On Apr 14, 12:35*pm, wrote:
On Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:40:02 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03





wrote:
On Apr 14, 10:44*am, Pat wrote:
On Apr 13, 11:42*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:

On Apr 13, 7:40*pm, metspitzer wrote:

When I bought my printer, I got it with a fax machine because I still
need it. *Many people will let me scan something and email it to them
to avoid a long distance call, but not everyone.

I called the bank today to dispute a direct draft charge to my
checking account. *The girl said she would fax me a form. *I asked her
if she could just email it to me. *She said....no sir, we can't do
that.

So I am waiting on a fax as we speak. *I only have one line so my fax
and voice share the same phone number.

Fax machines should have died 15 years ago. *They should at least give
them an email address.

It's all about the signature...

We fax documents all the time. Documents are signed in our office by
our clients and ourselves and then faxed to insurance companies,
banks, lawyers, financial institutions, etc. Due to compliance
regulations, all documents get approved by one of a small number of
people and then faxed from one central fax machine. This fax machine
not only faxes the documents to the recipient, but it automagically
sends an image of the fax to a centralized storage server for
archiving purposes. The paper copy is also filed and eventually sent
off site for hard copy archiving.

To do this via e-mail or e-fax, we would have to set up a centralized
scanner, either networked to the PC's of the operations staff that
actually does the faxing, or attached directly to a centralized PC -
which would have to be set up with individual accounts for each person
in operations since compliance rules don't allow anybody to do
anything under a shared userid. The operation staff - not the most
tech savvy group around - would need to understand how to access the
documents, address them correctly (is it an e-mail or an e-fax?) and
then send them. They would also have to receive documents, print them
out and distribute them. Since we send and receive dozens of multiple-
page documents every day, there is way too much chance for errors.

Somehow a single machine with a simple numbered keypad just seems so
much simpler - read: idiot proof - for sending and receiving
documents.

Maybe that's why they've lasted so long.

For outgoing mail, a email would be no different than a fax for you.
You'd still use paper to get signatures, etc., and when it was time to
send, you'd drop in on the same machine. *Then you'd push the email
button instead of the fax button. *I imagine that most of the people
you fax to are people you routinely deal with (insurance companies,
banks, etc). *Once you've programmed in their email addresses, you
would just pick them from the address book and hit send. *Then you'd
take the same paper copy and stick it on the stack for archiving. *It
would save you a little time (scanning might be quicker) and you would
save phone charges. *Otherwise there would be little difference expect
if you send "big" documents -- which go quicker via email than fax.

I have a fax here, but I don' think I've used it in a year. *I tell
everyone it isn't working and then they email it to me.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Once you've programmed in their email addresses...

You are assuming that the recipients have an e-mail address into which
to accept the documents. I can honestly say without any reservations,
that no company has ever offered an e-maill address as a means of
receiving signed documents.

The conversation typically goes like this:

Them: I can send you the forms that need to be signed by regular mail,
email or fax. How would like me to send them?
Me: email please. How should I send them back to you once they are
signed?
Them: You can either mail them back to PO Box xxxx or fax them to xxx-
xxx-xxxx.

They almost always offer 3 ways to get the blank forms to me but
never, ever offer anything other than mail or fax for getting them
back - and I'm talking about dozens and dozens of major companies, not
just 1 or 2 mom & pop shops.

Granted, I can't say whether or not the fax number they give actually
produces a hard copy, or if it indeed goes into an e-fax electronic
mailbox, but as I said, an email address has never been offered.

You may recall that I said that all of our outgoing faxes
automagically get stored digitally on an archiving server, so it's
very possible that many of the faxes we send actually end up as
digital images on the receiver's end also. In other words, I'm well
aware what the technology is capable of and the options available. All
I know is we are always given fax numbers, not email addresses, to
send them to.

I scanned my signature and I paste it on word docs I Email. Nobody who
would take a fax has ever refused it. It is still not an original
document, no matter how you send it electronically.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It is still not an original document, no matter how you send it
electronically

Which is why we sometimes have to follow up our faxes with the
original document - even if the fax clearly shows a Medallion
Guarantee or notary stamp.