Walmart no longer returns negatives !!!

[david_m]

<p>Went to Walmart to get a film developed.<br>

Everything has changed (and this is fairly recent).<br>

Their deposit envelope now has only one option: develop and print and get a CD and NO NEGATIVES.<br>

Gone is the regular or premium choice. Gone is the 4" or 5" choice. Gone is the CD or no-CD choice.<br>

Is everyone doing this now? Are they trying to freeze film photographers out?<br>

I won't be sending any more film their way but what is the alternative?<br>

Not getting negatives defeats the whole purpose of using film since the images on the CDs are usually poor quality.</p>

 

[bebu_lamar]

<p>It's not a service without returning your negative. </p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Some MBA came up with this lame idea. I bet they don't ship the CD back from the central lab, but instead send the data to the store electronically, and burn the CD-R there. Saves those annoying shipping costs. Gotta "roll back those prices"!<br />Oh, the price rollback lowers the quality of the product or service? Yeah, that's the Wal-Mart Stores way! Driving quality out of products sold at all retailers so they can sell cheaper, cheaper, cheaper.</p>

 

[bebu_lamar]

<p>They could get away with this in the digital age. In the film age no one dared to steal the neg from a photographer. </p>

[patrickwells]

<p>Walgreen here still processes the film in store. I get neg.s back, cd or not, no prints singles or doubles 4x6 5x7 8x10 . They do only process C-41 ,35mm tho. They are slowly cutting back on their wet labs.</p>

[hopsage]

Clark Photo is still a reliable and cheap mail-order option, and I've also been happy with

Dwayne's. For serious work, I'm lucky here in southwestern Connecticut to have a

number of good local options nearby (Milford Photo, Ritz Camera, and in NYC, Luster).

[plasma181]

<p>I take my film to a pro lab in Worcester, MA. No nonsense there. </p>

[donbright]

<p>That's your property they are taking there. It's total BS, and I think they're looking for attention, and they'll get it!</p>

[kivis]

<p>Move on to someone us while you can.</p>

[don_coppola]

<p>As long as we're talking about Walmart & send out: does anyone know if they still send E6 to Dwayne's? I read on another forum that they were not -- at least on the west coast. And the price had gone up to $7.61 per roll (didnt say the # of exposures.)</p>

[horace_t]

<p>I have a hard time believing Wal-Mart is keeping your negatives. I think that is as illegal as it gets.</p>

[john_h.1]

<blockquote>

<p>Their <a id="itxthook0" href="../film-and-processing-forum/00aakr?unified_p=1" rel="nofollow">deposit</a> envelope now has only one option: develop and print and get a <a id="itxthook1" href="../film-and-processing-forum/00aakr?unified_p=1" rel="nofollow">CD</a> and NO NEGATIVES.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Does it actually say 'no negatives'? If not, did staff confirm it? </p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>sent emails to both dwayes and walmart ciustomer assistance.<br>

Walmart charged about $7 for a 24 exp roll<br>

others seem to charge about $9<br>

dwaynes charges $5.50 plus $4.50 shipping<br>

PLUS you need an envelope and postage to get it there.<br>

It sounds like Dwaynes is making money on the shipping<br>

I can send a brick somewhere for that price.<br>

(I agree that the negatives are your property<br>

and if even a small [percentage want reprints ( from scans?)<br>

of if we wanted to make an enlargement at home or elsewhere from that image<br>

there are likely limitations on the size or quality.<br>

I think a 35mm negative is equivalent to possibly 29 mp.<br>

How many of us can afford a high end digital camera ?</p>

[carbon_dragon]

It's hard to imagine them getting away with this without a big sign right in front saying something like WARNING

NEGATIVES WILL NOT BE RETURNED. Even so, it isn't really an option for anyone who cares anything at all about their

pictures. I suspect that soon, C-41 machines will be found only at a few mail order locations.

[mark_stephan2]

<p>I had a couple of rolls developed last week in the 1 hour lab and yes I got the negatives. But, I don't get prints. I get my C41 film developed and get an index print and negatives. The cost is $3.00 and it doesn't matter if it's a 24 or 36 exposure roll. I then scan the negatives with my Nikon CoolScan V ED and get great results. I live in rural east Tennessee and have a feeling policy is different in other areas of the country.</p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>Does anyone have suggestions for reliable mail order service ?<br>

does Target return negatives ?</p>

[rossb]

<blockquote>

<p>does Target return negatives ?</p>

</blockquote>

<p> I have Target process my 35mm and they will return it cut in strips of 4. or rolled for 0.95cents a roll. It makes no difference in 24 or 36 pictures. I do not get prints or a CD. Our Target develops quite a bit of film actually and I doubt they will shut down the process. Many times I do my Target shopping while they process my film which is exactly what they are hoping will happen. Sometimes while they process 2 or 3 rolls of film I just go buy another 3 pack for $5.99. Our local independent lab quit processing film. Since digital photographers do not make that many prints they just sit around doing nothing. I think they keep the doors open as they shoot weddings and stuff on the side. Nice folks but they offer no service that I use so I stopped going in there. </p>

