Who Uses a fax in this day and age
Feb 1, 2019, 11:44 am
#32
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Up North.
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 311
Doctors' offices. 
My employer's main phone number is one digit away from the fax number of some kind of clinic.
I haven't figured out if the cause is sloppy doctor handwriting, or carelessness on the part of doctors' assistants, but we get a ton of fax attempts to our phone number, from doctors' offices across the city.
My employer's main phone number is one digit away from the fax number of some kind of clinic.
I haven't figured out if the cause is sloppy doctor handwriting, or carelessness on the part of doctors' assistants, but we get a ton of fax attempts to our phone number, from doctors' offices across the city.
The result was that a butcher the other side of town occasionally received confidential information about patients meant for another healthcare professional.
The NHS Trust was slapped quite strongly for it (and rightly so). The sooner they are gone (especially from healthcare) the better.
Feb 1, 2019, 1:49 pm
#33
Join Date: Jan 2015
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 1,626
- As a young civil engineer back in the late 70's I worked on a site where they had this thing called a photo copier. The copy can out of the machine wet and you had to hang it up to dry
- Moving on into the mid 80's I worked in anoffice where they had a telex machine. Allowed you to contact people all round the world.
- Then finally the fax machine
Feb 1, 2019, 2:09 pm
#35
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MCI
Posts: 698
I recently flew RJ on a BA 125 ticket but the tier points / miles failed to appear. I visited the web site and RJ are not in the drop down list so it was print this form and fax it. I completed the form, copied the boarding pass as requested and approached the BA lounge agent to ask if I could use their fax, to which she retorted "Who Uses a fax in this day and age". to which I replied BA apparently. Eventually arrived in GF at T5 where I was able to fax but this seems so outdated in a modern age. Got to be a better solution in this era.
I used to think it's so outdated but I realized there are still clear advantages to fax machines:
- Minimize errors with email addresses, people not checking an email, or scan issues
- The faxed pages are directly printed to the recipient, if you email/scan, someone still has to print it out from an email which requires personnel/resources to manage
- In my line of work, certain prescription orders/authorizations or medical forms cannot be sent electronically via an email/website connection
Feb 1, 2019, 2:53 pm
#36
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: SYD
Programs: BAEC GGL, HH D, QFF, EB
Posts: 404
With a several clients at work they will only exchange contracts by fax for security due to the reduced risk of interception They will then only issue information regarding their assets by DVD transferred by hand.
Feb 1, 2019, 3:36 pm
#37
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Frensham, Lincolnshire
Programs: RFC
Posts: 5,084
But on the OP's fax question, I use an email fax service. I get/send faxes maybe twice a week, unless it's a Japanese client in which case almost everything of any importance is done by fax.
Feb 1, 2019, 3:40 pm
#38
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
Surprised nobody has said it yet... But, a lot of companies that require you to "send a fax" (or "mail a letter") to get routine customer service business done, make a complaint / request, send in a form, cancel a subscription, etc. -- like in the case in OP -- do it on purpose to make the process as draconian as possible. This way, people don't bother, and they have less work to deal with or can make more money out of you.
Feb 1, 2019, 4:03 pm
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
Feb 1, 2019, 4:23 pm
#41
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MCI
Posts: 698
I mean yeah for sure, any mechanized/computerized machine can have user input errors...same thing with emails and other document delivery systems...heck even good old postal mail system if the input is wrong the delivery won't work right....
Feb 1, 2019, 4:26 pm
#42
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: LON, between FAB and EGTD
Programs: OWS - AA Lifetime Platinum, BA nobody (blue)
Posts: 861
Quote---- No, there really were wet process photocopying machines. These were superseded by dry xerography machines that then became ubiquitous. ---quote
I used one. It was twice the machine you might imagine, because it made negatives. You had to wait for the negative to dry, before doing the final stage. For a while it only worked 3 days a week.
It was out of the door as quick as you like once the xerox machine came along. (ca. 1974)
I used one. It was twice the machine you might imagine, because it made negatives. You had to wait for the negative to dry, before doing the final stage. For a while it only worked 3 days a week.
It was out of the door as quick as you like once the xerox machine came along. (ca. 1974)
Feb 1, 2019, 4:33 pm
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: HH Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Gold, Hyatt something
Posts: 33,539
My old fax toll free number was close to some other business, and I’d get a few faxes each year with tons of personal info on their faxes. Health insurance type claims.
Feb 1, 2019, 4:40 pm
#44
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: BA Silver, VS Silver
Posts: 777
When I was a medical student (in NHS in the late 2000s), a fax machine on a ward had a sometimes faxed number programmed into the speed-dial incorrectly.
The result was that a butcher the other side of town occasionally received confidential information about patients meant for another healthcare professional.
The NHS Trust was slapped quite strongly for it (and rightly so). The sooner they are gone (especially from healthcare) the better.
The result was that a butcher the other side of town occasionally received confidential information about patients meant for another healthcare professional.
The NHS Trust was slapped quite strongly for it (and rightly so). The sooner they are gone (especially from healthcare) the better.
Feb 1, 2019, 5:43 pm
#45
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Frensham, Lincolnshire
Programs: RFC
Posts: 5,084
