I don't understand it, but it works

[redbird]

The nice people in Japan wanted to fax me a background document. I don't have a fax machine. So I went googling and I now have my very own fax number, in area code 206, that automatically emails me faxes (also voicemail, which I don't need). It's free. I have no idea how they expect to make any money on this--there were no ads with the first fax I've had sent, and it's a bit late for anyone to be trying the "lose money on every sale and make it up on volume" approach to Internet business.

For all I know it will turn to fairy gold at midnight, but in the meantime I have 17 pages of poorly-copied material, largely in Japanese, that is apparently relevant to the project I'm supposed to be working on tomorrow and Wednesday. (For maximum confusion, it arrived with no date stamp, meaning it was filed as "oldest" in an inbox that sorts from oldest to newest.)

They're also giving me an extra half a cent a word on the previous project, which doesn't sound like much, but at 21,683 words, it's significant. So I'll be getting a total of close to a thousand dollars for the last project, assuming nothing weird happens to the exchange rate before the Japanese client pays. (My rate is actually 5.6 yen/word, at whatever the exchange rate is when they cut a check, which apparently will take a month or so.)

I may have another project coming after this, from the same people; between that and the higher rate, I think they like my work.

Unrelated to this, last week's roast chicken is currently turning into soup on the stove, making me feel much more productive for the day as a whole. (I blew off the gym because I wasn't feeling well after lunch. 20 bicep curls with one arm hardly counts as a work-out.)

Comments

[miramon.livejournal.com]

I have one of these numbers (except in the UK, obviously) and they seem to make their money through it being a premium-rate number. So it's expensive to the people sending faxes/voicemail to you, but not expensive to you. My lot (http://www.yac.com) also do add-on services like telephone conferencing which I suspect is the real money-spinner for them.

The only down side I've come across so far is that people calling me from the US can't get through if they are with a certain phone provider (because the number gets routed incorrectly).

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

If I were the CIA, I would run such a service for free. I would also run all the anonymous remailers on the Internet.

B

[redbird]

Makes sense.

If people want to fax me random corporate documents half in Japanese, the CIA is welcome to look at them.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're a good citizen in that regard.

B