Fax Machines: A Simple Question

[Adam Snider]

I'm hoping to go freelance someday, hopefully within the next 24 months (currently working on building a client base so that I'll be able to pay the rent and groceries when the time comes), and something that has occurred to me in my early planning stages is this: do clients expect you to have access to a fax machine?

With rare exception, I don't think that fax machines are a necessary tool in today's work environment--between email, scanners, and electronic signatures, there is really no need for a fax. However, I suspect that some clients still operate with a mindset from a few years ago, where a fax was still a fairly vital piece of business equipment.

Essentially, what I'm asking is, do I need to buy a fax machine if I intend to start working as a full time freelancer in the next couple of years?

[Kyle Tully]

There will be clients who use fax almost exclusively, the good news is you don't need buy a fax machine...

There are various fax-to-email services you can use that cost only a few dollars a month. They give you your own fax number and then convert the faxes you receive to emails. To send a fax you just send an email to the fax servers email address.

[Adam Snider]

Cool. Thanks for the info, Kyle.

[jackforde]

If this gives you any indication, I work about 3,500 miles away from my most active clients... unless I'm on one of my semi-regular trips to London, Germany, Ireland, or around the U.S... at which point I'm sometimes either closer or farther, depending...

What's this "fax machine" you speak of? Just kidding.

I have one. Keep it with me at all times, stored next to my phonograph player and VCR ;)

But seriously, no. Your suspicions are correct. I wouldn't buy a fax machine. I had one in my earliest days of working outside the office. First in one of those 3-in-1 printing/scanner/fax combos and then one separately (because those 3-in-1 combos are also a bad investment). Did I ever use it? Maybe twice in three years.

Get yourself a $100 scanner and a good printer. That's about all you'll need. Anything that can be faxed can be scanned and emailed (learn how to make and minimize PDFs to just the right size for combined emailing efficiency and readability). As for receiving faxes, I know my Mac has the software built in for automatically receiving. And for sending, now that I think about it. I'm sure PCs have or can be equipped with a similar facility.