A whopping 2,097,181 faxes were sent by the free and low-cost internet fax service FaxZero.com during 2017, its highest number ever. The faxing frenzy was bolstered by citizens reaching out to their representatives in the U.S. House and Senate.
"Each year, I take a look at which companies and government entities received the most messages from FaxZero users," said Kevin Savetz, the website's founder. "Based on this year's destinations, I call 2017 'the Year of Protest Faxing,' due to the strong uptick of faxes sent via FaxZero's free, one-click fax-your-representatives service."
In 2016, when 1,668,965 faxes were sent, the Top 25 most-faxed destinations consisted of businesses such as credit card companies and government entities including student loan servicers and health departments. That year, Amazon.com was the most popular destination of FaxZero users just as it was the two years prior. These entities are still receiving a lot of faxes, but the 2017 Top 25 list is dominated instead by elected officials.
So, who unseated Amazon.com as the top recipient of faxes sent via FaxZero in 2017? Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Toomey, a Republican who serves on finance and budget committees, received 33,076 messages via FaxZero. Next in line, with 14,106 faxes received, was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).
The third, fourth and fifth most-faxed representatives were Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). All three senators were considered swing votes during health care policy votes last year.
FaxZero.com makes it easy to send up to five free faxes per day, and the fax the senate and fax congress service pre-fills the legislators' name and number for even easier faxing. Other often-faxed reps last year included, in order of number of faxes received: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin).
"Faxing is a great way to make your opinions known to congress members, senators, governors and other elected officials," Savetz said. "At times in 2017, Congressional office phone lines were busy and emails weren't being given a lot of attention. Faxing was definitely a hot choice for constituents who wanted to be heard."
Credit and financial services (especially Chase and Ameritrade) were among the other top destinations, along with government agencies. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration received 4,525 faxes, the U.S. Department of Education's Public Service Loan Forgiveness program got 4,277 and the National Personnel Records Center (military archives) received 3,770. Other popular destinations included: Credentials Inc., Massachusetts Health Connector, FEMA appeals office, AFLAC, the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, Cerebral Palsy of Massachusetts, the Autism waiver provider CHAMP: Children Achieving Maximum Potential and the Aetna claims department.
Savetz, who has been an expert on faxing online since the early 1990s, started FaxZero in 2006 and has since expanded the service to work with cell phones as well as computers. The easy-to-use interface allows documents in DOC, PDF, JPG, and other formats. Users can generate a fax cover page or add a custom file. Faxes generally take five minutes or less to transmit.
"It's gratifying to see how many businesses, agencies and individuals find FaxZero helpful and convenient," said Savetz, who pointed out that all personal information is carefully guarded. "Clearly, these entities are urging their clients to use the service as well.
"In total, more than 16.4 million faxes have been sent via FaxZero since its launch," he added.
FaxZero allows the sending of five free faxes per day (with a three-page limit per fax) to anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. There's also a premium faxing option for $1.99 per fax, with no daily limit and up to 25 pages per fax. International faxing is available for as low as $2, depending on nation faxed, to more than 180 countries around the world.
FaxZero has been featured in publications such as U.S. News, Reuters and PC World. Savetz is also the creator of more than 100 FreePrintable.net sites including FreeFaxCoverSheets.net, with its nearly 300 fax cover sheet designs.
FaxZero.com is part of Savetz Publishing, Inc., a company devoted to creating useful and informative web sites of interest to consumers and small businesses.