I'm going to post this in both this forum and the 35mm forum because it will affect both groups. I was in our new Wal-Mart Super Center today and walked by the place you drop off film. It said, NO NEGATIVES RETURNED. I asked the gal at the counter about that and she said that shortly after the store opened, (about a month ago) they now send the film off to be developed and they (the lab) emails the pictures back to the store and the store prints your pictures and burns a CD. Your negatives are TOSSED. I asked about slides and she thought that slides were returned. So now your negatives that will last many years if properly cared for will be replaced by a CD that if scratched will make a good frissbe. Needless to say, Wal-Mart will not be developing my film any more.
Wal-Mart and no negatives.
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One of the many reasons I develop my own B&W and color.
I see this as having little to do with a question of film versus digital but a PROPERTY issue.
It has nothing to do with whether that CD has value or what quality it is. It has nothing to do with how one values the film.
It has everything to do with the fact that I paid for that film and it is my right to determine what is done with it, not some flunky in a two-bit photo lab.
It's my film! If I want to take it home and rub it on my bare bum, that is my right. Nobody else has the right to make that decision for me. PERIOD!
No sign taped to the front of a sales counter and no lab monkey working behind that counter have any right whatsoever to decide what happens to that film. EVER!
When I leave my film in somebody else's care, for whatever purpose, I expect them to take all reasonable measures to care for that film and to return it to me in good condition.
The problem, here, is that consumers bend over and take it up the a$$ when they could simply mail their film to Dwayne's or some other place of their choice and receive better service, better product and get their film back for about the same price and in about the same amount of time.
STUPID BASTARDS!
Those negatives are your property. They have no right to destroy your property.
Piss on them
Those negatives are your property. They have no right to destroy your property.
Piss on them
It's not because you agree to it when you enter into the contract.
Exactly. It's your choice to use the service or not.
Steve.
Don't support them then....easy as that... don't go there, don't buy there, don't use their services
Yet another reason for me to continue my boycot of waldos. I stay as far from those "stores" as possible.
I used Walmart sometimes ago. They did a bad job so I stopped. If they don't return the negatives then they would do me no service as the negatives is the only thing I want. I can tolerate bad prints as I could have them redo. I don't care for CD as I can scan and burn my own CD much better than they do.
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i used walmart and sam's club to process my 110, 120 + 35mm film and 8mm movie film for the better part of 10 years.
i never used their in house services but their send out service, which for the better part of 10years was fuji labs ... ( hundreds of rolls )
why would anyone use walmart/sam's club/fuji labs to process their film, why wouldn't they ??
for starters they only charged 2.99 for double 35exp prints
and about 5-6$ for 36exp slides. 120 film cost less than 2$.
local labs charged 3x that , and a pro lab ... close to 5x that a hour's drive worth of gas.
the "antithesis of photography" ?? FUJILABS ???
they were affordable, and did great work.
i don't shoot much color anymore i don't see the point ...
if i get the urge do 35mm or 110 c41 i take it to the lady down the street to keep her doing film
she is the last one, and does amazing work ...
otherwise i process it in my strong brew - sumatranol130, convert it to black and white, and sKn it like any lab would do...
anything bigger than 35mm can't be processed anywhere where i live and i am not about to mail it somewhere else
seeing the price of the film, processing and postage both ways would be more than 20-35$$
i never used their in house services but their send out service, which for the better part of 10years was fuji labs ... ( hundreds of rolls )
why would anyone use walmart/sam's club/fuji labs to process their film, why wouldn't they ??
for starters they only charged 2.99 for double 35exp prints
and about 5-6$ for 36exp slides. 120 film cost less than 2$.
local labs charged 3x that , and a pro lab ... close to 5x that a hour's drive worth of gas.
the "antithesis of photography" ?? FUJILABS ???
they were affordable, and did great work.
i don't shoot much color anymore i don't see the point ...
if i get the urge do 35mm or 110 c41 i take it to the lady down the street to keep her doing film
she is the last one, and does amazing work ...
otherwise i process it in my strong brew - sumatranol130, convert it to black and white, and sKn it like any lab would do...
anything bigger than 35mm can't be processed anywhere where i live and i am not about to mail it somewhere else
seeing the price of the film, processing and postage both ways would be more than 20-35$$
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I've used Walmart's send out processing for a good number of years and never had a problem, both for color and also B&W when I've been too lazy to develop it myself. The Walmart I use in Massachusetts sends film to Fuji Labs in New York. Whether this has changed recently I don't know. Walmart likely farms out film processing to whoever bids the lowest and may be different in various parts of the country. I would not trust what a Walmart photo clerk tells you so far as negatives not being returned. About half of them probably don't even know what a negative is. I even called Walmart headquarters a few years back to try and get information on processing and services and they were pretty useless.
Last night I developed a roll of Plus-X 120 in D-76 1+1, and this morning I have negatives. I also didn't have to make a trip to hell and spend money on gasoline or waste my valuable time.
Ric,
Post the name of the store manager and the store address so those who choose can send letters. The letter writers could demanded that negatives which are personal property be returned properly and in good condition. Several thousand letter would get the attention of the store manager and be embarrassing to the store into doing the right thing.
Steve
Post the name of the store manager and the store address so those who choose can send letters. The letter writers could demanded that negatives which are personal property be returned properly and in good condition. Several thousand letter would get the attention of the store manager and be embarrassing to the store into doing the right thing.
