for them, the promoter to just sign and fax back... (most of them are not to PC savy either) rather than to try and scan, and a send via email (which at the end of the day uses up their and your bandwidth) and is mostly to complicated for them... and takes longer to do...

There is the odd promoter I have to convert it to a PDF and email the proof, but they fax back the signed proof... :scratch:

At the end of the day it depends on your business and clients... I personally find faxing a hell of a lot quicker for what I do than email it...

[Blossom]

In some cases the form or information requires a signature and the only way to get that is fax or post.

Keep the fax number there if you have one.

What he said.
Also we have a fax/scanner/printer unit at home and its brilliant. If I ever need to sign anything for the bank or the council I can fax it and its all over in a minute... They wont take email/scanned signatures and snail mail is well snail mail.
So yeah I give out my fax number to govt dept and bank etc... well worth using.. not sure about advertising it though. You can always leave it off then give it out if ever you need to.

[NighthawkNZ]

All the technologies are there to replace signing a piece of paper and they're trivial to use and far far more robust than pen-on-paper - why the hell people don't use it I don't get. :yawn:


Takes to long for most people and a lot of people hate,... hate computers... heck I hate them... the suck

Faxing: I sign, put paper in fax machine, dial number (which is usually on the top of the paper fax header no searching required), it scans it sends... I walk away doing other jobs

Email: Sign, warm scanner up depending on scanner can take upto a minute, push the scan button, wait for the scanner to do its thing... (Most PC scanners a slower than the fax scanner as the are designed to be more precise) sends image to application... (hopefully email app if you pushed the right button) if you pushed wrong button save the image as a file, start email app, find your email address, find where you saved the file, and remember to attached the file... (breath) put in subject line like "Big tits" so your spam filters will delete it, :lol: push send... hopefully it sends ok...

And since we have to have a paper trail if it is sent via email I have to print it out anyway, so it might as well be a fax. So there is no difference at my end and I am saving nothing, (just causing head aches for our client... which is bad for business) If you client wants to send via fax allow it

A lot of people can be bothered doing that... hell I can be bother typing it... and for a lot of people its seems to complicated... may not to you or I but to most it is... I also know of about 5 of our promoters don't own computers, (and don't want to own one) at the end of the day can you blame them they suck...

[CookMySock]

Email: Sign, warm scanner up depending on scanner can take upto a minute, push the scan button, wait for the scanner to do its thing... (Most PC scanners a slower than the fax scanner as the are designed to be more precise) sends image to application... (hopefully email app if you pushed the right button) if you pushed wrong button save the image as a file, start email app, find your email address, find where you saved the file, and remember to attached the file... (breath) put in subject line like "Big tits" so your spam filters will delete it, :lol: push send... hopefully it sends ok...:no: Yeah thats a complete crock of shit. You need a differnt email app.

Read email, click reply, click security, click sign, click send. Go make coffee. Reading took 25 seconds, signing took 1.4 seconds, sending - instant. Easy, fast, secure!

Steve

[Winston001]

:no: Yeah thats a complete crock of shit. You need a differnt email app.

Read email, click reply, click security, click sign, click send. Go make coffee. Reading took 25 seconds, signing took 1.4 seconds, sending - instant. Easy, fast, secure!

Steve

Nonsense. Electronic signatures are of no use to banks, finance companies, government departments, LINZ, local authorities etc etc.......

In fact these days, not only are we required to witness and hold physical signatures, but also copies of photograhic identification. Which then gets faxed if its urgent.

[Ixion]

Nonsense. Electronic signatures are of no use to banks, finance companies, government departments, LINZ, local authorities etc etc.......

..

Then they should consult a calendar and come out of the 19th century.

[CookMySock]

Nonsense. Electronic signatures are of no use to banks, finance companies, government departments, LINZ, local authorities etc etc.......LOL. Was it mr gates with his famous quote "32k of RAM is all computers will need."


Then they should consult a calendar and come out of the 19th century.Yep. Digital signatures are the ideal way to prove that you are you. They are instant and undenyably secure.

Alternative email suites have had inbuilt digital signing and encrypting for some years. The only real reason banks aren't using it, is because there isn't a product for their clients to use. But there are many.

Steve

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[Tank]

LOL. Was it mr gates with his famous quote "32k of RAM is all computers will need."


No - he said 64k - then they made the base 640k being 10x the max he believed.

[Winston001]

Yep. Digital signatures are the ideal way to prove that you are you. They are instant and undenyably secure.

Alternative email suites have had inbuilt digital signing and encrypting for some years. The only real reason banks aren't using it, is because there isn't a product for their clients to use. But there are many.



You guys really don't get it do you. I often witness signatures and identification for Philippine farm workers - they don't have electronic signatures, and even if they did, I sure as hell wouldn't accept them. Passports only plus verifiable signature.

In fact I can't think of anyone I know who has a secure electronic signature.

The only secure method ultimately is from an embedded micro-chip in a person's body plus retinal scan.

Anyway, I'm sure faxes will fade away eventually but not until we have simple strong secure personal phone/comps. That still wouldn't help where a simple form needed to be filled in and transmitted, although a high-res pic-phone is one answer.