Wal-Mart and no negatives.

[McFortner]

They are probably recycling the negatives for the silver.

 

[John Koehrer]

Walmart, the best thing to happen to the downfall of America since government.

Got that right! Haven't been inside one for at least fifteen years, maybe longer.

 

[Leighgion]

And people scoffed when we said Wal-Mart was evil.

"It's cheap," they said, and "Wal-Mart sends out to Fuji anyway so what difference does it make?"

Well, now we know.

 

[Pioneer]

And people scoffed when we said Wal-Mart was evil.

"It's cheap," they said, and "Wal-Mart sends out to Fuji anyway so what difference does it make?"

Well, now we know.

Ahh, they are doing what others have done for countless generations. The difference of course is that to support those rock bottom prices they need huge volumes. But that is where the niche is at that others can take advantage of. The volume may be too low to support Wal-Mart, but not too low for Walgreens, or someone else. So someone else can move in and take advantage of the situation. I do believe that this is where we are headed.

It is no different than Kodak. For generations they have been the big Kahunna in film. Fuji came along and began challenging that position. Now Fuji is beginning to pull in its horns because film is no longer the big profit center it was in the past. But Harman Technologies was able to move in and take over from Ilford because they were able to keep their footprint small and overhead low. And they have stayed that way and have really catered to the smaller markets.

I do believe you will see more of this begin to happen, particularly if Kodak does go down. Film will continue, everyone believes that, but when the dust settles this business will look entirely different. Meanwhile there are going to be some huge changes so get ready for the ride.

It is all about making money and most times the smaller guy does not need to maintain the same volumes as the bigger guy. But the money is still there so you can be certain that someone is going to try to get a piece of it. I just hope those "someones" make decent film.

 

[graywolf]

Must be nice living somewhere where you don't have to shop at Walmart.

As to prices, quite often these days Walmart has the highest prices, not the lowest. I have to shop at Walmart, but I also have to be very careful about what I buy there, often the grocery across the parking lot has the same thing for 60% of Walmart's price. Used to be I could get 90% of what I need at a Walmart, now it is more like 40%.

Yep, I wish I did not need to shop there at all.

 

[removed account4]

And people scoffed when we said Wal-Mart was evil.

"It's cheap," they said, and "Wal-Mart sends out to Fuji anyway so what difference does it make?"

Well, now we know.

it was fine when they used fuji
they don't use fuji anymore ...
i didn't have trouble at all for 10years
fuji is having trouble it seems
they not only lost walmart/sams club but a lot
of the pharmacy drop off accounts they had after
qualex left town ... a few years ago they closed
down their ct lab, so everything went to NY state
then NY state closed down ... the last roll they processed for me
was sent to the midwest or CO, and that was maybe 1-2 years ago ?

there is no demand for a huge lab to process film anymore ...

They are probably recycling the negatives for the silver.

i don't think so ... they probably just throw them away seeing mainly consumers go there
who don't care about film, they are scanned and prints + cd are given back ...
i am sure if someone wrote " please return negatives " in the special instructions they would return them ...

 

[ME Super]

i am sure if someone wrote " please return negatives " in the special instructions they would return them ...

That's how I've been getting E-6 processed by them. I take a sharpie and put a big X through the print options, then I mark the special instructions box and note that the film is E-6 and they need to develop and mount. However, this may be different. There's an 800 number on the envelopes that indicates the print options - I dont know about the new style envelopes that the OP is talking about but there should be an 800 number there too. Someone should call it (in case it's a different 800 number from the older style envelopes) and see if they can return the negatives to the store if you check the special instructions box. I will probably do the same to see if E-6 can still be sent through them. If no more E-6 through them then I will be mailing directly to Dwayne's.

 

[Brian C. Miller]

Why not support the remaining pro labs? If Walmart is charging nearly $10 for development, then that puts the pro labs' prices on par with Walmart. And you get professional service.

 

[mopar_guy]

Why not support the remaining pro labs? If Walmart is charging nearly $10 for development, then that puts the pro labs' prices on par with Walmart. And you get professional service.

Bingo!

 

[removed account4]

Why not support the remaining pro labs? If Walmart is charging nearly $10 for development, then that puts the pro labs' prices on par with Walmart. And you get professional service.

LOL no pro labs left that process film without the equiv. of me driving to new york city and back.
i'm sticking to 35mm c41 if any color at all, and giving it to the person down the street ... 120, e6
or my 100s of 4x5 and 5x7 color ... won't be color for me ...

 

[Photo-gear]

I only use pro lab service. I never asked for prints or CDs and they (pro lab) understand what I usually need: JUST THE FILM. Also, my pro lab service does my film for only 2,99$ each. And the films are obviously given back to me. Why should I bother with no-soul competition!

 

[Brian C. Miller]

LOL no pro labs left that process film without the equiv. of me driving to new york city and back.

I use mail order. There aren't any that are convenient for roll film, and there aren't any in Washington state who process large format color film. I process all of my own B&W.

 

[Diapositivo]

I see an economic logic in this behaviour. There is only one shipping involved, which is the trip from Wal-Mart to the laboratory, and Wal-Mart only externalizes the develop / scan part, while retaining the printing activity (and its "added value") at home. The OP clearly says that the lab scans the negatives, sends the scans back through the wire, and the Wal-Mart shop prints them.

