On Customer Service: Walmart Photo Center

Yeah, rediculous.

Have you tried Shutterfly or another online company like that? Yahoo? I’ve printed with both of them before and been quite satisfied – not to mention Flickr and I think I’ve used Snapfish before, too. I know that I printed some of my wedding photos before and was not given any trouble.

The only trouble I’ve encountered at Walmart had to do with a photo of my grandmother who died in 1963. The photo was probably done late 50’s and while it was obviously studio, it was not marked so that we could find out who had taken it. After I printed them on the machine, I was told I couldn’t have it (ignoring the wedding photo of my husband’s grandparents from 1947). I explained that this photo was from approximately the 50’s, she had died in 1963, and we had no way of knowing who took the photo to get a release; another employee finally said, “just let her have it.”

The whole debate is not so much that they refuse to print professional photos, it’s that who’s to say what’s professional and what’s not? How can a Walmart employee possibly possess the ability/knowlege to say, “hey, this is a ‘professional’ photo”? Simply, they can’t – they are just minimum wage employees and have only their own opinions to go on. And, really, that’s just not enough.

With WalMart’s employment policies and sub-par wages, it’s not surprising that the employee was less than helpful. I’ve used Kodak Gallery and been very happy with the results. Good luck…

Thanks for the suggestions! I guess the only reason I used Walmart to begin with is because you can actually get prints in 1 hour. But I’m not really in that much of a rush anyway. I’ll definitely give some of these other options a try.

I had a similar experience with the Walmart in Vista. except that the pictures I was trying to reprint were taken at a dance studio by me and using studio lights and a color backdrop. The lab tech told me that she could not give me the pictures because they were copy protected. I asked her “by who” and she said the photographer. I told her that I am the photographer and provider her my business card. She placed my card in a folder and then sold me the prints. I still use Walmart for quick photo printing that does not need any special mounting.

HELLO, I TOO AM A WALMART ASSOCIATE. I THOUGHT MAYBE SOME INSIGHT WAS NEEDED ON THIS PARTICULAR TOPIC. JUST TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT THE ABOVE WALMART ASSOCIATE GREG P IS NOT ENTIRELY CORRECT. THE POLICY STATES IF ANY PICTURES EVEN APPEARS TO BE PROFESSIONAL WE CAN NOT PRINT THEM. EACH AND EVERY MONTH EVERY PHOTO LAB ASSOCIATE HAS TO READ AND SIGN THE COPYRIGHT POLICY ENFORCED BY OUR GOVERNMENT. THIS SO TO SPEAK POLICY IN FACT HAS NOTHING IN CONNECTION WITH WALMART. IT, ITSELF IS A LAW. THIS POLICY IS ONLY BEING ENFORCED BY WALMART TO NOT FURTHER IMPLICATE THE COMPANY OR OURSELVES IN ANY LEGAL ACTIONS. JUST AS THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMS STINGS REGARDING UNDERAGE SELLING OF TABACCO AND ALCOHOL, THEY DO THE SAME IN REGARDS TO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. ALSO, NOONE CAN DEMAND TO SEE A QUOTE ON QUOTE RULE BOOK. THERE IS NO LAW STATING WALMART OR ANY COMPANY FOR THAT MATTER, HAS TO POST EACH AND EVERY POLICY. ALSO GREG YOU WERE CORRECT IN STATING THAT ASSOCIATE WAS ONLY PROTECTING HIS/HER JOB BECAUSE THEY CAN BE FIRED FOR SUCH AN ACT WITHOUT QUESTION BECAUSE IT IS AGAINST THE LAW! MY SYMPATHY GOES OUT TO MR. GIBBS ALTHOUGH I FEEL HIS PHOTOGRAPHER DROPPED THE BALL BECAUSE HE I’M SURE WAS WELL AWARE MR.GIBBS NEEDED A SIGNED COPYRIGHT RELEASE IN ADDITION TO HIS PRINTS/CD. ALTHOUGH IF HE HAD BEEN A CUSTOMER IN MY STORE I WOULD HAVE GONE THE EXTRA MILE TO EXPLAIN AND TRY TO FIX THE ISSUE AT HAND SO MR. GIBBS WOULD HAVE LEFT HAPPY !!! SO GREG P BEFORE CALLING ANYONE OUT OR EVEN CALLING THEM AN IDIOT GET YOUR FACTS TOGETHER. ALSO I WILL TELL YOU AS I DO OTHER DISGRUNTLED ASSOCIATES IF IT’S SO BAD YOU HAVE OTHER OPTIONS WE ARE NOT FORCING YOU TO STAY AND WOULD REALLY RATHER YOU DIDN’T, FIND OTHER JOB JUST THE WAY YOU FOUND THIS ONE. BUT DO KNOW 70% OF ALL FORMER ASSOCIATES RETURN WITHIN A YEAR.

