• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

Seems UPS wont mail undevelop film...

Disconnekt

Subscriber
Allowing Ads
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
581
Location
Inland Empire, CA
Format
Multi Format
Tldr, I had shot some film & went to a UPS that was a block away me to get it mailed out to a lab, and the lady there said they wouldn't accept it because they put packages through a CT scanner (even with ground shipping), and since its undeveloped film there was a high chance of it getting damaged, and to try going to USPS but said they even use xray & ct scanners on packages.

When I went to USPS to mail it out (which they took), I told the lady what happened with UPS, she said that the only time the USPS uses xray/ct scanners on packages is when its an international package, otherwise they use scanners that just read the barcode thats on the package.

Dont know if anybody else has had this kind of experience with UPS recently or what, figured Id give a heads up on my experience today.
 
Last edited:
Good to know! I normally use USPS domestically. Yep, they don't X-ray domestically and it's weird that UPS does. USPS can open certain types of domestic mail for inspection, such as "Media Mail", which is a lower priced option for books, CDs, other recordings, and film (though I think it's only meant to be used for already-developed material).
 
Andrew O'Neill said:
I try to avoid UPS.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I try to also. Only went due to it being like a 2 minute walk for me & had another thing I was waiting to happen (which didnt), so I ended up just going to usps which Ive had good experiences with
 

Didnt know UPS put stuff through an xray/ct scanner until today. I had mailed out film to labs before a couple of times through UPS & they never said anything till now, so I was suprised. At least I know now to use USPS to mail out any film that I plan to get dev'ed.
 
21st century problems. FedEx is the best if it's the Express folks. USPS seems to handle priority mail parcels ok.
Scanning is required because of the idiots that ship anything and everything.
 

I've been doing some research on this for other reasons, and I'm told that USPS will xray/CT anything that travels by air even domestically.

I'm still trying to find out if there is a domestic USPS service where you can state ground delivery only (for items like LiPo batteries) and am still awaiting an answer on that.
 

When I've ordered Lithium battery packs from B&H they come FedEx ground with all kinds of warning labels to not put on a passenger plane. I'll be interested to hear what you find out.
 
Ive used ups to ship film to myself plenty of times. Last time was in july, took a trip to the midwest and shipped it to myslef out there and back. no issues.
 

Part of me doubts that, and it might have changed recently, but I've observed USPS airmail with federally illegal contents make it to its destination many times without issue. If they were scanning and looking for those contents, they would have been easily found.

But, perhaps they could be scanning and looking only for something more specific, like batteries?

Not the best news for me if it were true, because I've just sent some film to a relative domestically in preparation for a trip there, to avoid the airport scanners.

Last year I sent many rolls of E-6 to a lab via USPS and did not experience any perceptible X-ray damage.
 
Last edited:
I think UPS is a terrible company, and I try to use USPS or Fedex for whatever I do.

Yet, I've mailed plenty of undeveloped film to myself with UPS without any problem. Maybe this is something new?
 
I recently mailed some film via USPS from Maryland to Virginia which are neighboring states. It's taken almost two months to get it done and on it's way home. It got stuck in an intergalactic loop for weeks where no one could find it but it was bouncing back and forth from Richmond and back to Washington DC. Then the lab took it's time getting around to it. Never again will I use the Post Office for anything other than letters and I'd rather not do that but what else ya gonna do? I have to find a way to clean the water up here at the house so I can return to home development.
 

It is better to find out before you mailed/shipped exposed or unexposed film than after.
 
bags27 said:
I think UPS is a terrible company, and I try to use USPS or Fedex for whatever I do.

Yet, I've mailed plenty of undeveloped film to myself with UPS without any problem. Maybe this is something new?
Click to expand...

Or is it possible that it is just this UPS person mentioned in #1 who has misunderstood the UPS policy change, assuming that UPS has changed really changed its policy but issued no kind of notice to this effect

Some contact with UPS on this matter might be worthwhile

Just a thought

pentaxuser
 
Somewhat related but, when purchasing film internationally ( it would have to go through customs) has anyone had bad luck with fogged films?
 
Chuck1 said:
Somewhat related but, when purchasing film internationally ( it would have to go through customs) has anyone had bad luck with fogged films?
Click to expand...

Eastman Kodak had problems with scanning damage from the then brand new CT scanners when they 3rd party shipped a large lot of motion picture film to a production company customer who were shooting a feature length movie.
 
I had film shipped from France to USA last year, 100 speed, no perceptible damage. Maybe I got lucky.
 
I messaged the lab I mailed the film to (Boutique Film Lab) & let 'em know what happened, they messaged me back & said that "never had any issues with UPS using a CT scanner, but this could be a recent change."

I have mailed undev'ed film through UPS a couple times before to get dev'ed, but the last time was about a year or so ago.
 
I have always used UPS to ship unexposed film here in So Cal without any issues to date. Did so just this week and got the film back already in fine shape. Hard to say what reality is anymore.
 

… and a thought worth taking action upon!

Section 3.7 of this (undated) Terms of Carriage from the UPS website simply states that they reserve the right to open or X-ray packages. If a customer either insists on no x-Ray or marks the package with Do Not x-Ray labels, like this suggested by Kodak several years ago, I’d better understand their refusal.

 
Last edited:
Does anyone know who B&H ship with internationally ? I recently received 2 packs of 4x5" Rollei IR . Haven't used any yet, but will soon.
 
Mark J said:
Does anyone know who B&H ship with internationally ? I recently received 2 packs of 4x5" Rollei IR . Haven't used any yet, but will soon.
Click to expand...

DHL, I believe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register