Why Do We Still Have Fax Machines?
The fax machine is one of those things that I don't understand why it is still so popular. In short, I just wish it would go away. With the ability to email attachments, there just is no real reason to fax anything anymore.
My frustration is coupled by the fact that the fax machines are now all combined into other machines. A stand alone fax was somewhat usable, but now the fax function is combined into a multifunction device, or even worse, a copy machine. For us "casual faxers," these machines are rather intimidating, with WAY too many bells, whistles and features. Also, they don't have audio so we can listen in to hear how the fax is doing.
Last week, I was attempting to respond to a job advertisement. I carefully prepared my resume, and cover letter. The number I was faxing to was an 800 number. The first machine I tried was a Minolta multifunction device. The device literally jammed on the first page scanned, and I had to rip the paper to get it out. This was a complete failure. I then had to reprint my cover letter. I persisted by finding another fax machine, this time in a copier. The papers were scanned, but three times I was stuck on "sending," and then the machine gave in and cancelled the job. The fax never went through. frustrated, and curious, I decided to call the fax number. To my surprise, it was a voice mail that then said to send a fax, press some number. However, as these fax machines have no speakers, the user has no way of knowing this!
This is one example of too much high tech making everyone's life difficult. Also, the only way to get in touch with the job is the fax number. An email address would have been a heck of a lot easier. Also, as the employer, I'd rather have the resumes in a folder on my computer desktop for review, than a pile of blurry faxes cluttering up my real desktop. Well, that's my weekly rant; feel free to add your two cents below.
--Jonas
My frustration is coupled by the fact that the fax machines are now all combined into other machines. A stand alone fax was somewhat usable, but now the fax function is combined into a multifunction device, or even worse, a copy machine. For us "casual faxers," these machines are rather intimidating, with WAY too many bells, whistles and features. Also, they don't have audio so we can listen in to hear how the fax is doing.
Last week, I was attempting to respond to a job advertisement. I carefully prepared my resume, and cover letter. The number I was faxing to was an 800 number. The first machine I tried was a Minolta multifunction device. The device literally jammed on the first page scanned, and I had to rip the paper to get it out. This was a complete failure. I then had to reprint my cover letter. I persisted by finding another fax machine, this time in a copier. The papers were scanned, but three times I was stuck on "sending," and then the machine gave in and cancelled the job. The fax never went through. frustrated, and curious, I decided to call the fax number. To my surprise, it was a voice mail that then said to send a fax, press some number. However, as these fax machines have no speakers, the user has no way of knowing this!
This is one example of too much high tech making everyone's life difficult. Also, the only way to get in touch with the job is the fax number. An email address would have been a heck of a lot easier. Also, as the employer, I'd rather have the resumes in a folder on my computer desktop for review, than a pile of blurry faxes cluttering up my real desktop. Well, that's my weekly rant; feel free to add your two cents below.
--Jonas
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posted by digitaldoc at 8:00 AM
3 Comments:
Well I use fax all the time. Most of the ordering I do for my company is done with an electronically generate fax on my end. Gives me a way of tracking what I do and provides me a reference in case of a problem. Our corporate email won't let us archive email. The only solution is to export email as text files which is more crude then the fax. I tried ordering material via websites and it was a disaster. No means of generating a record of what was done.
Also use fax at home to move hard copy documents around. Fax still has a lot of life in my world, but hey, that's why there's menus, right?
Thanks for the input Gyro. After my experience, we can deep six the fax, but I expected some other opinions as well. I still am frustrated by the fax though.
Good to know, we'll keep it in mind.
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