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Original poster

School photo price moan

81 replies

Yellowskies1988 · 03/11/2019 21:43

Sick of been sent several photos and not being able to add them both to a package (tempest)

Why cant schools just set up a seat on the hall, drop the curtain and suggest several backgrounds then do their own photos + Charge half as less and keep the money to go towards funding instead of getting professionals in? Maybe people would buy more + school get more funding.

OP posts:
andyoldlabour · 04/11/2019 09:58

Buy a cheap set of stands and background curtains for around £40, which will work fine with any decent digital camera.
If a single photo costs £18, that is ridiculous, because I take around 250 to 300 shots at a wedding and charge £500 to £800 for the whole day, which will include a dozen 10 x 8 prints.

keeprocking · 04/11/2019 11:10

Would you also like the school to send someone round to clean your windows or mop the kitchen floor? I get rather fed up of the MN/DM habit, they're very similar, of expecting school to be the solution to the most irrelevant problem! If you don't like them don't buy them, how complicated is that, maybe you could ask school to explain it to you, they have plenty of spare time.

ThatMuppetShow · 04/11/2019 11:17

I agree - it's such a wasted opportunity.

Some schools, and some PTA, do just that - take own photos, and email them to parents who chose to pay for them. Great way to raise funds.

I am amazed that Tempest and others still manage to sell photos now that even the most basic phone has a camera. Parents must still buy them.

Class photo is one thing, but individual ones? Who waits for the school photo?

So vote with your feet, don't buy them. Parents will always moan anyway, but until people refuse to pay too much, the business will keep going.

m0therofdragons · 04/11/2019 11:19

We're not allowed to take photos of nativity so staff take pictures and we get to but a memory stick. The quality of photos is so bad - heads cut off, dc looking miserable etc. Our tempest ones have always been pretty good. We only go for the cheapest bracket. The lighting makes a big difference but you don't have to buy them.

ThatMuppetShow · 04/11/2019 11:22

We're not allowed to take photos of nativity

such a stupid rule.
Many school have a "photo booth" option - where you can take a photo of your own child. I would suggest something like that.

Usernumbers1234 · 04/11/2019 11:23

@andyoldlabour

Not exactly comparing like with like there are you. Very different process and customer, you are taking 300 photos that 1 customer takes a selection of. Very different to 1000s of photos and 100s of customers on one shoot. Administration of that alone would cost a hell of a lot more than you exchanging a few emails with the bride and groom.

Tempest don’t make megabillions as a company, it’s a family business that has some nice years and some bad years, they aren’t working on huge margins. There are very few new entrants into this market because 1) it costs a lot in terms of capital investment, the printing machinery etc. 2) if there was the massive profit in this market and you could subcontract out to some printer who had the kit, why isn’t everyone doing it? Why are there far less people entering the market than ever before. It’s because people are buying fewer and fewer photos from them, as this thread proves, you can do it with a phone if the kids are in the right mood!

randomsabreuse · 04/11/2019 11:28

Tempest's background is dreadful for my pale strawberry blonde DC. She looks ill and her hair barely shows/gets edited out...

They're about the only photos of her that look crap - she looks great in pretty well every other photo she's in.

Other DC (Not red headed) seem to look fine in tempest pics... didn't buy either reception or nursery as a result!

User7429001 · 04/11/2019 12:11

I have just ordered school photos the price it ridiculous you can't even pick the photos up at school anymore you have to pay £5 delivery charge.

Whattodoabout · 04/11/2019 12:12

Take your own photos.

isshoes · 04/11/2019 12:57

I can only assume that some PPs are employed by Tempest (or similar companies) and others are overworked teachers. That would explain some of the highly defensive responses Confused

00100001 · 04/11/2019 13:53

@isshoes

People are being 'defensive' because the OP is being obtuse.

Her complaining that the photos are expensive - doesn't take into account the actual cost of running the business, and the fact it's not a charity. She fails to acknowledge that nothing is compelling her to buy the photos. Her suggestion of getting the teachers to do it is farcical - as if teachers and schools have the skills and time to do this.

