Wal-Mart's Send-Out Film Service

[mongo6407]

How do you recommend labeling the film drop off envelope to guarantee send out service for a set of b&w prints? I'd hate to have someone in the store expose the roll by accident.

i have been using sam's club and walmart send out for close to 7 years now.
they have processed my 110, 8mm movie film, 120 chrome+c41
as well as chromogenic bw (both kodak and ilford)
as well as 35mm color, slides and some b/w that i didn't want to myself.
all the stores are different if they do it in-house. the stores i have used ( mostly sam's club )
send it out to fuji, and if it is 1/2 frame, c-41, movie film, 110 and 120 format films they send it all to dwaynes.
it is all - send out - since my store doesn't have a lab, and don't have any complaints. about fuji ( their albany ny plant )
or dwaynes. unlike paulie's comment, they are not drones or robots, and they actually have a clue, and they charge a fraction
of what the local pro-lab or local mini-lab might charge for the same service.
if this wasn't true, i wouldn't use them ...

i am not sure, but from what i remember, it is a discounted charge if you go through sam's or walmart rather than sending directly. i know this is true with everything from movie film to 120 film ...

why don't you call both dwaynes and walmart and compare prices ?

[jnanian]

How do you recommend labeling the film drop off envelope to guarantee send out service for a set of b&w prints? I'd hate to have someone in the store expose the roll by accident.

why don't you talk to the store and find out what they recommend you
do to assure the film goes out and doesn't stay there?
i am not positive, but i don't think the inhouse labs at walmart
are able to process b/w unless it is chromogenic b/w .. but it is best
to ask at whatever store you will be working with. ask to speak with the manager ( not the shift supervisor ) and ask them ...


good luck!

john

[dracblau]

I pay about $5 a roll at Walmart. It is fast and they call me when it's done. (takes about a week - faster than is used to be). I've put about a dozen rolls through them and I've only had flawless results and much better service than the local "pro" camera shops like Sammy's Camera. Highly recommended. I user them for 120 film too ($1.44 a roll for C41 printed). Same fast and low cost results with 35mm and 120 E6. In fact it is said they will process all 8mm, super 8mm, and 16mm movie film even Kodachrome and I know for a fact they also do 110 film.

Contrary to what you might think, some of the employees at the Walmart photo departments actually know something about real analog photography. I guess this is where some art students or genuine enthusiasts end up working, which is good for users and it gives them some work in an area related to their training or disposition!

...maybe someday we'll all have to don the blue smock :-)

Which Walmart do you use regularly? I work in Pasadena and would like to use a place that does decent work in developing.

Thanks,
Alex

[TerryM]

Wal-Mart's send out service was going to Kodak's Qualex subsidiary -- which they're closing down at the end of March. Qualex did develop every type of Photographic and Movie Film, and made all sizes of Optical Photographs. The Executives at Kodak seem to want to ruin their company which can be concluded by this utterly stupid decision to close Qualex. I've contacted Ilford to suggest that they now buy Qualex from Kodak. I hope they listen.

[B&Wpositive]

Wal-Mart's send out service was going to Kodak's Qualex subsidiary -- which they're closing down at the end of March. Qualex did develop every type of Photographic and Movie Film, and made all sizes of Optical Photographs. The Executives at Kodak seem to want to ruin their company which can be concluded by this utterly stupid decision to close Qualex. I've contacted Ilford to suggest that they now buy Qualex from Kodak. I hope they listen.

I could have sworn that Wal-Mart uses Fujicolor...

[jnanian]

I could have sworn that Wal-Mart uses Fujicolor...

they do

[jmxphoto]

Does Wal-Mart's ummm... "content cesorship" extend to their send out service? I have about 5 rolls of 120/220 E-6 and I think one of them has some glamour possibly "implied nudity" on it. I usually send mine out to Titan down in Detroit, but they charge something like $5 in addition to shipping just to ship it.

[davela]

Which Walmart do you use regularly? I work in Pasadena and would like to use a place that does decent work in developing.

Thanks,
Alex

Alex: The one in Duarte

[davela]

Does Wal-Mart's ummm... "content cesorship" extend to their send out service? I have about 5 rolls of 120/220 E-6 and I think one of them has some glamour possibly "implied nudity" on it. I usually send mine out to Titan down in Detroit, but they charge something like $5 in addition to shipping just to ship it.

Don't know - I don't shoot racy stuff. I do know they provide a great service to the amateur photographic community - filling a real gap. No one else cares to serve us for anything close to their prices. My guess is it won't last forever too.

[davela]

Wal-Mart's send out service was going to Kodak's Qualex subsidiary -- which they're closing down at the end of March. Qualex did develop every type of Photographic and Movie Film, and made all sizes of Optical Photographs. The Executives at Kodak seem to want to ruin their company which can be concluded by this utterly stupid decision to close Qualex. I've contacted Ilford to suggest that they now buy Qualex from Kodak. I hope they listen.

Kodak, like a lot of companies, appears to be run by managers that don't use their own products. That is the only way I can explain their disconnect with the real world. I can sell an old roll of Kodachrome 25 from my fridge on eBay for $35 a box, so why can't they figure out there's money in something like that? Small film makers will just about beat your damn door down for a cartridge of Super 8 film that is magnetic striped! Of course Kodak discontinued that too. Remember Kodachrome 200?? Ektar 25??, etc. etc.

Of course they'd rather focus on churning out throw-away point-and-shoot digital cameras and compete with dozens of other also-ran makers of these, instead of focusing on their own very unique and precious assets. They seem to think their "brand" is so precious that it is what counts now, not the product. This is the sort of nonsense apparently that is taught in high falutin business schools.

(end of rant!)