Fax it to you? Seriously?

[James Burke]

Twice this week I've been asked to fax documents. The first company was the so called "high tech" telephone company that also provides Internet services and so on. They said they can't receive emails with attached documents.

The second company was a publishing company (go figure). Their excuse was that they receive "too many" emails and it's difficult to sort through them get the information they need.

I don't know about you, but my desk-top real estate is at a premium and I pitched out our fax years ago in favor of a scanner, copier, printer.

So...just how much is the fax still used?


JB

 

[chrisphilipps]

We have both customers and vendors that insist on faxing. We use send2fax.com instead of having a fax machine.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

None of my customers and no one that is a vendor of mine, have qualms about getting everything via email.

I could understand this maybe in the '90s, early '00, but not now. They may still have/use a fax machine, but not something that they prefer that use over something else, especially emails.

Either change with the times or the times change you.

The only legitimate reason for still needing a fax machine or requesting a fax, that I can understand, is if you are dealing with a company in an area that doesn't recognize digital signatures as binding, while signatures on faxes are.

 

[CanuckSigns]

We have a few clients who still insist on sending orders in via fax, a couple are lawyers and a few schools. The fax machine seems to still be king in the legal profession. I'm waiting for our fax machine to finally die so I can switch over to a fax2email service.

 

[James Burke]

The only legitimate reason for still needing a fax machine or requesting a fax, that I can understand, is if you are dealing with a company in an area that doesn't recognize digital signatures as binding, while signatures on faxes are.

Perhaps, but....you can still print, sign, scan and email legal documents.



JB

 

[GAC05]

If you don't have a fax how are you going to get camera ready MS Office artwork from government agencies?


wayne k
guam usa

 

[SignosaurusRex]

:dog42

 

[Speedsterbeast]

Tell them this

 

[bob]

...The only legitimate reason for still needing a fax machine or requesting a fax, that I can understand, is if you are dealing with a company in an area that doesn't recognize digital signatures as binding, while signatures on faxes are.

Interesting since a signature on a fax and on an email attachment are functionally identical. Both are an optical scan of exactly the same thing. Your mark.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Interesting since a signature on a fax and on an email attachment are functionally identical. Both are an optical scan of exactly the same thing. Your mark.

I didn't say I agreed with it, I am just saying that some laws are behind the times. I also didn't say that it was the case here either.

However, I can actually bypass the scan part of the equation. Open Acrobat Pro (there are other programs that this can be done in, but more often then not contracts are PDFs and in that case, I like to use Acrobat Pro), use Wacom Cintiq, apply signature, save and then resend. No scanning involved. All done digitally. So while an emailed attachment maybe an optical scan of your mark, it doesn't always mean that it is.

You can also save your signature, just like rubber stamp signatures, in a file and if someone does get access to it, apply that as well without your knowledge. There are ways to where it technically wasn't you that applied the signature in a digital environment (in an analog environment as well (signature rubber stamp), however, since far more people are digital, the odds of being exposed digitally are greater, I don't know many people that still use the traditional rubber stamp version of their signature versus people that have drawing tablets etc).

 

[Brink]

I still have FAX capability. (both through an actual machine and through a smart phone app) I find that it is rarely used. I use email too but don't try to "contact me" though email as I get thousands per day and totally ignore email unless someone calls me to alert me to the fact one should be expected. Communication via email is much like talking on the CB radio, too much noise and not enough useful conversation.

 

[Marlene]

still use a fax here and not a snob to those who still use one.

 

[HDvinyl]

Snobs are fax of life.

 

[Gino]

We have Windows 'fax & scan'. It's easy and doesn't use any paper, ink or any other substance, unless I choose to print something out. It just comes into my computer and I view it by clicking one button. I can fax out the same way from basically any program on my computer. It really comes in handy, sometimes.

I don't mind people using the fax, telephone or e-mail. I also don't mind people stopping in, in person or goggling us on the internet. Whatever tool they choose is Okay by me. Whether they or us are up to date doesn't bother me, just so long as we provide every possible means for our customers or potential customers to get a hold of us..... is all that matters.

Would you get upset if someone came into your place of business in a Mercedes or on a uni-cycle ?? Their money all spends the same from what I remember. ​

 

[Z SIGNS]

What's a fax ?

 

[Gino]

What's a fax ?

A fax (short for facsimile and sometimes called telecopying) is the telephonic transmission of scanned-in printed material (text or images), usually to a telephone number associated with a printer or other output device. The original document is scanned with a fax machine, which treats the contents (text or images) as a single fixed graphic image, converting it into a bitmap. In this digital form, the information is transmitted as electrical signals through the telephone system. The receiving fax machine reconverts the coded image and prints a paper copy of the document.

 

[fresh]

i like my fax machine. its a lot easier to type one number in, load the document, and hit send than it is to scan it, make sure the scan looks correct, attach it to an email, address the email and then hit send.

in all honestly, i would like to switch over to a digital fax service, but i need to do more research.

 

[bob]

I didn't say I agreed with it, I am just saying that some laws are behind the times. I also didn't say that it was the case here either.

However, I can actually bypass the scan part of the equation. Open Acrobat Pro (there are other programs that this can be done in, but more often then not contracts are PDFs and in that case, I like to use Acrobat Pro), use Wacom Cintiq, apply signature, save and then resend. No scanning involved. All done digitally. So while an emailed attachment maybe an optical scan of your mark, it doesn't always mean that it is.

You can also save your signature, just like rubber stamp signatures, in a file and if someone does get access to it, apply that as well without your knowledge. There are ways to where it technically wasn't you that applied the signature in a digital environment (in an analog environment as well (signature rubber stamp), however, since far more people are digital, the odds of being exposed digitally are greater, I don't know many people that still use the traditional rubber stamp version of their signature versus people that have drawing tablets etc).

Your mark is your mark. It's whatever you say it is and whatever you want it to be. Scrawling with a writing instrument, a rubber stamp, a scanned image, or horking onto a document. Whatever you choose to use, it's intended to show that you actually have been there. None of it does that but horking a booger comes closest since it might leave behind a bit of DNA..

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

i like my fax machine. its a lot easier to type one number in, load the document, and hit send than it is to scan it, make sure the scan looks correct, attach it to an email, address the email and then hit send.

in all honestly, i would like to switch over to a digital fax service, but i need to do more research.

I'm with ya. Fax is so much easier. We have an HP printer/scanner/copier/AND fax machine. 4 in 1. Not that big of a deal and a lot of our customers prefer faxing, as well.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Your mark is your mark. It's whatever you say it is and whatever you want it to be. Scrawling with a writing instrument, a rubber stamp, a scanned image, or horking onto a document. Whatever you choose to use, it's intended to show that you actually have been there. None of it actually does that but horking a booger comes closest since it might leave behind a bit of DNA..

Your missing the point.

Interesting since a signature on a fax and on an email attachment are functionally identical. Both are an optical scan of exactly the same thing. Your mark.

You said that a fax and an attached email are both scanned images of your mark. While that may not necessarily be the case. The argument that I was making on rather it was scanned or not in an email attachment like you said. Not rather or not it was your mark or not by using whatever different means.

I would imagine (although in my non-legal mind) that it's differences like this as to why some things are or are not allowed depending on what it is that you are sending and how you are sending it.

I'm not saying that I agree with it, that I like it or any thing else that you might want to conclude from that that I haven't thought of.