hendriphile Posted March 25, 2015 Share #1 Posted March 25, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) Went to my neighborhood Walgreens to pick up a roll of developed film, and when I opened the package I found nothing besides the prints but a disk with some questionable quality scans - and no negatives! When I inquired about this, I was told that Walgreens' current policy is now to send all film to a Fuji factory in South Carolina where they are developed and the negatives promptly destroyed. Digital data is then sent to the local Walgreens store where prints are made from the data. By the time you come to the Walgreens store to pick it up, your negatives have already been destroyed and there is no way to retrieve them. BTW, no one informs the customer of this when handing the film in to Walgreens. There is a poster in the photo department that claims that film development is available but it does not state that the negatives will be destroyed. The person behind the counter claims that when you hand in the film, if you examine very carefully the Fine Print in the paper agreement, it says somewhere that the negatives will be destroyed. But who reads these microscopic contracts when handing in film? So I'm posting this just to let the general film using population know about this egregious activity. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 25, 2015 Posted March 25, 2015 Hi hendriphile, Take a look here Film users Beware! Your Negatives Will Be Destroyed If..... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
250swb Posted March 25, 2015 Share #2 Posted March 25, 2015 It is an old story, but I always wondered what would happen if you asked for processing only and no prints, would they just throw the film straight in the bin? Steve 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M9reno Posted March 25, 2015 Share #3 Posted March 25, 2015 Went to my neighborhood Walgreens to pick up a roll of developed film, and when I opened the package I found nothing besides the prints but a disk with some questionable quality scans - and no negatives! When I inquired about this, I was told that Walgreens' current policy is now to send all film to a Fuji factory in South Carolina where they are developed and the negatives promptly destroyed. Digital data is then sent to the local Walgreens store where prints are made from the data. By the time you come to the Walgreens store to pick it up, your negatives have already been destroyed and there is no way to retrieve them. BTW, no one informs the customer of this when handing the film in to Walgreens. There is a poster in the photo department that claims that film development is available but it does not state that the negatives will be destroyed. The person behind the counter claims that when you hand in the film, if you examine very carefully the Fine Print in the paper agreement, it says somewhere that the negatives will be destroyed. But who reads these microscopic contracts when handing in film? So I'm posting this just to let the general film using population know about this egregious activity. Absurd beyond belief. Sorry to hear you have been affected. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 38 Posted March 30, 2015 Share #4 Posted March 30, 2015 A very alarming story !! I know the lab I use here in the UK scans the negatives and prints from the file , however I always get the negatives back. I hope they do not follow the trend set in the US. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted March 31, 2015 Share #5 Posted March 31, 2015 A very alarming story !!I know the lab I use here in the UK scans the negatives and prints from the file , however I always get the negatives back. I hope they do not follow the trend set in the US. The US experience is of a budget lab, not many of which still exist in the UK although there are still plenty of reputable labs that don't look for penny pinching cutbacks in service. Steve 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbealnz Posted March 31, 2015 Share #6 Posted March 31, 2015 Yikes!!! In that case, don't bother shooting film, just shoot the digital in the first place yourself. Save on post. Gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
honcho Posted March 31, 2015 Share #7 Posted March 31, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) Yikes!!!In that case, don't bother shooting film, just shoot the digital in the first place yourself. Save on post. Gary Great idea. Close the Film Forum and save bandwidth too. You're in the wrong universe. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted March 31, 2015 Share #8 Posted March 31, 2015 Despite the 'fine print' alluded to, it sounds like a great case for suing for damages IMO. Notwithstanding possible facts, what commercial concern would risk bad press. I think a serious challenge would stop the practice. What the hell is the commercial advantage in destroying the film anyway?? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted March 31, 2015 Share #9 Posted March 31, 2015 What the hell is the commercial advantage in destroying the film anyway?? Saving money on packaging and labour in cutting the film would be the first thought. But a more sinister idea would be that they rapid process the film so it would only last for a few days/weeks anyway before fading, so saving on time and chemicals. