Documenting the Fax of Life: Despite E-Mail, Facsimile Machines Still Rule at Work

Despite the growing popularity of e-mail, the venerable facsimile machine still rules the office--and that means the paper-free workplace remains a distant fantasy, according to two Gallup Organization polls.

The surveys commissioned by Pitney Bowes, the Stamford, Conn.-based company that just happens to make fax machines and other business equipment, found that fax machines were the preferred method of sending documents, even when their desktop computers were capable of sending faxes.

In a survey designed to gauge communications preferences among 500 large and mid-sized companies, respondents on average said that their productivity would drop by about 40% if their fax machines were taken away.

The flow of paper has increased at 67% of the large companies and 71% of the medium companies over the last year.

A separate survey of telecommunications managers at 305 large companies found that the average number of faxes sent per day nearly doubled to 1,918 from 1,095 the year before.

“Bill Gates has said we are going to have a paperless society,” a Pitney Bowes spokeswoman said. “This study really shows how much we don’t.”