20% of Fax Messages Needless, Study Says

One in five office facsimile transmissions are simply expensive wastes of time, a survey of the nation’s largest companies found.

The unwarranted fax messages are clogging up important communication links and costing American businesses millions of dollars a year, according to the survey by Accountemps temporary help service.

“With 2.5 million fax machines in the United States today and fax machine sales projected to reach $2 billion this year, it’s clear that misuse of this suddenly indispensable business tool can have serious impact on workplace productivity,” Accountemps Chairman Max Messmer said.

Accountemps surveyed 100 executives of the nation’s 1,000 largest companies and found they considered 22% of all facsimile transmissions unnecessary or wasteful.

The number would have been much higher if so-called junk faxes were included, Messmer said.