Sometimes I do win
Just like the rest of the business world we are constantly getting bombarded with unwelcome junk faxes. These unwanted faxes cost me time and money as I have to look though them to identify the junk from the important ones. Worse than that, these bastards that send them are using up my ink and paper with out my permission. Fax cartridges are quite expensive.
So a few months ago our fax machine was acting up and I decided to buy a new one. I wasn't all that excited about the purchase because email has all but put an end to the important faxes. However there are times when a fax is required so we must have one, it must be on, and those bastards can still misuse it.
As I was perusing the numerous choices of fax machines I came across the Sharp UX -B80. With this machine you could send faxes and emails for the small price of $99.00. The catch was simple, the ink cartridges were small but each one cost half the price of the machine. I must admit the email option on the machine sold me and even though I knew it would cost me in the long run I bought it.
We ran out of ink the first week. At $50.00 a pop my mistake was front and center. Then I realized if it could send a fax as an email maybe it could receive one as an email as well. I checked, It could! Much to my delight I directed the fax machine to email all received faxes directly to our server. Now we can check the email on the server and view the faxes as they come in. More importantly we only have to print the ones we need on our printer. A huge bonus to our new system is that we can keep each fax on the server and reprint it if needed. Something that has saved us on more than one occasion.
So now we use ZERO ink from the fax, sorry Sharpe UXB80... NOT! We have cut our paper use down by 75% regarding faxes and we never lose one. WE WIN!!!! Finally.
As of today the score stands 1,323 worthless faxes to 263 real ones. Now if I could just do something about junk email...
7 comments:
well done - as I reading through this I was going to suggest receiving faxes as emails - but you found your own way - go forth and prosper young skywalker :)
My own battle against junk mail.
1. sign up to MPS (mailing preference service UK based I assume) it makes it illegal for companies to send junk post. Local pizza shops and estate agents and boiler companies seem to be excluded though.
2. Sending stuff back to companies that do send you things - preferabbly using their prepaid envelopes.
I'm sure theres more but I can't think of any.
Congratulations again. No if there was only something we could do about email junk. You know spam accounts for 36% of all internet traffic? No wonder uTube is so slow.
:) It never failed that the ink would run out when we were expecting an important document. grrrr!
Junk mail, junk faxes, junk email, does any of this stuff work? Do people really book a trip to Florida because of a fax? Or send money to Nigeria to help get 10 million dollars out of the country because of an email? It must work on someone or they wouldn't do it, right?
Yes apparently people do fall for it. I get a least one email a week from 'a model from africa' who needs a room in one of my houses.
She wants to know how much the total cost including bills will be. Then she says her consulate is paying for the full stay.
I say £2000, she says her consulate/mother/company will send a cheque for £3000 but she needs £1000 back. Of course after you send the £1000 her original cheque bounces.
You can tell the dodgy ones as the email is always in BOLD
Someone must be falling for it - otherwise they wouldn't bother as you say.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/31/link_spamer_interview/
I get those junk emails too! Headed up "Dear friend I need your help". WTF?? They basically inform me that they want to transfer ridclious amounts of money into my account so I can "look after it" So please send me your bank details! Sadly some people really are that stupid!!!
It's true, people really are that silly sometimes... espcially if they need money and have spent the majority of their lives believing that you CAN get something for nothing.
I forward every single one of those emails to the FBI and our CATCh Team (Computer and Technology Crimes). For every savvy and suspicious person (like us), there are 10 more who may actually provide their password, disclose their SSN or back account details, or give up their credit card number to an undisclosed and unsecured site.
But that's beside the point. Hooray you, RT!!
Wow - I didnt know businesses still used fax machines!! Especially since the introduction of Winfax but I guess you've figured all that out already so no need to bleat on
and are you telling me the 2 grand I've sent to nigeria in the hope of getting a share in 4 million was all in vain??
fuck it......
I can see I'm not the only one getting bombarded with these emails. Sometimes I email them back for more details or I type in a fake password or social. I like to think I'm wasting a little of their time.
Yes, Spiller we still have a fax machine. I knew I would catch a little shit for admitting that. :) I hate it but we just have to have it. A lot of our customers still use it and we have to receive a lot of faxes from the state. One day we'll break out of the 90s.
As far as your 2 grand goes I wouldn't worry about it. I know the guy, he's totally legitimate. As a matter of fact he said he needed just one more grand to make it all happen. He said to just send it to me, it will speed things up. Dude, you're about to be rich!!!
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