Digital Photos and Local Pickup

I just spent two-and-a-half frustrating hours trying to get digital photos uploaded to a local retailer so I can pick them up tomorrow. I generally keep online albums, but need prints for a special project I’m working on. I’ve never had any hassle ordering prints online for delivery. I was in for a surprise trying the pick-up option.

I first turned to my old standby, Shutterfly. I really like this site’s interface and editing options, so normally it’s a good choice. However, when I tried to select the Target store closest to my house, it was not listed in the store selector. I even typed in the store’s exact address, and Shutterfly couldn’t seem to find it. Arrgh!

I then tried ProEx/Ritz and Walgreens since they have stores even closer to me than Target. However, both of their online photo centers have terrible interfaces. I elected not to give either of them my business in protest.

I still wanted to give Target a chance, so I went directly to their site. They listed Shutterfly, Flickr and Kodak as partner options. I tried Flickr and bombed out. I don’t know if it was my browser or what, but I could not get the site to move beyond the “Are you in the U.S.?” screen (even though I clicked YES, YES, YES). Kodak ended up being the lucky winner. Their interface wasn’t nearly as good as Shutterfly’s, but I finally could pick my Target store, so I pushed the order through.

When you’re in the midst of such an experience, it’s hard to know when to just throw up your hands and cry uncle. I could have copied my photos to a USB flash drive, drove to Target, waited the hour for my prints and drove home in less time than I spent online this evening. I also could have supported my local independent photo finisher (they skip the online tools and just have you e-mail the files to them), but when I started this whole effort, I balked at their 3x higher price. Sigh. My time is worth something, isn’t it?