I work in a pro lab. Wal-Mart has deep pockets in the eyes of some people. So they have to extra careful when it comes to copyrighted images. But come on Shaniqua! The guy had the images on a disc. No photographer with half a brain would give his client the images on a disc unless he wanted them to go and get the reprints themselves. It is quit a common practice now a days with the part-time weekend wedding photographers to do this. The copyright laws does not say anything about us ( the people working in labs) making the judgment call on what is copyrighted and what is not. If a pro walked into your store and gave you a disc to print, and you see these beautiful shots that look professional, are you going to make him prove he is the photographer that actually shot the images? If the photographer does not want them to be printed, he would give him a disc with quality images. You ( or your store is ) are over interpreting the law. BTW…ALL CAPS IS RUDE. IT’S LIKE YOU ARE SHOOTING AT US. Very unbecoming of a Wally-Mart employee..oops I mean associate.

Nathan,
If you live in SD then there is 4 good labs to get your images printed at. They are Georges Camera, Gaslamp Photo, Nelson Photo, and La Jolla One Hour Photo & Imaging.

Greg,
We know not all Wal-Mart employees are idiots…just about 70%.

Walmart is doing the right thing by following the law. Just like a restaurant checking your ID before serving liquor if you appear under age, photo labs need to check the ownership of copyright if a photo appears professional.

The law states that a photographer earns and retains all rights the moment he/she takes the picture. No copyright notice has to be printed on the photo for the copyright to be in effect. The written notice is simply added protection.

It does not matter what medium the photos are on. Whether it is a CD, a Blue Ray disc, a memory card, or a piece of paper, it does not make any difference. You cannot assume that because the photos are on a CD, it means that the photographer must have surrendered his/her rights.

The only way to obtain legal rights to any intellectual property is through a properly written, and signed, release form.

Be prepared to be asked for copyright releases by more and more printers and labs. Copyright laws are being enforced and violators are being prosecuted.

It is really quite simple. Don’t try to circumvent the legal rights of others, as you would not want your own rights being abused. Be pleased when asked for proof of copyright, as it assures you of the responsible attitude of the vendor you are dealing with.

Ok, Ok,

I know some of you think it is just like a thing everyone does but it is still very illegal!
Now I know a lot of photographers in the early days of selling there digital negatives off did not think of this. and it is a also a situation to situation problem but from a lot of your posts I am reading you are purposefully trying to break the law and justify it in your head!

I can tell you as a veteran photographer its people like you making it hard to keep good photography affordable. Period!

If it were my images and I caught you believe me….I would sue your ass off!

