Email

• There is one major drawback to faxing --- it is wasteful. Not being very green-friendly, faxing wastes paper. For every paper faxed, a machine on the receiving end duplicates it. Digital data transfer is a more ideal solution. The most common, easy and free method to send documents is through email. Most fax documents are relatively short as they must be fed through a fax machine one at a time, making email replacement very easy because most email services can send at least 5 megabytes worth of data in one email. To send a document via email, the sender needs a scanner, to turn the physical document into electronic data. Alternatively -- assuming the document is really short -- the sender can type the document and then send it digitally.
  
  

Mail

• Few services have proven their grit more than the United States Postal Service, or USPS. Founded in 1775, the post office's first Postmaster General was Benjamin Franklin. So if you need to send a fax, what better way than through the USPS. Well okay, there are a few disadvantages. The main problem lay in time. Depending on where you are sending documents, time can take anywhere from a couple of days to a week. If you're sending a document internationally, sending time can easily soar to a couple of weeks or more. On the other hand, mailing provides one advantage that faxing does not -- it allows the original document to be sent.
  
  

Express Mail

• Mail is generally slow, but there are many express mailing services that guarantee document delivery. Services include USPS Express Mail, DHL and FedEx. Cost often depends on package weight and destination, as well as desired delivery time. The main advantage also poses the main disadvantage. Quick delivery of documents is easy and quick; however, the faster the delivery, the higher the cost.
  
  

Fax History

• Faxing has a rich history of its own. Origins of the technology date back to the 19th century with Alexander Bain's writing duplicator invention, which allowed documents to be recreated -- an effect achieved by connecting two pens, allowing both to write on separate sheets of paper. Later inventions followed, such as "telephotography," which sent electrical signals based on degrees of light on a page, allowing for images to be sent. The first fax machine as we know it today was produced by Xerox in 1964. The machine was known as an LDX -- Long Distance Xerography -- machine and it took about six minutes to send a document.