Latest experience w/Kodak mailer

[john_brewton]

A while back I sent in a Kodak mailer. The address was in New Jersey. After a

month went by & no pictures I called Kodak. I was told the New Jersey lab was

shut down and everything went to Maryland. They gave me the new Maryland

address so I could change my remaining mailers. Sept 1, I sent another mailer.

Again nothing for a month. I called. Umm, seems like the Maryland lab has been

shut down and my film was sent to Kansas. I finally received my processed film

on Monday. The mailer says it is valid through 12/31/07. I wonder if there

will even be a Kodak lab after that date?

[tom_levidiotis]

Boy, is that a troubling story. Some months ago I experienced some delay in sending slide film to the NJ address but took it in stride. I am made uneasy by your experience. Thanks for sharing it.

[clayh]

I called Dwayne's in Kansas, and they said they will be honoring old Kodak mailers for those who need Kodachrome processed. They are now the only place in the US that will process Kodachrome. I bought some K64 the other day just so I could go ahead and use up some mailers I found at the bottom of an old camera bag. This is the mailing address and contact info as posted by Kodak on their website:

 

Dwayne's Photo Service

 

415 S. 32nd Street

Parsons, KS 67357

US

 

(620) 421-3940

Toll Free: 1-800-522-3940

Fax: (620) 421-3174

[john_brewton]

Clay, everything you listed is what Kodak gave me, but Kodak gave me a po box of 274. Thanks for providing the exact address and phone number for everyone here on the forum.

[gary_pinkerton1]

Dwayne's does excellent work; turn-around is usually like this:

mail film to Dwayne's on Monday and it's back on Saturday.

[john_shriver]

I don't think Dwayne's honors Kodak mailers sent directly to them. Kodak wants them to go through District Photo in Maryland. They trans-ship them from there to Dwayne's.

 

District Photo was never a Kodachrome processing plant to my knowledge, the Maryland Kodakchrome plant (on Choke Cherry Road in Shady Grove, MD) has long since been closed, declared a Superfund hazardous waste site, cleaned up at Kodak's expense, and torn down.

 

The last Kodak owned (or controlled) Kodachrome processing lab in the US was Fair Lawn, NJ. (That's probably where you sent your mailer.) In recent years, it apparently stunk. It also had high unionized labor costs, and was doing low volume. Kodak smartly decided that Dwayne's could do the processing for them cheaper and better, so they shut down Fair Lawn.

 

Similarly, Kodak is shutting down the Swiss Kodachrome lab, and will trans-ship from there to Dwayne's as well.

 

The only other Kodakchrome lab is a K-lab in Japan, the last one left running. That can only process 35mm film (135 and 126 formats). Dwayne's lab runs the traditional cine-type Kodachrome lines, one each in the three widths (8mm, 16mm, and 35mm).

 

Dwayne's volume of Kodachrome processing is modest, on the order of 1000 rolls per day. That explains why the labs are closing...

 

Dwayne's is starting to handle other lab's work. I think they are now doing Fuji's E-6 work. Maybe they have taken on Kodak's E-6, if your film wasn't Kodachrome.

[clintock]

Costco still accepts Kodachrome, which winds up in Kansas too, takes just over a week usually.

Please keep using Kodachrome, and encourage your friends to as well, there is nothing else like it.

[SolaresLarrave]

Rumor has it that Wally world also takes Kodachrome (ships it out to Dwayne's I guess... where else?).

 

About Dwayne's... these guys are really good. The first time I sent them a fairly large (to me) order (about 20 rolls), I had labeled each roll with a number on a piece of masking tape. That is just the order in which I shot the rolls; that way I keep track of the places I photographed and never have to run after my wife asking her about the names of places we went. My memory, for that, is pretty bad. In any case, they sent the slides back in envelopes labeled with the very same roll numbers I used, and in some cases they used my own masking tape pieces to number the envelopes.

 

Needless to say, I decided to send them my stuff long before I learned that the NJ lab was out of commission.

[rolfe_tessem]

There have been persistent rumors that, in addition to Dwayne's and the K-Lab in Japan,

there is at least one other non-public lab in the U.S. I assume that it is run either by the

military or one of the intelligence agencies. This may help explain, in part, why Kodachrome

hasn't been discontinued.

 

It is also possible that these are old rumors and way out of date.

 

The results I've gotten from Dwayne's have been immaculate and I endorse the

recommendations by the other posters who have sent them Kodachrome recently.

[stephen_w.]

Thanks guys,

 

I just ordered my first 20 rolls of Kodachrome (10@ of 64/200) and mailers, et al to see for myself the "glory" of the film before it's gone. I have a P150, but never used it. I want to see the light.

[todd_phillips1]

FWIW....I recently sent four Fuji mailers addressed to Dwayne's. I received three rolls that were fine, but the fourth roll was someone else's film! I sent it back with a letter with the hopes that they could locate my film. That was a week ago and I've heard nothing.

 

It doesn't sound promising...but my film could have been mailed to who knows where and it the person who received it sends it back it still could take a while to get it. I'll keep the forum informed.

 

I realize everyone can make a mistake...but....

 

If they can't locate my film and I get NO response then I'll have six Fuji mailers for sale.

[raymond_tai]

I am in Asia and there is a different set of mailers for non USA customers. The mailers has

a long list of Kodak labs on it and you can send it to any of the labs for processing. I

usually send my Kodachrome to Australia because it was the closest and offered pretty fast

service. Last September it took longer than usual to get my processed film back and from

the return address they were sent from Lausanne Switzerland. Seemed the Australian lab

was shut down so they diverted my film to Lausanne. It also seemed that all of the other

labs were closed and Lausanne was the only option. I continued to shoot Kodachrome

because I buy the film with mailers in bulk. Service was really horrible at the Lausanne lab.

I used to send in 4 rolls at a time via small packet airmail and maybe half the time, I don't

want to exaggerate, only 3 processed rolls would come back. I don't make my living off of

photography and they were just snaps so I never made a big deal of it but the missing film

thing got to be such a regular occurance that once I had finished off my stock it was

goodbye Kodachrome.