No Sirius photographer would ever use such a service, but I understand that for the casual photographer this kind of operation can make the service not just cheaper but also faster. They might tell you that if you drop your film by 2 pm you might get your CD and prints same day by 6 pm for instance.

It should be said that unprofessional laboratories (the ones that are cheap and used by casual photographers) don't have the habit of handle negatives properly. The stripes would normally be given back in a single paper compartment. I remember the first black & white roll I bought to the idiot in my quarter when I was a child, he gave it back to me rolled with an elastic band.

Maybe we should look at it the other way. Maybe the Wal-Mart manager saw a problem in continuing the negative developing/printing business which did not guarantee any more sufficient volume or what. So he deviced this trick to externalise the development and scanning while retaining the printing. By so doing he keeps developing film and indirectly encouraging (or not discouraging) its use. It's a half-full glass.

 

[M. Lointain]

I only shoot color for family pictures typically so I just drop them off at the drug store a couple times a year and get process only / uncut then send the film through my Nikon scanner. I used to go to a Walgreens but overnight the price wint from $2 to $6.50. The last batch I took to a CVS but they were underdeveloped. After I dropped the film off I realized I could just do it myself, and do it right, if I just bought the chems. I have a bunch of 4x5 color neg I have been meaning to shoot so I think from now on I am just going to do it myself. Aside from a pro lab, the convenience of local labs just isn't worth it.

I try to avoid Walmart but sometimes it is hard to do. An economist once said that we were trading service for price in the US and the end result of that is when the service is gone the price will go back up and then we will be left with no service and a high price.

A few years ago I did quite a bit of driving around the US and noticed the prices were different in different markets at Walmart. Not surprising since they are a predatory company. When all local competition is gone they have no incentive to deliver low prices.

 

[Leighgion]

LOL no pro labs left that process film without the equiv. of me driving to new york city and back.
i'm sticking to 35mm c41 if any color at all, and giving it to the person down the street ... 120, e6
or my 100s of 4x5 and 5x7 color ... won't be color for me ...

If you were using WalMart, who was mailing the film out anyway, what don't you mail it out yourself? There's more than one pro lab than even foots the incoming shipping bill. You don't even have to go the post office for small parcels that are prepaid.

 

[wblynch]

Prepaid mailers at Target now. $9.99 for any-size 35mm C-41 or Disposable camera.

Prints and negatives returned to you by mail.

I haven't tried it yet since Costco still does beautiful work for low prices ($8, develop, print + CD)

 

[graywolf]

It seems to me that people who are still shooting film, are not going to be the kind of people who do not care about their negatives. I would think that those who made that decision are shooting themselves in the foot, but then the are just employees anyway so it is not skin off their backs.

 

[one90guy]

I have my C-41 color done at Walmart, and only buy just the negatives. It has been several weeks since using them. I do get trash on my negatives occasionally, nothing that can't be fixed quickly. My nearest pro shop is a hour and a half one way, so I only visit them if headed that way. And for b/w my daughter just gave me a enlarger, chemicals, and some odds and ends.

 

[wblynch]

...I do get trash on my negatives occasionally...

Well see, Wal-mart solved their "trash-on-the-negatives" problem!

There's always a bright side

 

[hidesert]

Prepaid mailers at Target now. $9.99 for any-size 35mm C-41 or Disposable camera.

Prints and negatives returned to you by mail.

I haven't tried it yet since Costco still does beautiful work for low prices ($8, develop, print + CD)

Yes, our Costco does also but only 35mm; not medium format.

 

[Discoman]

I have a local place that processes up to medium format for really low per roll. However, if you are a student and bring in a few rolls for development only, they don't charge.
Great for color, I've had good results and they have excellent service.
For large format slides, last time I had some processed I sent them to Iris photo. Four sheets of T64 4x5 fujichrome film including shipping both ways and all that other stuff was a grand total of $20. The slides were good enough that I noticed the mistakes that I had made in taking them.
I also had Dr.5 recommended to me.
Given how wal-mart works as a company, I'd much rather support a pro lab, even if it is a little more expensive. At least the pro lab doesn't spend several million dollars crushing any union activity at the stores.

 

[jvo]

one of the many reasons not to shop wal-mart!!!

 

[dslater]

i don't think so ... they probably just throw them away seeing mainly consumers go there
who don't care about film, they are scanned and prints + cd are given back ...
i am sure if someone wrote " please return negatives " in the special instructions they would return them ...

According the OP they have a sign right there stating they no negatives returned. I doubt they will honor this request.

 

[dslater]

They are probably recycling the negatives for the silver.

Most people who take film to WalMart are shooting Color or possibly C-41 B&W film. Processed color film has no silver in it. Exposed silver is bleached out in the bleach step and replaced by dyes. Unexposed silver is removed by the fixer. It all ends up in the chemistry.

 

[dslater]

Frankly, I stopped sending my film out for development when scanning to print became commonplace. I've found that once they had Digital ICE, they stopped caring about scratching negatives since they could just remove the scratches digitally.