Fuji E-6 processing mailers

I finally finshed a roll of 120 Provia over the holidays, dropped it into a FUJI mailer as usual, affixed two stamps and mailed it. Today it came back undeveloped with three notes and a new mailer. The first note informed me that the mailers were now treated as parcels and required $1.30 in postage instead of two first class stamps ($.82). The second told me that the mailers should be send to Dwayne's in Kansas. The third note was a checklist of reasons why they could not develop the roll. The reason checked was "Services not available" and "Wide roll" was written in the remarks area.

I conclude from this that FUJI no longer offers E-6 processing for 120 film, which means I will have to drive across town for each roll. It also means that my existing FUJI mailers are less useful, given that I bought them for 120, as I shoot Kodachrome for 35mm chromes. It would also seem to cut into the market for Fujichrome in areas where local E-6 labs are not readily available. Does anyone know what is going on? Does FUJI know Dwayne's doesn't do 120? Does anyone know why Dwayne's can't do 120?

I guess I will start making a trip to Falls Church part of my weekly routine, but I hate fighting the traffic and wasting the gas. And I am more than a little bit annoyed that the mailers I bought serve no purpose.

One of the first posts I ever made here was in July 2006 indicating that Fujichrome mailers would now be forwarded to Dwayne's as per the enclosed notice I back then and you now have received.

No one here believed me then - not that I cared then or care now.

More recently, I too began receiving the notices to use $1.30 postage rather than two first class stamps (as per mailer instructions) due to a change in postal regs that now treat the "envelopes" as "parcels".

So yes, you should put $1.30 on the mailers.

Now, if you look real close at your mailers - you will see that they are only for 36 exp. / 35mm / Fujichrome (i.e. SLIDE) film. They cannot be used for negative film or for anything other than 35mm.

Now, as to the first two points. If you send to the regular Phoenix address the film will get to Dwayne's with virtually no delay. And, up to this past Autumn when I finally decided to "do as told", you could still get away with two first class stamps. I suspect though that this is now no longer going to work - so I put the $1.30 on my remaining mailers.

Now, as to the film size. It is what it is - 'chrome mailers (F or K) never did include anything but 35mm so that's just the way it is.

EDIT: How many mailers do you have left? I need a few to "use up" the last of my box of Velvia 100F and might be interested in buying them.

First, I suggest you contact Fuji and/or Dwayne's to verify that they no longer process 120 film. It could have been an error that your film was returned to you.

Second, there are other alternatives for E-6 processing. B&H offers 120 E-6 film processing mailers from A&I and Kodak in addition to Fuji. I'm sure there are non-prepaid mail-order outfits, too, but I don't have any specific references. A Web search would probably turn them up. Local drug stores, supermarkets, etc. also offer send-out E-6 processing, although it's usually not prominently advertised. You could even do your own, although of course that'll take more of your time. Of course, you might not like the quality from some of these outfits, but they are available.

Finally, if you've got a significant stock of mailers and it turns out they're no longer of use to you, you could always sell them on eBay, on Craigs List, or in the classifieds here. When I switched to doing my own E-6, I sold a few Fuji mailers that I already had on eBay. IIRC, I got slightly more than I'd paid for them, although with shipping costs I might have taken a modest loss.