Fax machines ... what's the point?

[jay_christley]

Sitting here in the office, listening to the fax machine spit out pages upon pages of stuff we don't care about -- five pages of the automated scorebook from a Div. III football team we don't cover -- and began to wonder, "Why does anyone still have a fax machine?"

In the day and age most everybody has access to either a phone (to call events in) or email, why are we wasting money on (a) a fax machine, (b) paper, (c) toner, (d) trash bags/space for all the faxes that get junked and (e) a phone line just for the fax?
It's a gigantic waste of money.
I suppose the newsroom needs one for those occassions one of the PDs needs to fax over a police report. But the rest of the time it just wastes paper.

 

[Clever username]

Sitting here in the office, listening to the fax machine spit out pages upon pages of stuff we don't care about -- five pages of the automated scorebook from a Div. III football team we don't cover -- and began to wonder, "Why does anyone still have a fax machine?"

In the day and age most everybody has access to either a phone (to call events in) or email, why are we wasting money on (a) a fax machine, (b) paper, (c) toner, (d) trash bags/space for all the faxes that get junked and (e) a phone line just for the fax?
It's a gigantic waste of money.
I suppose the newsroom needs one for those occassions one of the PDs needs to fax over a police report. But the rest of the time it just wastes paper.

Wow, and I thought I was bored.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

I worked at a place in which each department had a fax line, and faxes were converted to .jpgs and forwarded to the section editor. I thought that was a fairly cool trick, even if it were to mean extra junk e-mails when those cross country results from the D-III 300 miles away landed in the inbox.

 

[indiansnetwork]

Hey D III Mount Union is a team you can pay attention to.

 

[Cape_Fear]

We've gone to the paperless fax system as well and once the bugs got worked out it's been alright.

Of course one of those bugs was the part-timer who would print things we didn't need but only to put them right in the recycle bin.

 

[DyePack]

The fax machine in my office no longer works properly, so when I know there's a fax coming, I have to grab the end and pull it through so the type resembles something readable.

In a couple of weeks, I'll take the thing apart and either fix it or throw it in the trash.

 

[joe]

Much like a toaster that doesn't work, here's how you fix it: Unplug it, wind the cord around it, throw it in the trash can. And then buy a new one.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

Much like a toaster that doesn't work, here's how you fix it: Unplug it, wind the cord around it, throw it in the trash can. And then buy a new one.

I have a couple extra toasters laying around if you need one.

 

[joe]

Much like a toaster that doesn't work, here's how you fix it: Unplug it, wind the cord around it, throw it in the trash can. And then buy a new one.

I have a couple extra toasters laying around if you need one.

If one's a toaster oven, I'll take it. I'm pretty sure I can fix it ...

 

[MacDaddy]

They're nice backup when the internet is down. Sometimes the internet tubes get clogged, you know.

 

[Angola!]

And I would rather type boxscores off of a fax rather than sit on the phone with a dumbass coach that can't remember the form of the box or hasn't added up his yardage yet.

 

[5A]

Faxes are for sending out preseason forms to coaches.