http://www.sixpencestudios.com

-My 2c

I just had a wedding picture incident happen at Wal-Mart. My question is if there is no copyright on the pictures, how can you show a signed copyright. My pictures were taken by a friend with my camera (Kodak Easy Share, must make “professional images”) and the preacher. (lol) They are wonderful pictures and do look professional, but I cannot provide a signed copyright release if one doesn’t exist. I don’t think that it is Ok for people to have to go to another picture printing company to print pictures that they own. Also, with all the complaints that I have read here and on other sites, I think this is a significant problem that Wal-Mart needs to address. Because I also do amateur photography, but I wouldn’t even know how to go about getting a copyright. I am extremely frustrated, and I also think that some people (employees) are using this as a power trip…personally, I’m sorry if their lives aren’t what they would like, but don’t take it out on me. Also, I asked if there was something I could sign that would release them from responsibility, and I was told that there wasn’t, but then when I go home I found the “Copyright Ownership Indemnification Agreement” online. However, this still concerns me, seeing as there is no copyright. Feel free to contact me at monicajanethompson@yahoo.com because I am intent on pursuing this issue as far as needed to resolve it, and to stop photo lab people from treating honest citizens like criminals.

Monica, did Walmart call the police on you? Did they put you in hadcuffs, or restrained you in any way? If all they did was ask you for proper documentation then it was far from being treated as a criminal. The copyright issue is difficult. We all need to understand that in order to uphold the law, some inconveniences will have to be tolerated. Just like going through airport security might make you feel like a criminal, or being asked for a picture ID when ordering an alcoholic drink. When it comes to copyright enforcement, there is no easy way. The individuals working at the lab have to use their discretion. That fact alone creates great disparity and there are examples on both extremes. My suggestion is to simply be patient, provide documentation and use common sense. Remember that “every” picture is copyrighted, whether it was taken by an amateur,a professional, or you. Copyright takes effect the moment the picture is taken. Now that you know how the system works, be prepared to answer the questions and allow yourself the additional time. Thousands of people get their pictures done every day without any problems.

MONICA, amen to you, going thru airport security, getting asked for id , when I was young never bothered me AT all. The same as signing the copywrite agreement on the copy machine when you do make copies, why have that if at walmarts discretion they can over-ride your acceptance. If I gave a id and they told me it was no good and it was I would be mad, if I went thru airport security and they told me I had something on me when I didn’t then I would be mad. This is the same thing at walmart, they accuse you of having a copy writed photo when its not, IN THEIR opinion even if you know they are wrong. To me its like being called a liar. Many many photos these days look copy writed when they are not. I guess if walmart wants to be the PHOTO POLICE then their policy is fair. Jane Boucher.

I have been a customer of Walmart for years. I have used their photo center for years. Do you know walmart throws out your pictures after 90 days? Yes I had 5 rolls of film that they threw out and disposed of. Of course this is nothing in their fine print anywhere stating this, only that it is “not there responsibility after 30 days”. I am so mad and hurt, baby photos, graduation photos, everything gone. Then they said they tried to contact me, but they have no documentation or proff of this, because of course this is disposed of too. I never received a phone call nor any mail from them. Funny they refferred me back to Fugi, when they know fugi deletes them the next day. So they sent me on a wild goose chase for nothing. Nothing to show they contacted me. But I never knew this was a practice. I have never known that a company would just dispose of your pictures and then just say oh well. As a 5 dollar and hour photo rep,and a big company why should they care. These are people memories that they are just thrown away.

Cherise,
Two things nedd to be adressed in your above comments. One I currently work at a wal-mart photo lab out in the middle of no where USA. I’m a pre-med student who makes 15 dollars an hour. Infact photo lab associates often make more than the front end managers. This is because we must know and inforce laws as well as fix machines, print and develop photos. So for you to insult the money that I or any of my coworkers make is insulting and let me tell you that one day you might well work for some wal-mart associate as most are college students persuing other ocupations. Second if these picutres were dreadfully important then why did you leave them there for three months. Would you prefer that we hold on to these photos and charge you rental space? We call people after two weeks (to a month) durring these call’s I get yell at because I’m harrasing people, such as yourself, to come and pick up thier pictures. You knew that these photos had been there for three months (as stated by you) then why did you not go pick them up. Its your own falt so shut up.

FYI, for all of you that didn’t know, most “pre-med” students are basic degree majors, and if you’ve ever been to a college campus, almost everyone is “pre-med”…..funny, not everyone ends up being an MD…hmmmmmm? Just some food for thought.

