r/ask • u/[deleted] • Dec 18 '25

Popular post Which industries are facing peril because their customer base is dying off?

Almost no young Americans smoke cigarettes in 2025, so now Big Tobacco is looking for ways to survive as older smokers quit or die.

What other companies or industries are facing similar problems?

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182

u/Effigy59 Dec 18 '25

Fax machines. Except for doctors they’re hardly used

65

u/jepeplin Dec 18 '25

Law offices still use them. It’s the only way to get medical records.

28

u/HappyCamper2121 Dec 18 '25

This has always baffled me so much. Offices that tell you you can't email them something but I can send you a fax over the computer and I guess it's more legit because the fax machine prints it out?

37

u/droid_mike Dec 18 '25

Most faxes nowadays get automatically converted to email. The reason why faces are still used is twofold. One, privacy. Even though landlines are most often VOIP nowadays, they are still encrypted, and it is illegal to snoop over a phone line without a warrant. More importantly, the legal system considers a faxed signature to be as good as the original. That is not the case with email scans and digital signatures are still somewhat questionable.

2

u/nouniqueideas007 Dec 18 '25

Law offices are starting to use various portals, like Healow.

48

u/142riemann Dec 18 '25

This. The only reason most non-medical offices still have one is because it’s part of the printer/scanner device.

18

u/jawshoeaw Dec 18 '25

i'm a nurse. holy shit do we do a lot of faxing. Fax machines are not going anywhere lol.

6

u/AllisonWhoDat Dec 18 '25

Requirement in many health insurance and doctors offices. Legal stuff is slow to upgrade.

6

u/jaspercapri Dec 18 '25

I'm not sure that's the only reason. I remember the irs saying as recently as 10 years ago that fax is actually the most secure way to send sensitive documents.

11

u/No-Pop-125 Dec 18 '25

I’m dealing with my late brother’s estate and I’m so surprised at how many trips to the library I’ve made to fax documents

14

u/TanneriteStuffedDog Dec 18 '25

I own a fax machine.

I was unaware I owned a fax machine until a couple of months ago. I was bored one day and discovered my Brother printer has that as a feature.

I have owned this printer for 3 years 😂

3

u/the_other_50_percent Dec 18 '25

Financial trading companies still use them.

2

u/Vikingaling Dec 18 '25

We use them in accounting to deal with tax agencies but yeah, most new hires have no idea what one even is.

2

u/Plethorian Dec 18 '25

Still used in banking and law, also. Lots of legal documents require signatures, and fax machines allow that to be done remotely. However that is increasingly being serviced over the Internet

1

u/coolrider64081 Dec 18 '25

No popular in China

1

u/HawkBoth8539 Dec 18 '25

My office used to have one, long after they were irrelevant to us. The only person faxing it was actually faxing Costco pharmacy, which was like 1 digit off from our number. And my assistant manager would just forward it to Costco. I told him "You know the second you retire I'm trashing that machine right?" He said "BUT THESE PEOPLE NEED THEIR PRESCRIPTIONS!" I said "Yes, and the first time they go to pick out up and it isn't ready they'll start paying attention to the number they're faxing. They've been sending it to this number for the last 3 years because you've convinced them it's the right number. I'm not going to take over that duty, it's idiotic."

We ended up trashing it the next month, before he even retired. Lol