Generally, if it is at the same school, then the prices will be about the same. However, prices are set by school and region-if your school or district bids for a higher percentage, the cost of pictures will be higher so that the company still makes about the same.

Spec are obviously more expensive to print, but the cost of printing isn’t terribly high. It’s the cost of photographers and equipment that are the highest.

I started going through pictures for allowance money while watching movies when I was probably 7 or 8. Lots of parents just stick the money in the spec envelopes, and lots of teachers don’t bother to look, so we’d find numerous of hundreds of dollars in each box of spec pictures.

This is very interesting about Shutterfly buying Lifetouch! My kids’ schools have always used the pre-pay method (with the option for picture retakes if you don’t like the first set). The elementary and middle school use LifeTouch, but the high school uses a local photographer (they use this company for regular school pics, studio and location senior pics, sports pics, as well as promotional photography). Being that I’ve never experienced the spec package method, I’m curious if the cost to buy the pics is higher doing it that way? We generally buy one of the low-cost packages (two 5×7, two 3×4, eight wallets… something like that, for about $24). I display a 5×7 for each child in a single frame with three 5×7 openings.

I really dislike when school sends home sample items for me to buy/sell! And I feel that if I didn’t personally authorize it, I shouldn’t be responsible for it if it gets damaged/lost!

My grandparents were school photographers, my father was a school photographer, and at some point all of my aunts and uncles were school photographers. Now my brother in law runs the business, and I was also a school photographer at one point.

Lifetouch actually bought out Olan Mills quite a few years ago. They also own JC Penney studios and quite a few others, including the ones that took your church photos back in the day. As school photography becomes less necessary, even that takes it’s toll, and just two months ago, Shutterfly announced that it was purchasing Lifetouch. It should be final in the next month or so.

Prior to this news, I can say that Lifetouch was actually a company owned by it’s employees. My father was a territory manager, as were my grandparents, and they owned their area and received their retirement in company stock. It was a good plan, until it was time to really reinvent the whole thing since everyone does everything digitally, and then no one wanted to fork over the money to make the necessary changes because they were all at retirement age. So, now shutterfly will own it.

There is no big man in the sky rubbing his face with your money. I agree, as much as anyone, that I’m terrible at actually ordering anything and just get what’s obligatory and necessary to be a decent parent at the end of their childhood.

The package you get is called a “spec” package (vs a prepay, or proof package), and the reason they do that is because your school requests it. Most don’t anymore, actually. It was too much paperwork and too much to get them back at the end of the day. Some principals or school districts still really want it, and since they get a big cut of the money from pictures (20-45%), they request it.

I still look fondly on the idea of school photographers. I love going to help at my girls’ school on picture day and seeing everyone all dressed up in their personal best, teachers running combs through hair, half of your hair in front on one side so you can tell you have some, boys in the line messing with each other while the girls try not to mess up their clothes. I love it. I went to schools 30 years ago and 20 years ago and 10 years ago and last fall. Kids are still who they are.

I am glad to answer any other questions if you have them though.

Oh no, they do a huge art show where they display all the kids’ work matted and framed, which they then sell for $25! That’s in addition to a different art piece they try to put on a calendar, notebooks or trivets! I usually buy the framed art for the grandma’s Mother’s Day gifts 😂