A lot of national chains have photo processing service where you put your film into an envelope and it gets sent off to be processed. If I were to take a stack of these envelopes from a store near my home with me on vacation, and put my film into the same chain’s other locations on the way, would the finished pictures make it back to my home store?
I worked for 4 years for the Wal-Mart Photo Lab and I have seen people do this successfully.
One of those people happened to be the Assistant Manager and she would take along several of our store’s envelopes on vacation. She would drop the film off where ever she was, an it would eventually find its way back to us.
Just remember if you try it that film does occasionally get lost at the processing facility and also that it may take quite a while for the film to work its way back home.
Oh, and please fill out the info on the envelope completely. I’ve had to shred more pictures of new babies and dream vacations than you’d believe just because the customer only put his name on the envelope but no contact information.
Interesting thought. My quick answer is probably not, as the labs are usually regional - ie: perhaps a 50 mile radius from the lab.
The film and prints are moved by a dedicated courier rather than FedEx or other shipper. If you drop off film destined for a lab other than the one that handles your local store’s work, your packet may be rejected at the first scan when it arrives at the lab and returned to the store it came from.
One option that would work regardless of lab is web-based delivery - they develop the film and email you a web location where you can retrieve your photos as JPEGs (or Kodak PhotoCD format) Just tell them not to make prints. Your negatives will go back to whatever store you dropped them off at, and eventually, the store will toss your unclaimed negatives.
If you don’t mind the price, there are nation-wide mail-in labs such as Skrudland and Seattle Film Works. (At least I think they’re still in business.) Drop their film mailer in a mailbox and get prints at home in a week or so.
Seattle Film Works changed its name, but it’s definitely still going strong. They’re now www.photoworks.com. You could also use www.mysticcolorlab.com.
Kodak also sells mailers. Fuji too, but only for slide film.