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalArts 99 Posted March 31, 2015 Share #10 Posted March 31, 2015 The US experience is of a budget lab, not many of which still exist in the UK although there are still plenty of reputable labs that don't look for penny pinching cutbacks in service. Walgreens = McDonalds. And who really cares about what Walgreens is doing. They don't care about film. A film user should be thinking about supporting a good lab that has a genuine interest in film, if they are at all concerned about the future of film. McDonalds doesn't care about food or the quality of food, only the profits made from cost cutting and using cheap ingredients. Sure, a proper lab might cost more (although I pay $3.50 USD per 36 exposure C-41 process only at a pro lab, which I think is very reasonable.) But photography was never considered an inexpensive endeavor in the first place. And film costs might actually make one be more critical about making images in the first place.... like eating properly and consuming quality food and not eating just to fill your belly. 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Najja Posted April 1, 2015 Share #11 Posted April 1, 2015 Thanks for the warning, though I only deal with the professional labs. I stopped going to places like Walgreens years ago when I got my prints back and they were reversed. If the driveway was on the right of the house, in the print it was on the left. That did it for me. No more budget labs! Sorry to hear about your ordeal with the negatives; hope there wasn't anything crucial on the negs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendriphile Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share #12 Posted April 4, 2015 We used to turn in unprocessed film and, for a fee, receive back processed film. Not any longer, I guess, at least not with W*******s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted April 4, 2015 Share #13 Posted April 4, 2015 To show a contrary - before our local custom lab went out of business they had an itemized list of charges. When I ordered 120 film C41 processed with processing-only it cost me $1.80USD a roll. I suspect they never imagined someone would order film processing only. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Barnack Posted April 4, 2015 Share #14 Posted April 4, 2015 (edited) ...But a more sinister idea would be that they rapid process the film so it would only last for a few days/weeks anyway before fading, so saving on time and chemicals. That's got to be the motivation from Walgreens' perspective - to maximize profit. Unlike a professional lab, Wallgreens does not have a hard won reputation to uphold, nor do they care about such things. Unfortunately, I don't think there is much hope in getting anywhere with legal action against Walgreens. They did disclose before the fact that your negs would be destroyed - so doing that is all legal and proper, in the eyes of the courts. That doesn't make it ethical, nor does it mean that their way of treating customers is anything other than an obnoxious crock of shit. The solution is simple - use only professional labs that properly develop and care for your negs. Yes, it may be more costly but it's worth the cost. If you can't abide the cost of using a pro lab, develop your own film at home. It is not at all difficult and if you do it right, you will get results that are equal to or better than a pro lab. All you have to do is follow the instructions that come with the chemistry kit and you're golden. At the end of the day, we spend thousands on Leica cameras and lenses in order to get the best quality negs and prints that we can; if we don't get our film developed properly - by either a pro lab or by doing it ourselves - we are defeating the purpose of investing in the world's best cameras and lenses. Edited April 4, 2015 by Carlos Danger 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodie Posted April 4, 2015 Share #15 Posted April 4, 2015 Real photographers develop their own film. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted April 5, 2015 Share #16 Posted April 5, 2015 Real photographers develop their own film. Yeah! Sounds a bit like "real men don't cry". I have always, and still do, process all my own films, both colour and B&W, but I acknowledge that far better photographers than me (I am a real photographer) have never seen the inside of a darkroom. Oh, and I do cry, but the ladies assure me that I am real. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted April 5, 2015 Share #17 Posted April 5, 2015 Real photographers develop their own film. Oh, so we have a another new evangelist. Welcome. . Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalArts 99 Posted April 5, 2015 Share #18 Posted April 5, 2015 Real photographers develop their own film. That's absurd. There's a veritable who's who list of very well-known and very 'real' photographers (from both the commercial arena and the art world) who do not process their own film. Or make their own prints.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Barnack Posted April 5, 2015 Share #19 Posted April 5, 2015 I saw a Jay Maisel video where he was talking about one of his workshops. In it, a student asked him if he made his own prints, to which his reply was no. "I can't believe you don't make your own prints!" exclaimed the student. Jay's reply was, "I don't make my own inks and paper, either." 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted April 5, 2015 Share #20 Posted April 5, 2015 I saw a Jay Maisel video where he was talking about one of his workshops. In it, a student asked him if he made his own prints, to which his reply was no. "I can't believe you don't make your own prints!" exclaimed the student. Jay's reply was, "I don't make my own inks and paper, either." Excellent! I had an awakening when I was offered a job at a well-known custom printing lab. The boss looked at the prints I made at home, then looked at my negatives. "The job is yours if you want it!" Later I humbly asked him why I was hired and he replied, "Your prints are very good, especially considering how shitty your negatives are." 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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