Camera Talk

Hi, all -

While killing time during volleyball practice yesterday I was milling around WalMart. Walked by what used to be the photo center and they had a "Film Dropoff" sign. Hmm, thinks I, I wonder if they still process? Long story short, no. They mail out. But I looked at the envelope. And there, in bold letters, "Negatives will NOT be returned." They send you a CD with scans and any prints you want. THEY keep the film. WTF? Who thinks that's a good idea?

I'd have asked about it but there wasn't anyone working in the department. Go figure.

This is why I'm willing to pay a bit more and have my photos AND negatives returned to me.

And of course, you don't have to listen to some smart-ass clerk comment about you "still using film."

It still amazes me that no one has sued them for theft of intellectual property. Of course, you have to let them take your film first to be able to claim such, and then they can just point to their plainly advertised policy, of which you summarily agreed to when you handed over said unprocessed film. I quit using Walmart years ago when I finally realized it wasn't the cameras I was using that were bad, but their scanning. That was just before they started keeping the negatives.

PF

And what's worse is the scans you get back are low resolution with dust and other foreign crap on them; totally useless.

r-brian wrote:And what's worse is the scans you get back are low resolution with dust and other foreign crap on them; totally useless.

sounds like SOP for walmart and most of the junk they sell....(or so i am told)

It has been many, many years since I have given them any money for anything. I feel sorry for people, such as my in-laws, who must shop there. I might add that my in-laws have Walmart as their only shoppping choice because Walmart drove the other merchants in their very small town out of business. Perhaps Amazon will drive Walmart out of business? I miss the corner drug store.

We used to have a mini-lab on our high street that kept their equipment and process up to scratch and would do anything we wanted, like develop only and then print only what we wanted, or enlarge to non-standard sizes or process a clip from a film first as a test. They are no longer there. Sad.

I tried our local ASDA (WallMart) when they first opened. My negatives were returned scratched and badly cut - in fact some cuts were through the centre of the frame. When I complained, the the counter hand remarked "So what! Most people throw the negatives away anyhow."

I have never been back.