Also, most educated professional types don’t resort to telling someone to shut up when they disagree with his or her opinion.

Now, back to the issue at hand. I don’t agree with Wal-Mart policies, therefore I DO NOT shop there. It is sad that we, as a country, have let a conglomerate of this magnitude form just for the sake of convenience. And, as we can see from the above statement, it isn’t helping anyone, and could even be contributing to an even further divide between the educated and uneducated, not to mention increasing dissatisfaction at work.
–M

There are several software applications that protect copyrights in images even though you can’t see a copyright on a photo, digitaly it’s there.

Unfortunatly if you were to by the copyright to an image it wouldn’t be very cheap.

There are copyright laws that must be enforced.

Every writing I have read on here is bashing Wal-Mart for what we can and can’t print. I am a Photo Lab Manager at a Wal-Mart and I have had people come in and say “Walgreens wouldn’t print these pictures, can you? ” So it’s not all Wal-Mart’s fault all the time. We are going by the policies set up for us by Kodak if you print on thier machine, and Fuji if you print on thier machine. I know with cameras now going up to 12 megapixels it is going to get harder and harder to tell the difference between professional or not. I turned two ladies away today that had a high school picture of thier mother, you can tell it was professionally taken. It is a 25,000. fine if we are caught printing a professional picture. We have a number of professional photographers that come and do their pictures thru our lab. One guy prints 500 to 600 prints a week, all we had to do is have his business card to put in our files. Most people understand, my mom takes the grandkids school pictures and prints them on her printer/scanner/copier and you can’t tell they weren’t done by her.

If you have your family pictures done by Sears they will give you a release form and a cd so you can reprint your pictures. We just copy the release and put it in our files and they can come back as often as they want. So before you go and bash Wal-Mart on all these writings, go and try do your pictures at Walgreens or Rite-Aid, or Snyders and find out if they don’t tell you the same thing as we do. It isn’t “Wal-Marts Policy” it is the Governments and you agree to it everytime you try and do pictures on one of the kiosks.

We had one customer that sent professional pictures to us over the computer thinking that if she did it from home and paid for them online she would skirt the issue and get them. It didn’t work, we took her up to the Customer Service desk and reimbursed her money, YOU CAN’T DO PROFESSIONAL PICTURES..ITS THE LAW.

That is an excellent point, how can someone working in a photo lab, who by the way, I do not consider a professional determine whether or not something is professional. People should be allowed to sign a copyright indemnification, which by the way would release Wal-Mart from any legal responsibility. FYI: the person that signed would get the fine not Wal-Mart. I have had this problem, but ONLY at Wal-Mart. It is a bunch of underachievers that don’t understand copyright law, and certainly can’t determine a professional portrait from one done at home that are getting their power trips any way they can. Valerie, you bring up a very interesting point about copyrights expiring. How long are they good? I mean, the government makes sure that the ones on inventions run out, so they must on photos. And, why are pictures such a big deal these days? Oh, well, just food for thought.

I have taken a part-time job as a photo specialist at Walmart while attending college full time. During my training I was told that if a photo “appears” to have been taken by a professional photographer, that I was not to print it without a copyright release. I was also told that I can be fired on the spot if I choose not to comply with this policy. I was told to use my own judgement as to whether the image was printable, and that if in doubt, I was not to print it. Walmart policy does not allow for any debate about expiration or alteration, since these are issues that are often litigated in federal cases. Walmart’s objective appears to be to avoid litigation at any cost. Now, it doesn’t take a genius to recognize a picture that is likely to be professional, but being human, there are many cases in which I can be mistaken. I serve quite a few customers who have a way with the camera, though they don’t choose to make money at it. In such cases, I ask the customer if they took the picture. If they say yes, I tell them that it is an excellent shot…so good in fact, that it looks professional, and ask if they would mind signing a release that I can put in our files so that we are protected. (Walmart does provide it’s photo centers with release forms which can be filled out by the customer or other photographer). In cases of school photos or photos which are obviously produced in a photography studio, i also offer the form, explaining what part needs to be filled out by the copyright owner. In the case of very old photos, where the studio or photographer is likely to have gone out of business many years ago, I apologize profoundly and sincerely and educate the customer about the fair use clause in the federal copyright law, which allows them to make copies for their personal use on a home scanner/printer. I explain to all customers that they can indeed make copies of their professional pictures….it’s just that Walmart is prohibited by law from making money off of them. I think it’s important to remember that people’s photos are near and dear to their hearts, and not to tell someone, “No, you can’t have that”, without providing them with an alternative. In the year that I’ve worked for Walmart, I have seen very few cases where people were completely inconsolable regarding this policy. I’m sorry that some of you have had such negative experiences in this area, and hope that you have all found a way to get your photos reproduced.

