I‘m 30 years old. I have never seen a fax machine and a check. I have only once used a payment slip at a machine before my phone app was able to do this.

[–] TheFlopster 16 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (3 children)

Ooh, I'll play! I'm 40 years old. I write checks every month to pay my rent, which has to be delivered to their office either by snail mail or in person (no online payment option).

The last time I saw a dedicated fax machine was my retail job in 2008.

The last time I used a deposit slip was three years ago when I deposited a gallon bag of change in person with a bank teller.

[–] jaybone 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

The whole medical empire in the US still uses fax machines for “security reasons”. I had to sign up for some shadey ass online fax service to send docs to my moms doctor after she got sick. And the idiots at the doctors office had their fax machine broken half the time, so they never got half the docs I sent to them.

[–] thesystemisdown 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Sadly, many can't be trusted or bothered to use a secure means of communication. A lot of people think whatever they use for email or sms is 'secure.' Often healthcare, finance, and higher ed try to sidestep the liability as a result.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

So you’re definitely old enough to know what ✏️📼 means!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 15 hours ago

Well yeah. It's when you shove your ✏️ into the magnetic tape so you can destroy it because it contained evidence of the time you pooped the bed and then tried to toss it out the window.

Now ✏️ and cassette are a different thing.

[–] then_three_more 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I'm 38, I've not used a cheque since I was 19.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I'm 40 and I just used to a check to pay for a car.

[–] then_three_more 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I'm gonna guess this is an American thing

[–] dingus 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I'm in the US and I recently paid for a car with a cashier's check as well. I was tipped off by the salesman. Evidently at that dealer they charge you a service fee for paying with a card or similar method. Paying by cash or check incurred zero fees.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

That's correct! Not very common for dealerships to accept a credit card for the payment, even a down payment.

And I didn't feel comfortable handing them cash directly.

I guess I could have given them my debit card. But giving them a check with a paper trail seemed more secure in my head. Uncertain if that's true or not.

[–] dingus 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

How have you never seen a check at 30? I'm also 30 and I receive checks now and then, and I used to occasionally have to write them. At least here in the US, most jobs give you a paper check for your first check when you just started for some reason instead of that one going to your direct deposit. I also on occasion get a refund check of some sort in the mail. I've had to occasionally write a paper check to things like an apartment complex or utility service. It's become significantly less common tho in 2025, but I still keep paper checks with my other important documents just in case.

Several years back when I was living in the northeast US, our local utility company was stuck in the dark ages. It didn't have an online payment portal!

Fax machines have been built into copiers/printers for years now. That is...many printers have faxing capabilities. In the medical field, people send faxes all the time. But I've never seen a dedicated fax machine, myself.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I'm 18 and I've seen both a check and a fax machine! My father has check books lying around, and I'm an electrician so I saw the owners bring a fax machine into a rehab center we were working at.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 hours ago

Was it one of those new fangled "all-in-one" printer/fax/copier machines, oa a proper fax machine, with its own handset and proprietary roll of paper?

[–] Treczoks 6 points 14 hours ago

I'm over fifty, and the last check I had to deal with was about 30 years ago. And the only reason to have this check back then was because I had to pay an American company for some software updates, and as I did not have checks anymore back then (about nobody had then anymore back then). I needed my bank to issue one check acceptable in the US.

It was the most expensive free update I ever had: The update was free, but shipping and handling was $10, outside US&Canada another $20, and express delivery another $10. Plus about $35 in fees to the bank for issuing an American bank compatible check and swapping local currency into US$.

Fun fact: Despite paying for "express delivery" and sending the check and the order per air mail, it took six weeks. One Sunday, the doorbell rang, and a courier right from the next airport delivered a beefy box (software was media and printed manuals back then!). In the box was a copy of the order - it was stamped as "received" on Friday morning, so they really did express delivery. Why the air mail to the US took six weeks though is still a mystery.