I just received notice this week that 2 of my suppliers are no longer going to bill me by mail, my choice is email or fax only. Anyone else getting this? I'm tempted to just fax them back "cancel my account" I do have other suppliers. in my experience email and fax are not nearly as reliable as the US mail. I for see email getting lost in the spam and faxes getting lost by way of paper jam or other screw up. Is this their way of getting invoices lost to hit me with late fees?
In my normal course of business I fax out alot of quotes and/or drawings and often I have heard, oh we never got that we're having trouble with the fax machine.
Monday I emailed out 2 dwgs for laser cutting work, they got one and one was lost. 50% is not reliable in my opinion.
I use the resident program that comes with winxp--if you want to try that then go to "control panel" and select "add or remove programs" then click "add/remove windows components" a program called "fax services" should be on the list...
We have been sending invoices and getting PO's via e-mail for several years now. It is FAR better than US mail.
E-mail gives you te ability to look up old orders with your e-mail program
We use PDF format for everything. In addition, we have a Fujitsu "scansnap" unit that has the ability to quickly scan documents for prints and other docs. It came with software that allows the PDF file to be searchable. You can look for keywords within all your files if you can't remember exactly what you are looking for.
If you are having problems send and recieving, it is most likely your IP provider or your e-mail program. Also, you can send a "request read receipt" to make sure it gets to where you want it to go.
We even have one customer that directly deposits into our bank account when they receive the job.
This is the way everything is moving. - paperless. If I were you I would get rid of the suppliers that don't use this sort of thing. Chances are they are adding their inefficency to your costs.
---------------------- Interesting to see that the "paperless office" is gradually working its way into the machine trades.
While some sort of flim-flam is always a possibility, given the ever increasing costs of postage, and clerical help to create, file, print, track, and mail invoices, it appears most likely that this is an effort to eliminate paper, clerical and postage costs by your vendors. Unless you were receiving your invoices via registered/certified mail, email/fax should be as reliable as the US mail.
I would however suggest to your suppliers that they always use the "return receipt requested" option when sending out email invoices. They may also offer the ability to review your account, showing billed, shipped, received, paid, etc. using your account number and password. This is more likely if they have outsourced their billing/accounting/bookkeeping.
An option, which can help you track expenses and reduce paperwork on your end, is to use a business credit card. This can eliminate the need to use POs at your end, and "automates" the entire process. This can be especially good for MRO purchases typically involving a large number of small value orders. [But you will have to watch this like a hawk.]
Have you made any progress in eliminating "paper" in your shop operations such as having the op-sheets/routers and part prints on line, or automating your cost accounting/requisitioning? This is one of the few remaining [generally] untapped areas for significant cost savings [or at least tracking].
Good luck with the business, and let the group know how this plays out.
Unka' George [George McDuffee]
------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).
I just came across this discussion of internet fax services that may be of help/interest
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Unka' George [George McDuffee]
------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).
------------- PDF files are most likely used because almost every operating system has a PDF reader. Also with a commercial PDF generator program you can "lock" the file so the data can't be changed or edited, just displayed. Easy to attach to an email, and can be encrypted using PGP or similar if desired. I think some of the commercial PDF generator programs also allow encryption if desired when the PDF is generated.
Unka' George [George McDuffee]
------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).
How do you deal with the spam in email, I get between 100-300 emails per day. I've had the same email address for over 10 years here. and I've started to see spam with subjects such as "your invoice". I already spend way too much time going through my email trying to sort out the good from the total BS.
I just see real invoices getting deleted by mistake or lost to the spam filter.
This whole deal will not save save a single sheet of paper, it will just make the receiver print the paper instead of the sender.
Talk to your ISP. A quick scan of enter.net indicates they do have a spam filter available, that you need to activate.
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To see other options google on or see
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This is the reason that I suggested that the vendors should use the return receipt option with their cover email.
It will if the receiver doesn't print the paper [its their choice] but keeps electronic copies only.
As you are a commercial operation, it makes sense to have your own website/domain name and email addresses.
Enter.net can host for you and you can keep your existing emails for personal use with your new emails for business use.
Depending on the way enter.net has their spam filters set up, you may be able to have an account for invoices/bills only set up that will reject email from senders not on an "approved" list.
Your own website/url is the cheapest advertising available, [10$ per year]
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and with the correct choice of keywords can identify your store to anyone doing a google or other web search, and you can show your particular niche services.
Contact me by email for more [free] information on setting up a site. For an example see
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a little coaching you can create/maintain your own site.
Unka' George [George McDuffee]
------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).
Over here the post office's are busier than ever if the queues I see are anything to go by. Ebay has been the main reason for that, I even joined the club myself recently. It's fun, never knew what a goldmine I was sitting on.
BUT I generally email Invoices as PDF files myself, and everyone seems to be happy. It's just about instant and no different to emailing an electronic drawing/model as I have done for years now.
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