If it was as simple as OP suggested, why does she think it's not happening already? Confused and other posters are highlighting exactly why her amazing suggestion just wouldn't work....

isshoes · 04/11/2019 14:01

I don't understand the hysteria to be honest. OP had a moan about the cost of school photos and made an impractical alternative suggestion. There's no need for some of the derisive responses.

00100001 · 04/11/2019 14:18

welcome to AIBU :)

HariboLecter · 04/11/2019 14:28

www.maxphoto.co.uk/services/portraits

Usernumbers1234 · 04/11/2019 14:30

@isshoes

People are being defensive because OP, and you, don’t seem to understand how business works.

If there was a much cheaper solution to the school photos it would exist.

Nobody is disagreeing that they are relatively pricey for what they are, but we are also smart enough to realise this isn’t some extortion act by the schools and Tempest, and just the reality of what it costs to provide this service on this scale.

Everyone would like to pay less. If Tempest were making outrageous profits on each picture then someone or some company would appear to offer the service at a lower price. They dont appear because the profit isn’t there. Do you now think the local photographer who does portraits and weddings wouldn’t have considered contacting his or her local school and saying “hey, I can do these for half the price tempest charges” and making themselves a load of money? Of course they have considered it, but they know that it’s impossible to do cost effectively. Just as it’s impossible for some member of staff or the local photography club.

We aren’t defensive, We are just using common sense.

isshoes · 04/11/2019 14:36

No one said it was extortion. Crikey. Cool your jets Mrs Tempest. Wink

Also I'm familiar with the concept of business/profit. I'm also aware that some companies overcharge for things because they can.

00100001 · 04/11/2019 14:45

They make around £1million profit a year (although, according to companies house that 'dropped' to around £800,000) for the whole group of H. Tempest (beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00374510/filing-history)

how much the School Photo side of business makes... who knows?

But, either way - other companies are more than welcome to go and compete with Tempest...

rainbowconfetti · 04/11/2019 14:52

I don't really get the fuss tbh. I have never bought them because they are always shite. It's my kids though, I can literally take a photo of them anytime.

FishCanFly · 04/11/2019 14:53

I don't bother most of the time. We have cameras and camera phones - so no shortage of kids' photos.

antisupermum · 04/11/2019 15:06

I wholeheartedly agree, OP.

I quite liked my kids photos this year. As my son is moving into high school next year I did want to buy them as it may be the last time the kids have the photos done together. What annoys me is their packages. Although I recognise that they are more affordable than they used to be I don't see why I need to pay £30 for 3 exact same prints, when it wouldn't cost them any more at their end to let me buy 3 different prints from the 10 or so options I had available. If I want to buy 1 x of my daughter, 1 x of my son and 1 x of them together, I have to opt for the Super Dooper Ultra Package that's dipped in chocolate and delivered by cherubs. Why not just let me choose the 3 photos I want?! And we all know the answer - because they want you to choose the chocolatey cherub option that costs me 5 times as much, with no extra expense at their end. Good business, yes. Good service, no.

Usernumbers1234 · 04/11/2019 15:07

@00100001

Erm, those brackets round the 800,000 profit.... that’s a loss.

00100001 · 04/11/2019 16:12

@Usernumbers1234 - oh! whoops!

Awkward1 · 05/11/2019 09:54

Im not sure how you could genuinely make a loss on this.
But the photos truly have been terrible.
I agree with pp a mix of photos would be good. You should be able to get siblings in a package.
I would be happy for electronic delivery tbh.

I guess kids dont get the cost/importance. But when actually happy do much better expressions.
At home you can take loads to get one useable photo.

Aaarrgghhh · 05/11/2019 13:22

I don’t buy them anymore. The way they do it here is weird. They’d end you home the pictures of different sizes, some colour and some black and white. They have no sample writing on them at all and you basically keep what you want and then send the rest back along with the money for the ones kept. I did it the first time and have a drawer full of pictures I don’t use because the pricing was odd I bought more than needed. The next year I just took a picture of the photo on my phone which came out perfect and then sent them all back. This year I don’t know what I did wrong but she didn’t even get hers taken, I’m not bothered though because I always take a first day back picture and that’s fine, don’t really need the school ones.

Hoppinggreen · 05/11/2019 13:24

I buy/bought my dcs first and last school photos and that’s it.
I think I pay less than £20 a time so not too bad