Walgreens photo lab From the inside

[robert himmelright]

I've been working in photo labs for about three years now. When I went back to

college and realized my company doesn't have any labs in MA, I went for the next

best thing....Walgreens. Was hired on the spot, went into the lab the next day.

On my fourth day, and first day alone in that particular lab, The morning

controll strip showed I should dump the fixer for the film proscessor. So I ran

another control and confirmed...same result. I was terminated because according

to walgreens policy, you must wait 5 days of the same problem to dump any

chemistry on either the print proscessor or the film proscessor and are

specifically instructed to lie to the customer about their film or prints be

them from a digicam or film prints. If I had waited 5 days, using just the daily

averages from my supervisor I would have ruined 400 rolls of film as well as

7,500 prints from digital media. Apparently doing the right thing is not allowed

at this company.

[jtk]

This is the norm with minilabs. Most follow that sort of practice and have for a long time. Why would anyone believe process controls were utilized when they can see the labs are run by people who have virtually no training (ie only a week or two of "training")?

 

We're foolish if we think our minilab-processed color negative film will be useful for more than a year or two. It's expendible. The only hope for anything like permanence is in the scan, and of course you'd better do your own.

[jerry thirsty]

So hypothetically, what if I were to take my mini-lab developed negs, get a bottle of C-41 fixer, and refix them myself? Would this have any impact, or is it a gross over-simplification of the many things that could be wrong with the chemistry?

[robert himmelright]

re fixing would help the problem...IF the problem was your negs are underfixed. In my 3 years in photo labs, C-41 is INCREDIBLY easy to maintain a controlled line, and incredibly easy to fix if anything gets out of line, so the chances your negs are screwed up by bad chemistry is pretty damn small. Yes every lab has had screw ups, yes chemistry can shift between controll strips....but thats why you run several a day.

[StuartMoxham]

Seems crazy to me to risk ruining 400 rolls of customer films because of a stupid policy. Just what is the point of it, if the chemistry is off why wait it usually has to be replaced. They need the a good kick up the arse if you ask me. If you know that the chemistry is off and continued to use it would that not be negligence and if that is the case would the customers not be able to sue if they found this out that could end up costing far more than some chemistry.

[Andrew in Austin]

Compared to the cost of your labor, replacing the fixer is cheap.

[thomas_sullivan]

"...Compared to the cost of your labor, replacing the fixer is cheap..."....Andrew, that has nothing to do with anything. They want each column of the balance sheet balanced as per their rules. The thought that there is even a relationship between columns is lost to them. That's not how the Wal Greens, Wal Marts, etc of the world think. Coporate whoever said it will be this way, and you're expendable if you disagree. there are tons of people needing jobs.......they'll find someone else within a week.

 

And, ya know what? Most of their customers know nothing about photography either. So, they get away with it. And negatives? what's that? My daughter has been Point and Shooting her whole life. She asks me to make an enlargement of pics all the time. She has no clue where her negatives are, I have to scan the 4x6 and work it in photoshop to get a decent 8x10 out of it (and surprisingly, it looks damn good too......not art gallery quality, but definitely "wall of shame" (ie family pics) quality). And she has a Master's in her own field.

 

So, who's left to complain. Only hope is Robert made a copy of the Directive that said all this before he left..........now THAT would be a nice piece of evidence to sue from.

[robert himmelright]

how is it I can sue them? Surely not for wrongful termination as I did violate their policy by dumping the fixer.

[photo_smith]

There's a lot of generalisation here.

I ran a minilab for 16 years and we put control strips on twice a day and never went past

the action lines in 16 years!

In fact we had a company policy that the plots were on public display.

I'm amazed that so many here are so disparaging about minilabs and claim:-

 

"Most follow that sort of practice and have for a long time"

 

Which is in my experience untrue in fact the reverse is more common, techs being

dismissed for not doing chemical and maintenance routines.

and:-

 

"We're foolish if we think our minilab-processed color negative film will be useful for more

than a year or two"

 

Again not the experience. Here in the UK I've had many films processed by labs here

dating back to 1982 and the negs still look OK.

 

I can't speak for the OP or the company involved but 5 days of running a machine out of

control would have brought the bosses wrath down on the techs here.

 

My advice is to find Labs that will allow you to look at the plots, if they won't -walk away!

 

To the OP if you didn't want to get fired just up the REP rates on the fix for a couple of

days, or come in early and scoop some from the top of the tank and add a little fresh to

give it a kick,

 

Unless the rep system is blocked or it is under repping then 400 rolls of film should be

many tank rounds and the problem should self correct.

my 2ﾢ

[robert himmelright]

Mark: Your definitly right. At the former company I worked at Control strips were run every 3 hours. Chemical problems were identified early, yes I've had to do spikes or add a bit of developer starter a couple times, maybe a pump output or two. Prior to the walgreens expierience the only time I actually had to dump a tank was durring a maintinance period or physically moving a machine between locations.

[photo_smith]

Robert

Was the film fix not replenished? or had the wrong Rep rates been set?

I once had a Fuji FP Processor that the bellows in the IWAKI pump stopped working, but

densometrically this was picked up pretty quickly with increased Leuco-cyan dye and small

D-min increase.

We just replaced the valve and checked the rep rates, put 20% fresh working strength

solution in and put on a strip - cured before the start of business.

 

I really think (at least in the 7 mini-labs in my City) that C-41 process is excellent and

strongly disagree with the poster that thinks they will fade in a year or so.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, if you'd have worked at my Lab I'd have thanked

you for your care and diligence (after all fix is cheaper than a ruined reputation) and

bought you a pint after work!