Hi, I am just a person who loves to take photographs of my grandkids & family. I bought a program called Green Screen Wizard which lets you take a piece of anything green, put it behind your subjects & take their pictures. This program replaces the green with whatever background you choose. I have also purchased cds with background images on them. But I also have Paint Shop Pro & did practically the same thing (a little harder to do), took a picture of my grandson taken Halloween night & made a really cool picture of him with various different backgrounds. I then uploaded them to Clarkcolor & had no problem getting them printed for me. I don’t use Wal-Mart because they use Fuji paper & I sometimes like to enter contests in the Parade Magazine & they only accept Kodak paper. I could of swore I read or heard somewhere that when the copyright law was inforced that it didn’t pertain to photos from years before. If I have a school picture or studio picture that I need a copy of, I just scan it myself & print it out. Sometimes they don’t look good so I just toss those. In the future I will upload the original picture with my modified one, that should be proof enough. But like I said, Clarkcolor gave me no trouble in printing it for me. By the way, they only charge about 8 or 9 cents per print if you buy the 400 print package for about $35 or so. Your first 25 are free. That price is for the 4 x 6 size. If you do start using Clarkcolor please feel free to say Laurel Frank told you about it. You can fix your pictures on their website before you submit them for printing. Fix redeye, lighting, cropping, etc.

Jason, you made some very good points. In addition, we could all stand to remind ourselves that if we have complaints concerning laws, we can address them to those who have the power to make changes, i.e. our congressmen. :)

This is a caution to folks, photo shops , all of them do lose photos. so Make a copy of some sort before trusting a valuable one to a photo place, haven’t you ever brought home photos that didn’t belong to you, I have at walmart and returned them. Not just at walmart but other places over the years. and once at the photo shop in Walmart, I had my grand daughters pictures taken, xmas pictures, and when they came back they were of a completely different family and they had lost ours and since they found the correct picture, they would not have them redone for over 6 weeks, we finally received them the middle of Jan. XMAS PICTURES. I went in Nov to get the pictures back in time , We barely received a apology for this mixup. I wish you luck in retrieving this picture. IT may turn up. Jane

I work as the Wal-Mart Photo Lab Manager, and when people bring their pictures in WE DO NOT take them from them unless they are sending them out to be done by Fuji. We would of helped you copy it on either our 1 hour photo scanner where it would of come out Matte finish or on the Kodak machine that would come out Gloss, but in any event you would of still had your photo when you left the store. We will help the customer all we can, but we do not take your photos and make them..you could also go to http://www.walmart.com on your puter and have the photo sent in to be made and still have your original at home. The only time we have lost pictures is if they get sent to the wrong store by fuji.

I really hope if someone does have my picture by mistake they will return it. And yes, I was told by an another associate that the employee who took my photo was not suposed to take the original and negative. Too bad I did not know that, then I would have my original.
Thank You for all your support & advice!!