Steve
If the policy is one of Walmart and came from headquater, what would you do if you were the manager of the store? It's not so much simple as if the customer argueing about prices and stuff and the manager can usually give the customer what he/she wants. In this case I think the manager would have a harder time getting the negative for the customer.
Chan, this sounds like a problem with one film processing company.
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That's ridiculous. The negatives are indeed your property but as was said, once one "contracts" with them to develop them if the understanding is you don't get them back then they haven't done anything wrong *legally*. Indeed, the simple answer is voting with your $$. And yes, you can develop B/W film in the time ti takes to go somewhere to drop off film and go back and pick the film up.
Walmart, the best thing to happen to the downfall of America since government.
How difficult is it for them to return your negatives? The negatives are the originals and more important than CD's and prints (copies). The people who took the decision don't know anything about photography with film apparently ("on the CD's you'll get the pictures in modern digital form! Forget the old fashioned negatives!").
It's an attack against film, so don't just complain about it here. Write to the Walmart headquarters. Emails or letters. Not returning the negatives is outrageous!
It's an attack against film, so don't just complain about it here. Write to the Walmart headquarters. Emails or letters. Not returning the negatives is outrageous!
Breathe in...
You are dealing with a mass merchandiser/marketer/service provider.
Breathe out...
They have clearly stated how they will conduct this particular part of their business. This is their right. You can either choose to accept these terms and whatever level of quality is provided...
Move on...
Or you can find a provider who will meet your needs.
You are dealing with a mass merchandiser/marketer/service provider.
Breathe out...
They have clearly stated how they will conduct this particular part of their business. This is their right. You can either choose to accept these terms and whatever level of quality is provided...
Move on...
Or you can find a provider who will meet your needs.
Let me respond to the comments.
You have all made good comments and I'm glad I was not the only one that had never heard of this happening. The question is that if Wal-Mart starts doing this, how long before others follow in their footsteps? I checked with Walgreens shortly after finding this out about Wally World and they said they still give you the negs. As to why anyone would use Wal-Mart, my Wal-Mart sends their film to Fuji in Green Bay I think it is so what difference does it make if I use Wal-Mart? I have sent my film to others and it all looks about the same to me. As for developing it myself, not every one takes enough pictures to make that profitable. Nor do I care to be playing around with 11 different chemicals, all at the right temperature just to develop a roll of slides. To the person that said that the girl at the counter may not know what she is talking about, there is a sign right where you drop the film that says it clearly. Wal-Mart used to be super cheap. I could get a roll of 35mm developed for something like $2.75 or there abouts, but after the digital revolution they started raising the price up to the $9.89 or whatever it is now. Funny, but 120 film is cheaper to develop there than 35mm. I get 10 pictures and negs. for about $2.89 or such and if you double that for a 24 roll of 35mm you are still cheaper. My prices are not exact but I did figure this out in the past. Whether it is Wal-Mart or whomever, this could become a trend. Perhaps it will cause many to take a second look at home developing. Ric.
You have all made good comments and I'm glad I was not the only one that had never heard of this happening. The question is that if Wal-Mart starts doing this, how long before others follow in their footsteps? I checked with Walgreens shortly after finding this out about Wally World and they said they still give you the negs. As to why anyone would use Wal-Mart, my Wal-Mart sends their film to Fuji in Green Bay I think it is so what difference does it make if I use Wal-Mart? I have sent my film to others and it all looks about the same to me. As for developing it myself, not every one takes enough pictures to make that profitable. Nor do I care to be playing around with 11 different chemicals, all at the right temperature just to develop a roll of slides. To the person that said that the girl at the counter may not know what she is talking about, there is a sign right where you drop the film that says it clearly. Wal-Mart used to be super cheap. I could get a roll of 35mm developed for something like $2.75 or there abouts, but after the digital revolution they started raising the price up to the $9.89 or whatever it is now. Funny, but 120 film is cheaper to develop there than 35mm. I get 10 pictures and negs. for about $2.89 or such and if you double that for a 24 roll of 35mm you are still cheaper. My prices are not exact but I did figure this out in the past. Whether it is Wal-Mart or whomever, this could become a trend. Perhaps it will cause many to take a second look at home developing. Ric.
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A lot of discussion here also.....
http://photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00aakr
http://photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00aakr
But do tell them why (at a senior level), and may be, just may be, higher level manglement will improve the services. Fat chance, but it only costs a stamp.
MattKing
Moderator
I have no doubt that it is cheaper and easier for Walmart to destroy the negatives.
For one thing, that would permit them to transmit the scans electronically to the store, where they could be printed and burned on to the CD.
And I also have no doubt that large numbers of their customers never intend to do anything with the negatives, and therefore don't care whether they are returned.
They probably should care, but they don't.
I agree that it is the precedent that Walmart sets that is the big problem here.
I don't think though that those of us who value negatives form enough of their target market to make a difference to Walmart.
The only thing that might make a difference is the problems they might start encountering when people ask to have something re-scanned.
For one thing, that would permit them to transmit the scans electronically to the store, where they could be printed and burned on to the CD.
And I also have no doubt that large numbers of their customers never intend to do anything with the negatives, and therefore don't care whether they are returned.
They probably should care, but they don't.
I agree that it is the precedent that Walmart sets that is the big problem here.
I don't think though that those of us who value negatives form enough of their target market to make a difference to Walmart.
The only thing that might make a difference is the problems they might start encountering when people ask to have something re-scanned.
Oh, they probably keep them on ice for 30 days or so and then toss them in the local landfill. By that time the chance of someone wanting a second scan is almost nil.
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