Do you still have a fax machine at work?

[beancounter]

We still have one at work, although it's rarely used. It looks like it was purchased in the 80's. I'm amazed it still works. Frankly, I'm amazed that people sometimes request a fax every now and then.

Also, we have phones and printers which are used much more frequently than the fax, of course, but they sit idle much of the time in favor of email/IM and .pdf files.

 

[Amy SF]

I last worked at a county hospital, and there are fax machines in every department. The one in Medical Imaging, where I worked, got a lot of heavy use.

I had to use a fax machine just this week, so I went over to my mom's house and used hers. I would like to get my own, as part of an all-in-one unit. I do have a landline phone account, so I can use it for a fax line. I don't know how much use it would get, but I like the convenience of having one and not having to go to my mom's house or pay to use the one at FedEx.

 

[KLS52]

We have two faxes left. Some people can't let go, lol.
We also have fax capability through our computers as well as scanning/emailing which is what we do mostly. Occasionally, we need to send something to someone who does haven't email.

 

[hungryraccoon]

I don't get what a fax machine even is really. So no, never used one.

 

[Second Summer]

I think we have one fax machine to share for the entire company. I've never actually seen it, but we do have a fax number, so it must be there somewhere.

 

[ledboots]

We have to use faxes instead of email for medical records, so ours gets heavy use.

 

[Clueless Git]

No fax machine at work.

But in 'Time Gentlemen, Please' (Al Murray) they did have a quiz machine named 'Fact Hunt'.

I don't get what a fax machine even is really. So no, never used one.

Seriously?

It's a scanner printer that can communicate with other machines via a telephone line.

The precursor to email, basicaly.

And then I remembered this ...

 

[beancounter]

We have to use faxes instead of email for medical records, so ours gets heavy use.

We use a "secure email" for PII records. Maybe your IT people can look into that.

 

[beancounter]

I don't get what a fax machine even is really. So no, never used one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax_machine

 

[PTree15]

We have a couple that happen to be situated right by my desk. They occasionally come to life and usually scare the bejesus out of me when they do.

 

[ledboots]

We use a "secure email" for PII records. Maybe your IT people can look into that.

I don't know any medical records that are transmitted in this way. Faxes, discs or through the electronic medical record (outside records usually scanned in from a fax) is how we get and give patient information.

ETA just looked it up, per HIPPA rules, you can use encrypted email for protected health information. I've never heard of anyone doing this, though. Our poor IT staff is so overworked with crappy hardware...

 

[Amy SF]

I don't know any medical records that are transmitted in this way. Faxes, discs or through the electronic medical record (outside records usually scanned in from a fax) is how we get and give patient information.

ETA just looked it up, per HIPPA rules, you can use encrypted email for protected health information. I've never heard of anyone doing this, though. Our poor IT staff is so overworked with crappy hardware...

At a transcription job I held five years ago, one of the radiologists I worked for was asked to read some medical imaging scans brought in from an outside facility. Because they were outside readings, I transcribed the doctor's reports on these scans as Word documents (not in the regular transcription program) and emailed them to the doctor for her review. Since these reports were private patient information, I encrypted the documents with a password that only the doctor and I knew.

 

[Ann Chovie]

We have a couple that happen to be situated right by my desk. They occasionally come to life and usually scare the bejesus out of me when they do.

We have one in our office too just inside the door. I always chuckle as each new fresh faced volunteer sent to 'fax a document ' comes in looking puzzled and pokes at it saying 'is this the fax machine'???

Coming from a generation used only to email it is as alien as a kitchen mangle!

 

[shyvas]

We have several fax machines at work. As we have to make sure that there is no security breach, we are not authorised to use the internet.

 

[Joe]

We have one in our office too just inside the door. I always chuckle as each new fresh faced volunteer sent to 'fax a document ' comes in looking puzzled and pokes at it saying 'is this the fax machine'???

Coming from a generation used only to email it is as alien as a kitchen mangle!

It puzzles me that many younger people seem to have no sense of the past, not even the fairly recent past.
A friend my age discovered that one of his friends born in 1970 had no idea who Pete Seeger was.

 

[Yokel]

I can't remember the last time that I saw a fax machine.

It puzzles me that many younger people seem to have no sense of the past, not even the fairly recent past.

It depends how young they are. Some of my colleagues are too young to remember MS-DOS.

 

[SummerRain]

I don't get what a fax machine even is really. So no, never used one.

Nor did I. I've definitely never seen one. I can see how it would be useful for secure information though.

 

[Ann Chovie]

It puzzles me that many younger people seem to have no sense of the past, not even the fairly recent past.
A friend my age discovered that one of his friends born in 1970 had no idea who Pete Seeger was.

Good Lord!!!! The end of the world really is nigh!!!!

My own children have an annoying habit of saying 'was that in the old days?' whenever I wax lyrically about some person or event they do not know of.

Well.. annoying for me but apparently hilarious for them

 

[shyvas]

I have recently sent faxes to numerous firms that are in the UK . It is much quicker to fax a letter including documents, than having to send it via the post. Many law firms and builders still use the fax. My bank and nearly every company that I deal with still have a fax number.
At work it the fax machine operates virtually non stop 24/24.

I'm amazed that youngsters think that fax machines come from the 'old days'. Many of them are in for a big surprise when they'll start to work.

Anway getting back to the 'old days', at least it means that you have lived a long live if you can remember them !

 

[Pirate]

We have fax machines at my work. I work for a health insurance company so we recieve medical reports/request them and the like. Often our members are shocked when I mention fax, and I have to convince them that their GP/consultant/hospital WILL have access to one.