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>14. He’ll Never Use a Fax Machine This one being in the list surprised me. I was born more than 20 years earlier and I don't think I've ever seen a fax machi

>14. He’ll Never Use a Fax Machine This one being in the list surprised me. I was born more than 20 years earlier and I don't think I've ever seen a fax machine in action, let alone used one.

ghaff 6y ago
Doctor's office or lab in the US. Although this is slowly changing. And I did have to fax something a few months ago, albeit using an online fax service.
cptskippy 6y ago
That's because dedicated fax machines mostly died out in the late 90s when multi-function machines and software modems arrived. I was working at Office Max at the time and the transition happened fast. We went from having more than eight dedicated fax machine models down to one or two. The first multi-function machines looked like fax machines and could function without a PC but we're so much better when connected to a PC. Cheap software modems allowed people to send and receive faxes without owning a dedicated machine. I remember eMachines bundled software with their PCs to make them effectively behave like a fax machine. Later they pushed the eFax internet based fax software. It's crazy that many business transactions still require Fax but the machines don't really exist. We needed to send/receive faxes to purchase a home last year as PDF/email was unacceptable. I was able to create a virtual Fax Server using Twilio in a couple hours and deal with these silly requirements. Sadly Twilio is shutting down their Fax service later this year and the suggested alternative is vastly more expensive.
- AnimalMuppet 6y ago
  I had the same thing with a refi. They said they needed to send me a fax, have me sign it and send it back. I asked them what millennium they thought it was. They looked at me for a second, then said "We can send it as an email attachment". So I suspect that they don't require fax. Fax is their normal way of operating, but it's not a legal requirement or something. It's just their default, and they'd rather not have to deal with changing it for you. But who's paying who? Oh, I'm paying them? Then they can forget making me jump through their obsolete technology hoops. No, they can figure out a way to send me the documents that I'm already set up to handle.
kelnos 6y ago
I was born 30 years earlier, and I have used a fax machine, but only a few times, and interestingly only within the last 15 years. You're fairly likely to have to use one even today if you end up in certain places (Japan, Germany) or in certain businesses (medical, restaurant delivery). Then again, I bet many of these have the physical fax machine replaced by digital fax services. It's ironic, because a PDF would obviously be higher quality and faster to transmit, but some places still require fax but will accept you "faxing" a PDF via an online service, which then gets received by a fax-to-email service.
- presentation 6y ago
  Since moving to Japan I am so grateful that every convenience store has a coin operated fax machine!
allenu 6y ago
I sadly had to use one recently and it was to fax documents to the IRS. Their only two options were fax or mail the documents. No email. Thankfully I had a scanner (in a box somewhere) and found an online service that faxes PDFs on your behalf. I've also had to fax documents to immigration (again, government). I guess my point is if you're dealing with the government, you'll probably have to fax something at some point.
- frosted-flakes 6y ago
  If you have a landline, you can send a fax from your PC with just a $15 USB fax modem. Windows has built-in faxing software (Windows Fax and Scan) that is dead simple to use. Have you ever noticed that "Fax" is also one of the default printers? Yeah, me neither, until I saw a YouTube video on it. Just plug a phone line into the modem, print to "Fax" from any program, enter the fax number, and hit Send.
  - allenu 6y ago
    Heh, I don't have landline today, but I do remember having a fax modem in the '90s and using it once before. Before WFH I would normally just use the office's fax machine but because of the pandemic it wasn't an option.

>14. He’ll Never Use a Fax Machine This one being in the list surprised me. I was born more than 20 years earlier and I don't think I've ever seen a fax machine in action, let alone used one.

ghaff 6y ago

Doctor's office or lab in the US. Although this is slowly changing. And I did have to fax something a few months ago, albeit using an online fax service.

cptskippy 6y ago

That's because dedicated fax machines mostly died out in the late 90s when multi-function machines and software modems arrived. I was working at Office Max at the time and the transition happened fast. We went from having more than eight dedicated fax machine models down to one or two. The first multi-function machines looked like fax machines and could function without a PC but we're so much better when connected to a PC. Cheap software modems allowed people to send and receive faxes without owning a dedicated machine. I remember eMachines bundled software with their PCs to make them effectively behave like a fax machine. Later they pushed the eFax internet based fax software. It's crazy that many business transactions still require Fax but the machines don't really exist. We needed to send/receive faxes to purchase a home last year as PDF/email was unacceptable. I was able to create a virtual Fax Server using Twilio in a couple hours and deal with these silly requirements. Sadly Twilio is shutting down their Fax service later this year and the suggested alternative is vastly more expensive.

AnimalMuppet 6y ago
I had the same thing with a refi. They said they needed to send me a fax, have me sign it and send it back. I asked them what millennium they thought it was. They looked at me for a second, then said "We can send it as an email attachment". So I suspect that they don't require fax. Fax is their normal way of operating, but it's not a legal requirement or something. It's just their default, and they'd rather not have to deal with changing it for you. But who's paying who? Oh, I'm paying them? Then they can forget making me jump through their obsolete technology hoops. No, they can figure out a way to send me the documents that I'm already set up to handle.

kelnos 6y ago

I was born 30 years earlier, and I have used a fax machine, but only a few times, and interestingly only within the last 15 years. You're fairly likely to have to use one even today if you end up in certain places (Japan, Germany) or in certain businesses (medical, restaurant delivery). Then again, I bet many of these have the physical fax machine replaced by digital fax services. It's ironic, because a PDF would obviously be higher quality and faster to transmit, but some places still require fax but will accept you "faxing" a PDF via an online service, which then gets received by a fax-to-email service.

presentation 6y ago
Since moving to Japan I am so grateful that every convenience store has a coin operated fax machine!

allenu 6y ago

I sadly had to use one recently and it was to fax documents to the IRS. Their only two options were fax or mail the documents. No email. Thankfully I had a scanner (in a box somewhere) and found an online service that faxes PDFs on your behalf. I've also had to fax documents to immigration (again, government). I guess my point is if you're dealing with the government, you'll probably have to fax something at some point.

frosted-flakes 6y ago
If you have a landline, you can send a fax from your PC with just a $15 USB fax modem. Windows has built-in faxing software (Windows Fax and Scan) that is dead simple to use. Have you ever noticed that "Fax" is also one of the default printers? Yeah, me neither, until I saw a YouTube video on it. Just plug a phone line into the modem, print to "Fax" from any program, enter the fax number, and hit Send.
- allenu 6y ago
  Heh, I don't have landline today, but I do remember having a fax modem in the '90s and using it once before. Before WFH I would normally just use the office's fax machine but because of the pandemic it wasn't an option.