4 ms·

I had to use a Fax machine in 2018. In the United States. As the only acceptable way to submit certain documents. I should also point to non-Unitedstatians tha

I had to use a Fax machine in 2018. In the United States. As the only acceptable way to submit certain documents. I should also point to non-Unitedstatians that checks (that physical paper worth as much money as you write and sign on it) are still in use in the USA.

14 6y ago
Checks still in use in Canada as well. I had a person today tell me they had 3 checks stolen and cashed and my response was “people still use checks?”.
- ghostpepper 6y ago
  In Canada it's spelled cheque, I have no idea why. </pedantry>
- ryandrake 6y ago
  The demise of checks is greatly exaggerated. I've written about 70 or so checks in the last 5 years. Mostly: Property taxes, home improvement contractors, dues for various clubs and social groups, kids activities, and some mail-in retailers who simply don't take credit card. That's leaving out the "automatic bill pay" function of my bank's web site, which, for most payees, at the end of the day results in physical paper checks being printed and sent in envelopes.
  - wastholm 6y ago
    > The demise of checks is greatly exaggerated. That varies a lot by jurisdiction. I'm 50 and I haven't written a single check in my entire life. (Sweden.)
    - wdb 6y ago
      Yeah, only cashed in checks from US and U.K. Each time I need to find out how to do it! Think three checks in 40years ain’t bad
  - tomjen3 6y ago
    I have only ever paid once with a check here in Denmark. I won't ever do it again, because no bank that I know of will issue a paper check.
- jeromegv 6y ago
  Still in us but much less than the US. Interac bank transfer has cut on a lot of that usage.
dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
For the SS-4 form, to get the Employer Identification Number, you have to either make a phone call (fairly long, half na hour in my case), send a fax (and get the EIN in 4 days) or apply by email and... wait 4-5 weeks! [0] [0] https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iss4 https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iss4
bityard 6y ago
I still use checks because in the US there are certain things you can't use a credit card for, e.g. loan payments. I pay contractors with checks because almost none accept credit cards and cash gets cumbersome once you start getting into 4 and 5 digits. My local utilities all charge a "convenience fee" of a few dollars when paying online or with a credit card. Sending a check in the mail costs me only $0.50. (Even though it costs them some employee's wages to handle my envelope and cash the check. Go figure.) Checks are also convenient for transferring small amounts of money to friends and family. Yes, there is Paypal and the like and some of them don't even charge fees but I trust my bank way more than I trust a random company with direct access to my bank account. (Paypal in particular have proven over and over again to be untrustworthy in this regard, which is why not only do I have two Paypal accounts--one for buying and one for selling--but I also have a special "firewall" account between PayPal and my main checking account. This is so that the most they can grab is a couple hundred dollars on average, rather than some arbitrary fraction of my life's savings.) Checks are sometimes the easiest (or only) way to move large amounts of money between my own accounts. There was a time where most online bank accounts would let you make ACH ("electronic checks") transfers to any other account, but they seem to be moving away from this, I presume due to its high use in fraud.
- elzbardico 6y ago
  Can't you use a wire-transfer or an ACH transfer? All those use cases are easily solved with electronic transactions in most of Europe, Asia and even in Latin American countries like brazil. They are usually inexpensive or free and instantaneous.
  - com2kid 6y ago
    Wire transfers from my bank in the US require me to call up and make a request. Writing a check is the fastest way for me to transfer between two accounts. :(
  - josephg 6y ago
    Australia too. Electronic transfers here are free and instant. When I used to rent I just set up a recurring payment through my bank’s website (free and easy, with any bank to any bank). Now my mortgage gets taken out each month automatically via a direct deposit authorisation. (ACH equivalent).
scruple 6y ago
I maintain a legacy service at work (I originally wrote it back in 2014) that is responsible for sending eFaxes from our various other services and platforms. It's one of the most internally trafficked services we have. We're in the healthcare space. Almost every document created on our different platforms results in a fax being sent.

14 6y ago

Checks still in use in Canada as well. I had a person today tell me they had 3 checks stolen and cashed and my response was “people still use checks?”.

ghostpepper 6y ago
In Canada it's spelled cheque, I have no idea why. </pedantry>
ryandrake 6y ago
The demise of checks is greatly exaggerated. I've written about 70 or so checks in the last 5 years. Mostly: Property taxes, home improvement contractors, dues for various clubs and social groups, kids activities, and some mail-in retailers who simply don't take credit card. That's leaving out the "automatic bill pay" function of my bank's web site, which, for most payees, at the end of the day results in physical paper checks being printed and sent in envelopes.
- wastholm 6y ago
  > The demise of checks is greatly exaggerated. That varies a lot by jurisdiction. I'm 50 and I haven't written a single check in my entire life. (Sweden.)
  - wdb 6y ago
    Yeah, only cashed in checks from US and U.K. Each time I need to find out how to do it! Think three checks in 40years ain’t bad
- tomjen3 6y ago
  I have only ever paid once with a check here in Denmark. I won't ever do it again, because no bank that I know of will issue a paper check.
jeromegv 6y ago
Still in us but much less than the US. Interac bank transfer has cut on a lot of that usage.

dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago

For the SS-4 form, to get the Employer Identification Number, you have to either make a phone call (fairly long, half na hour in my case), send a fax (and get the EIN in 4 days) or apply by email and... wait 4-5 weeks! [0] [0] https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iss4 https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iss4

bityard 6y ago

I still use checks because in the US there are certain things you can't use a credit card for, e.g. loan payments. I pay contractors with checks because almost none accept credit cards and cash gets cumbersome once you start getting into 4 and 5 digits. My local utilities all charge a "convenience fee" of a few dollars when paying online or with a credit card. Sending a check in the mail costs me only $0.50. (Even though it costs them some employee's wages to handle my envelope and cash the check. Go figure.) Checks are also convenient for transferring small amounts of money to friends and family. Yes, there is Paypal and the like and some of them don't even charge fees but I trust my bank way more than I trust a random company with direct access to my bank account. (Paypal in particular have proven over and over again to be untrustworthy in this regard, which is why not only do I have two Paypal accounts--one for buying and one for selling--but I also have a special "firewall" account between PayPal and my main checking account. This is so that the most they can grab is a couple hundred dollars on average, rather than some arbitrary fraction of my life's savings.) Checks are sometimes the easiest (or only) way to move large amounts of money between my own accounts. There was a time where most online bank accounts would let you make ACH ("electronic checks") transfers to any other account, but they seem to be moving away from this, I presume due to its high use in fraud.

elzbardico 6y ago
Can't you use a wire-transfer or an ACH transfer? All those use cases are easily solved with electronic transactions in most of Europe, Asia and even in Latin American countries like brazil. They are usually inexpensive or free and instantaneous.
- com2kid 6y ago
  Wire transfers from my bank in the US require me to call up and make a request. Writing a check is the fastest way for me to transfer between two accounts. :(
- josephg 6y ago
  Australia too. Electronic transfers here are free and instant. When I used to rent I just set up a recurring payment through my bank’s website (free and easy, with any bank to any bank). Now my mortgage gets taken out each month automatically via a direct deposit authorisation. (ACH equivalent).

scruple 6y ago

I maintain a legacy service at work (I originally wrote it back in 2014) that is responsible for sending eFaxes from our various other services and platforms. It's one of the most internally trafficked services we have. We're in the healthcare space. Almost every document created on our different platforms results in a fax being sent.