<p> I would not be surprised if Wall Mart had that policy. The good news is I would not put a foot in that awful place if they processed film for free and gave me a basket full of cheaply made sweatshop junk for free. They can keep it all. </p>

[brian_quinn2]

<p><br /> "It sounds like Dwaynes is making money on the shipping"<br /> Remember it is shipping AND HANDLING + THE PACKAGE, etc.<br /> Dwayne's does a good job, provides 6 MP (2,000 x 3000 pixles) scans on CD and decent prints with quick turn around. You get what you pay for. If you go to Walmart and it sucks it is your fault for being stupid and cheap.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>Does it actually say 'no negatives'? If not, did staff confirm it?</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

How come nobody has answered this? Is there anyone else who has seen it?</p>

[jeff_sudduth]

<blockquote>

<p>Their <a id="itxthook0" href="00aakr?start=0" rel="nofollow">deposit</a> envelope now has only one option: develop and print and get a <a id="itxthook1" href="00aakr?start=0" rel="nofollow">CD</a> and <strong>NO NEGATIVES</strong>.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Going to go ahead and take the liberty of calling BS on this one. I go to Sam's Club (owned by Walmart) and get 30 minute C-41 developing done in house no prints for $1.50. I use the Wally world send out service for E-6 medium format. It comes back uncut in a roll. It is cheaper than mailers... though it isn't cheap in absolute terms. Get a Sam's club membership and use their in store service... if your Sam's is decent.</p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>i emailed walmart I got back an answer about the " digital age"<br>

no mention of negatives. I said FILM ask someone else .<br>

Possibly this person just types anything at all.<br>

dwaynes did not answer. <br>

Someone recently posted " if you take film to walmart you are sheap and stupid"<br>

or something to that effect.</p>

<p>No pimpily faced dropout ? as one person posted)<br>

as far as things said here walmart send film to dwaynes and fuji.<br>

When they still had the one hour lab, they always did a good job.<br>

I think wamart paid full price or close to it at dwaynes.<br>

it is saving on the shipping where you save money.</p>

<p>You can order a huge TV( online only item) pick it up at the store and pay no shipping.<br>

because they send trucks everywhere.<br>

I still have not figured out how they sell prescriptions for $4 & $10<br>

But the VA wants $8/ month.<br>

If as one persom posted the images are sent electronically to the store they save big on convenience and shipping.</p>

 

[kyle_collins1]

<p>I went in to my local Walmart yesterday, after reading the original post. Read their envelope. It says in big bold letters on the envelope "Negatives WILL NOT be returned". As the original poster says, this is very recent. I sent a roll off 10 days or so ago, and it was the usual prints and negs, and the "old" envelope. Was in a hurry, so didn't have time to ask anyone at Wally about it.</p>

[donbright]

<p>Wait a minute! What is the problem with taking the negatives a stuffing them into the envelope? Why is that such an issue? The negatives come out, the negatives go in! Did somebody break their hand or something? It's like not getting a receipt for services rendered.</p>

[brian_quinn2]

<p>If you have images on a site like Snapfish you can order prints and pick them up at a local store. They just send the files over the internet and they are printed at the store.<br />I think it is clear that your film makes a one way trip to the trash when dropped at Walmart now. It does stop to too get developed and scanned. But how big is the scan and how good. If it is a quality scan of at least 2000x3000 in size it may be OK for most people that drop their film at Walmart. If the scan is poor and small like 1000x1500 I really think it is a waste of time and money.<br />When I send my film to Dwaynes I get quality 2000x3000 scans on CD for $2.99 a roll. Return shipping for a big envelope of 76 prints (I get 38 exp a roll and order doubles) and a CD plus order forms is $4.50 for the first roll but only 50 cents more for each extra roll. The envelope is big and weighs the better part of a pound and is sent quickly. Dawynes devleop and print fee is low too. So I really think it is a good deal.</p>

[Colin O]

Presumably research has shown that most Walmart customers don't care for the negatives - the prints/CD they receive are all they ever need. Most probably never bring negatives back for reprints, probably never scan the negatives themselves, probably don't even store them in any meaningful way. Returning negatives after processing to customers is also not just a matter of retrieving them from the machine and stuffing them in an envelope as someone suggested. Sleeving film requires time and supplies, both of which increase costs, and the suggestion that film is now being (or will soon be) developed centrally with only digital files transferred back to stores for printing sounds very plausible. Walmart has obviously done its research and found that this new system satisfies the majority of their customers and is more efficient and profitable.

 

In my opinion, the photographic services offered by Walmart are irrelevant. (In fairness, there are no Walmart stores where I live.) The way I see it, if you care enough about your photography to want proper film processing, you should go to a photo lab, not a grocery store. Find one (either local or mail-order), whose prices/services you are happy with, and support them with your business. The more business they get, the longer that service will remain available. Always looking for the lowest possible prices is not necessarily the best way to get a service you are happy with. Besides, anyone still wanting to pursue film photography must surely already be aware there is going to be some level of price premium involved, considering the way photography is moving.