I stayed out of the last "do I still need a fax" discussion on the Editors' Association of Canada mailing list, but recent events are prompting me to comment.
We've used fax machines extensively in our work for around two decades. The amount of work that arrives by fax has tapered off over the last year or two, but the machine is still connected, still on.
When a fax arrives, there's a "distinctive ring," and since the machine was in my wife's office, if she wasn't home, I'd jump like Pavlov's proverbial pup every time I heard that signal. It occurred to me just now that when I hear that signal these days, I usually ignore it. Why? My initial reaction to this self-question was because we're getting way more spam faxes.
Upon further thought, I realize that, no, not really. We're not getting more spam faxes, we're just getting a tenth of the business-related faxes that we used to receive, but we're still getting about the same number of spam faxes.
Yet the result is the same: the signal-to-noise ratio of this particular communication medium has fallen to the point that I've lost the signal in the noise a few times in the last couple of days. I've ignored the distinctive ring until I happen to be passing by the machine on some other perambulation, only to find that -- Yikes -- there's actually a fax from a client and confirmation about something is needed ASAP.
The fax machine is crying wolf much too often. Perhaps it needs to be put down - or only turned on when a client specifically needs to fax me something. Or, perhaps, go completely digital with an online fax service.
P.S. Dear clients, if perchance, you somehow interpreted that last metaphor to mean that I consider you to be sheep, please be assured that was not my intent!
UPDATE: As I was writing this post, what did I hear but the distinctive ring. Not once, but twice. I have retrieved those faxes, and the first asked if I wanted to book a dinner cruise, and the second told me that "We can market your business at LESS THAN 1 cent per fax. Fax 100,000 businesses in the Lower Mainland for only $799." I kid you not.
Posted by Paul at September 29, 2009 12:07 PM