 

Good luck

 

Mark

[jtk]

I'm happy to see the positive comments ...but they don't square with the experience that's well known on Photo.net. The problem isn't the machines.

[photo_smith]

John

 

"I'm happy to see the positive comments ...but they don't square with the experience that's

well known on Photo.net. The problem isn't the machines".

 

Well, I wouldn't call this place atypical and furthermore I'd bet most people will complain

rather than praise. As for the problem not being the machines, the operators are

increasingly taken out of the minilab quality equation.

It may interest you to know that most QC is now automated, especially WRT paper (RA4)

processors.

There is no longer any chemical mixing, machines stop printing if the replenisher

cartridges aren't replaced when they run out, those cartridges have a key way so you can't

put them on wrongly , machines do their own self test and set-up with inbuilt

densitometers.

So for prints at least there isn't much that can go wrong, even printing the film back to

front is not possible.

 

You seem to think that bad processing is the norm and that the only hope is to scan your

film, I think that a ass backwards way to look at the situation.

 

My advice is to find a good lab, ask to see the plots, C-41 could be kept in control by a

blind monkey it really is that easy! In 16 years running 3 C-41 machines (a minilab, dip

and dunk and handline) I never had an out of tolerance strip and only dumped chemicals

in order to clean the machines.

[thomas_sullivan]

"...how is it I can sue them? Surely not for wrongful termination as I did violate their policy by dumping the fixer...."....I honestly don't know, Robert, but if there is one thing that I personally would be sitting in a lawyer's office about, it's getting fired for something I factually knew was wrong to do......policy or not. Wal Greens is not the law. And again, it may go no where, but the first lawyer's visit is usually free........what's to lose?

[photo_smith]

Robert

What you could do is write to the management and ask for a written reason for your

dismissal. Tell them that the film process was ruining the customers film, and you were

acting in the companies interest to re-tank with the $5 worth of fixer rather than ruining

100's of customers films and Walgreens reputation.

If they send a reply stating that you were dismissed for violating company policy, then visit

a lawyer. If no joy from the legal side, make a website with your letter and their reply,

changing your and their name (to Greenwalls) to protect yourself and post links on every

photo based site on the planet making sure everyone knows their name is an anagram.

worth a try.

Mark

[james_smith34]

I know it's an awfully late response, however, I know why Robert can not sue Walgreens. I seriously doubt he worked for the compnay. I work for Walgreens and can tell you that nobody is hired on the spot. Background and drug tests alone take atleast 3 days. Nor is there a policy about dumping chemistry after a certain number of days.

[jamie_lee5]

Walgreens still continues to run the same control strips and if the test fails we are now to drain the tanks and re-do the chemicals, theres not other way around it. Customer service is our #1 priority and being down for 5 days is a huge loss in sales and a big customer service issue.

[Tim_Lookingbill]

Geez,

 

How did you find this thread and why dig it up?

 

I still don't use Walgreens and Walmart for ANY prints or film processing because I've consistently had poor results from their

Fuji Frontier systems in two central Texas towns of Kerrville and New Braunfels. That's four facilities and there's no excuse for

it.

 

I use HEB's Noritsu's and ALWAYS get superior results. Even the Noritsu operators in both towns told me of customers switching to

their services. I even contacted the regional manager for Walgreens one hour photo and she told me Frontiers can't be

profiled and refused to do anything about the horrible print results I kept getting from negatives and digicam files.

 

Noritsu doesn't make film so they don't use the excuse like Fuji Frontier operators and the regional manager of telling me to

switch to using Fuji film instead of Kodak for better results.

[bryan_tuck1]

<p>I don't want to sound like one of the "I work at walgreens and I'm offended by your statements!" kind of people, but I've worked at two Walgreen stores and know for sure that when you have a chemical contamination, you are to take corrective action immediately. I have a handful of professional photographers who use my lab exclusively. The labs that have been mentioned in this discussion most likely have untrained staff. Roberts termination is most likely due to remixing chemistry on his fourth day of employment. It doesn't matter how much you know before you get hired, you don't change chemistry on your fourth day. You notify a member of management and/or your head photo "specialist" of the error and tell customers that it will be 24 hours before you can process rolls again. This gives *qualified* employees more than enough time to take corrective action and even execute any necessary rack cleaning. I highly doubt there exists a company policy (at any company) that states they you must wait 5 days before dumping any chemistry. I also highly doubt that ANY walgreen store averages 400 rolls of film in 5 days.I really wish I had been a member when you posted this BS, because I would have attempted to prevent you from soiling the reputation of this company the second you attempted it. This post was 100% bull.</p>

[jimstrutz]

<p>"I don't want to sound like one of the "I work at walgreens and I'm offended by your statements!" kind of people..."</p>

<p>But that is exactly what you sound like when you call everyone else a liar by stating, "This post was 100% bull." I'm glad you like your job Bryan. Keep up the good work. If people like you keep at it, Walgreens will eventually be cleared of the bad reputation.</p>

<p>Is anyone still using film?</p>

[gt1]

<p>"Is anyone still using film?"</p>

<p>Of course. With the rise of lomo/holga/diana and people tired of the limitations of digital there's been a resurgence of film use.</p>

[bryan_tuck1]

<p>Jim, I wasn't calling everyone else a liar. I was calling Robert a liar. If I'm not mistaken, someone else has called him on his "bull" here also.</p>

[michaeljlawson]

<p>This thread was started over 2 years ago and the OP hasn't posted anything on P.Net for over a year....How did you even find this post?</p>

[bryan_tuck1]

<p>I just happened to stumble upon it hahaha</p>