Les, you are so right, it is not the fault of the people who work and are doing their job, I would never treat them badly. But it is the law that makes them guess if a photo is copywrited. Its this guessing process that gets to me. With digital photos its impossible for regular employees to Guess. SO if I can’t do it at walmart, I go to CVS or most likely print them out on my printer at home. Mostly if they look professional I will do them myself. especially older photos, pre 1940. It gets me going if I take a picture myself against a wall or something and take it there to be copied and told its copywrited. It just makes me think less of this process of Guesswork. It makes employees look dumb to me. Jane

I’ve worked in the photo lab for one week and surfed the web to see if I could find any information to get me more prepared for the job (help customers make more informed decisions when buying cameras and such). This is the kind of stuff I keep coming across and wow, I’ve never been so offended in my life after reading all of these comments.

Let’s see, the people who have commented on here have posted rude comments about my integrity, my professional work ethics, and my life in general. In fact, a lot of you are posting like you are rich snobs and I’m pretty sure that the majority of people that made comments about how much we make are working minimum wage yourselves (or not working at all)!

First of all, I did not start at minimum wage. Therefor, referring to me (or any other photo lab “technician”) as a minimum wage employee would be an irrelevant argument. Secondly, none of us have ever referred to ourselves as “professionals” anyway. Only Walmart refers to us as professionals (as Subway refers to their employee’s as “artists”).

Next, to take your anger out on the employee’s is uncalled for. A lot of you are calling us rude because let’s face it, You didn’t get your way. That’s not to say that I don’t think that you shouldn’t be able to print your personal photos because they look professional, because I do think that you should be able to. However, like any other employee, we have a job and we have strict rules to follow to avoid termination. Has it ever crossed your minds that some of us might have families to feed? Would you risk your job for me? Would you break a rule that could involve termination so that I’m happy? How would you explain that to your family? We have rules to follow. We don’t make the law and we certainly don’t make the company’s policy.

For those of you saying that we are the ones that are unaware of the law, excuse me? We have to read the law every single day. The damn thing is usually posted right in front of us on every station that we work at. We know the law. Not only do we risk termination, but we risk getting a huge fine if we print anything professional. NOT the company. The employee that prints off the copyrighted pictures gets the fine as well as the customer. So, on top of losing my job for you, I’d have to pay a HUGE fine if it turned out that your photos were copyrighted and how the hell am I going to pay for that fine if I DON’T HAVE A JOB because I decided to break the rules for ONE customer that I felt a little sympathy for?

STOP taking your anger out on the employee’s and start writing letters to your congressmen about the strict copyright laws that prevent you from getting copies of your family photos (like the guy above stated).

Oh, and I really don’t appreciate how so many people call Walmart employee’s idiots. We’re just doing our job like everyone else in this world. In fact, most of the employee’s are very knowledgeable. Otherwise, how the hell would we be able to answer your questions about certain products if we didn’t know a damn thing? You guys come up to us and ask, “which camera would be best to record my childrens soccer game?”. We take you over to a camera that would capture your childrens soccer game the best. You ask anyone in electronics anything about HDTV and they’ll give you an educated answer. We’re not taught this stuff. We’re expected to KNOW about this stuff and guess what? Most of us DO know what we’re talking about. So, yes, I guess that makes us pretty fucking stupid doesn’t it?

Oh, and by the way, I can write in the angry tone that I’m writing in right now, because I’m not speaking on behalf of Walmart. I am not on the clock. I am speaking as an INDIVIDUAL who has been called EVERY NAME IN THE FUCKING BOOK BY YOU STUPID FUCKING CUSTOMERS who don’t know SHIT about our job and speak as if they know EVERYTHING about what we do.

One more thing for those of you who DON’T work in a photo center (those of you who do know what I’m talking about, because most of us has had atleast one experience). You think our job is so fucking easy? Try looking at photos that can only be described as classified (anything from nudity to crime scene photo’s to seeing your buddies in ways that you never thought of them). That’s right. Every photo that gets developed, we have to look at. EVERY photo. Luckely, we’re held to confidentiality laws, so we can’t go around talking about your most disgusting photo’s. Not even to our family and friends. So, basically, we have to live with disturbing photo’s in our head for the rest of our lifes. Things that make you want to gouge your eyes out.