Where fax still beats e-mail, and what to do about it

Every few months someone writes a confident article announcing the death of the fax. Meanwhile, a pharmacy asks for a prescription copy by fax, a notary's office lists a fax line on its letterhead, and a regional supplier tells you its order desk "does not do e-mail attachments". If you have ever lost a morning trying to convince one of them to switch, this article is for you. The short version: understand why the fax survives, then send one and get on with your day.

Who still asks for a fax

The pattern is consistent across the countries CaptainFax serves.

• Medical practices, clinics and laboratories. Patient paperwork, referral letters and test results move between small practices that run different software. A fax does not need the two sides to agree on a platform.
• Pharmacies. Prescription copies and supplier orders are often handled on a dedicated line that has been in place for years.
• Notaries and law offices. Signed pages, powers of attorney and identity copies are routinely exchanged before the originals travel by post.
• Land and company registries, town halls, utilities. Some counters accept a fax as a first filing, with the paper original to follow.
• Small suppliers, workshops and transport firms. A delivery slip or a purchase order arrives on a machine next to the counter, where someone sees it immediately.
• Property managers and landlords. Particularly in Southern Europe, where a signed lease page or a bank letter is still often requested this way.

This is not a statement that every organisation in these sectors uses fax. Plenty have moved on. It simply means you will meet one that has not, and it is likely to be at the worst moment.

Why they hold on

Calling it laziness misses the real reasons, which are mostly sensible from the recipient's chair.

It needs no shared system. E-mail needs the right address, attachment rules and a spam filter that does not eat your message. Fax needs a number. Nothing else.

The page prints on its own. In a busy back office, a sheet arriving in the tray is a task nobody can quietly forget in an inbox.

A fixed, familiar routine. Staff know where the fax lands, who stamps it and which folder it goes into. Replacing that routine takes training and budget that small organisations rarely have.

A perceived sense of control. An e-mail attachment can carry a macro or a phishing link. A fax is an image, which cannot execute anything. That perception may or may not match your own view of security, but it is genuine and it drives policy.

Rules written years ago. Internal procedures and sometimes professional guidelines mention fax by name. Changing a procedure takes a committee, not a good argument from a customer.

What to do instead of arguing

Arguing costs you time and rarely changes anything. Here is a quicker route.

1. Ask once, politely, whether another channel is accepted. If they say yes, great. If they say fax only, stop there.
2. Do not pose it as a favour. Phrase it as logistics: "I will fax it this afternoon. Can you confirm the number and the name to mark on the cover page?"
3. Prepare the document properly. Dark text, one file, pages in order. See our walkthrough for sending from a laptop.
4. Add a cover sheet. On a shared machine, a cover sheet is the difference between your pages reaching the right desk and sitting in a tray. The cover sheet tool takes a minute.
5. Keep proof. If the document matters, order the optional receipts and archive them with your copy. More on this in our article on proof of delivery.
6. Then follow up by phone or e-mail, in one line: "Fax sent at 14:20, four pages. Please tell me if anything is unclear."

The whole thing, from deciding to getting the confirmation, takes about the time you would spend drafting a persuasive e-mail. You have the option of sending one page free, and two or more pages cost €3.99 flat, so the economic argument for resisting is also gone. Prices and details are on the rates page.

What a fax does not fix

Be realistic about the limits.

• Mobiles cannot receive faxes. If the number you were given is a cell phone, ask again.
• Privacy still matters. A fax can land on an open tray. Use a cover sheet with a discreet confidentiality line, and for very sensitive material phone ahead so someone stands at the machine. Our security page explains how CaptainFax handles files.
• A fax is not a guarantee of reading. It shows the pages were received by the other machine, not that anyone read them.
• The original may still be required. In some procedures the faxed copy opens the file and the signed paper must follow. Ask, and do not assume.

A more constructive way to see it

Think of fax as one more delivery route, like registered post or a courier. You are not endorsing a technology, you are choosing the path that gets the document where it needs to go with the least friction. If you are the one who has to receive faxes occasionally, note that CaptainFax does not provide a fax number and does not receive faxes, so you will need a different arrangement for inbound traffic. Our inbound page explains the situation.

FAQ

Is fax really still used in healthcare and legal work?

In many small practices and offices, yes. It is not universal, but you will run into it often enough that it is worth being ready.

Should I ask the recipient to switch to e-mail?

You may ask once. If they say fax only, sending a fax is almost always faster than debating it.

How much does a fax sent this way cost?

One page costs nothing. A send of two pages or longer is €3.99, however long the document. Optional PDF receipts are €2.99 and billed solely when the fax is delivered.