[thelist] faxing online orders?

Stephen Rider evolt_org at striderweb.com
Mon Feb 25 11:22:49 CST 2008


On Feb 25, 2008, at 9:44 AM, Joel D Canfield wrote:

>> Let's apply a little Holmsian logic here.  The customer wants
>> to have
>> only one physical device to fiddle with.  You have two options:
>
> What you really want is Krug-ian logic (don't make him think)

That _is_ a good book. :)

> What the customer seems to want is ZERO physical devices to fiddle  
> with;
> 'fiddle' being the operative word.

Too bad.  He still has to replace toner, add paper, etc. in a fax  
machine.  No matter what, there's going to be a machine sitting on  
the table, and it must be tended to some extent.

> I don't ever want to be the person who convinces a technophobic client
> to use technology they're not already using. The day you do, you've
> adopted an unpaid lifelong tech support gig.

Or a paid one, assuming tech support isn't needed too often.

> MyFax.com basically works out to ten cents US per incoming page.  
> That'd
> be $200US/month for the expected volume per the original post. I'll  
> say
> it again: I cannot conceive of a reason it's worth reinventing the  
> wheel
> to save a few bucks on an expected gross of $6,000/month (guestimating
> six bucks per order, which is probably waaay low.)

Ah, yes, but there is more than one wheel that might fit.  For  
example, on OS X, you can set the computer to receive faxes, and  
automatically print every fax.  I checked on auto-printing emails --  
nothing built-in to Apple's Mail app, but probably with a script it  
would work.  Does Thunderbird do it?

Ask your client if he's so techno-phobic that he would rather pay  
$200 per month than $200 _once_ for a used Mac Mini (okay... plus a  
printer).

Still, you're pretty much limited to either setting him up with a  
machine that does the conversion and printing, or setting him up with  
some service that sends them to his existing fax (even if _you_ are  
providing the "service" -- talk about tech support!)

Stephen




More information about the thelist mailing list