Seriously!? I thought, Germany was unique with this fax machine thing.
A surprising amount of American personal business is still dependent on a fax machine. Especially in dealings with government, if you can't physically hand it in, it may need to be faxed. Always a terrifying feeling when you send a document containing all your personal identifying information to the fax nether, hopefully you dialed correctly.
One example from the US: Back in March, I was reading about people having trouble filing for unemployment because somehow faxes were deemed a secure communication method and they couldn't find a place to send a fax.
I recently had to get a copy of my car loan from chase in order to get new state license plates after moving. The 2 options for delivery were by mail or fax...
Yep... dealing with a large US bank right now and fax is the only way to do what I need to do. I made an inquiry at the IRS last year, fax was my only option for submitting some info they needed to fulfill my request. Fax is not dead in the US yet.
At a large Seattle-based technology company ~10 years ago, the only way to submit an expense report was via fax "for security", but there were no fax machines in the office, only multifunction printers that could send virtual faxes (not via a phone line)
When I legally changed my name in 2014, I had to fax my name change paperwork to a ton of different institutions. Fax or snail mail were the only methods they would accept.