to think school photos are a total rip off

[Cait73]

My lo is nearly 3 he started preschool this year so imagine my delight when he bought home his first school photo

Except when I went online to order it the cheapest package is £27 that's OUTRAGEOUS!!

It's Christmas in 3 weeks, his Birthday happens to be Christmas Eve and I only want 2 maybe 3 photos but you have to order a package

It's not a particularly great photo BUT it's his first "school" photo, I'm gob smacked!!

If it’s not a great photo just don’t buy it, they’re relying on lots of people just thinking ‘oh it’s his first school photo’ etc, and I agree it’s not cheap.

I agree. I forgot to order my sons (it's lovely so I want one) but now it's outside of delivery to school, I've got to pay a fiver postage on top. Utter bloody rip off .

Don't buy the photos. Take one of him yourself with him seated wearing his uniform and send copies to relatives.

I buy the digital download and order the prints from snap fish. That way I got the pictures I needed (rather than the random selection) and it costs so much cheaper!

Me too @3of5

100 million per cent YES. Why would anyone even buy them now. You can use your phone/digital camera and stick your kid on a stool or chair in front of a magnolia/white/grey wall, and take loads, and pick the best one, and print it off for 50p a copy in Boots.

Uniforms are a rip off too, and those 'childrens story compendiums,' where your child writes a 200-400 word story that goes into a book with 300 others, and they flog them for £15 each! Making a fortune.

Parents are so screwed over by schools really!

Yup! I only wanted three 4x6 photos but to get those I had to have about 602 I don’t want and spent £60.

It is.

I dont always buy them but when I do it is the cheapest option.

My DD's were £70 last year. Hers and DS's are due any day after being taken last week. Nice added expense before christmas

Yes, in this day and age I can't think why anyone would buy a school photo of an individual child or sibling group.

Do as Tania64 and GetTheFlockOutOfHere suggest.

I understand buying a class photo, but in 2021, there is no reason whatsoever to spend £27 on a set of photos you only want a couple of.

I did the same for my dc's graduation.

They are a total rip off. I don't buy them because portrait photography doesn't appear to be the school photographer's strong suit...and they are massively over priced. £13 was what was being charged last year for a digitial copy of 1 photo - which looked shit anyway. I take a photo of the first day of each school year on my phone. If you'd like one now, personally I'd do what someone else suggested and take a photo of your child sitting in front of a blank wall and get them printed by bonusprint or one of the other cheap online suppliers.

Just don't buy them...they are very expensive!

@3of5

I buy the digital download and order the prints from snap fish. That way I got the pictures I needed (rather than the random selection) and it costs so much cheaper!

The digital download costs £24 which is also a rip off

Before becoming a parent, I thought School Photo Days were straightforward, a fella takes a picture of your kid at school, you buy a copy from them for a few quid. ..Nope.

• Hi there, we’ve taken a picture of your kid at school and wondered if you’d like one?

• Oh, ok, yeah I’ll take one.

• Well.. we don’t do single photos we do ‘packages’.

• Ok, what’s the most basic package?

• That would be Package One. It’s one normal-sized photo and 42 wallet-sized photos.

• Well, that’s shite, I don’t know 42 people. I certainly don’t know 42 people who own a wallet. And I definitely don’t know 42 people who are weird enough to carry around a picture of someone else’s kid in their wallet.

• They’re great for passport photos.

• 42!? How many passports do you think he needs? He’s six, not f*ing Bond.

• OK, well Package Two is one of our bestsellers.

• What’s that?

• That’s 20 photos, all really awkward sizes, either too small to frame or too big to give to relatives without it being weird.

• Great. ..Package Three?

• That’s Package Two plus a snow-globe and a 6-foot canvas for your living room wall.

• Jesus, no.

• Look just give me the cheapest.. Package One.

• Certainly.

• Is that it? Can I pay now?

• Tea towel?

• What?

• Tea towel?

• Are you taking the piss? Why the bloody hell would I want a tea towel with a picture of my kid gurning on it? It’d be like drying the pots with the Turin Shroud. I’ll just take the..

• Cushion?

• No.

• Mug?

• No.

• 6 foot cardboard cut-out.

• NO.

• What about a hot air balloon? They’re twenty feet wide and we’ll tether it to your back fence.

• Wha..?

• They’re very popular.

• No.

• We can project your kid’s face on to the moon?

• Why would yo..?

• What about one of those big, blow-up, wavey -hands things you get outside car dealerships?

• NO.

• We’ll tattoo their face onto a pig?

• JESUS CHRIST!?, what is wrong with you people!? Look, just send me the shitty wallet package.

• No problem. Package One. That’ll be 45 quid please.

• What the bloody..!? Are you hand-painting each one!? I’m not paying that.

• Well, its memories isn’t it. And they are only young once, aren’t they? And you can’t get this time back and..

• ..Fine.

…and give me one of those f*ing tea towels as well.

Small person in question is my grandson I've had custody of him since he was 9 months old, I feel pressurised into buying them to send copies to parents and other Nanna but none of them contribute financially

My Mum is of the "sod them" attitude but I can't help this sense of duty and I'm angry because I feel taken advantage of (by the photography company)

We do digital download which is cheapest option, still costs £30! Absolute rip off if you ask me 😫

He’s not even 3, this isn’t a school photo, and you don’t even like the picture. Take a nice photo yourself to share with the other grandparents.

That photographer makes their living by taking photos and their overheads will be much more than just the cost of the prints, mounts and other materials: camera equipment isn't cheap, neither is a photo editing suite and the computer required to use it. Insurance, travel and maintenance can also be quite expensive. This is why professional photography shoots, and the resulting prints, cost more than your iPhone shots printed out at Boots. If you don't like the images, don't buy them because they're not compulsory.

School photos are awful and such a rip off. I never bought the individual photos, we just kept the proof. We always bought the class photos though as it's good to look back over the years and see how everyone has changed.

It really is shocking the prices they charge. My DC got there's taken in June just before they finished for the holidays I was £90, £30 per set, individual ones of them both then a set of them together. I bought them as it was eldest last year of primary. Then last week we get an email to say the photographer will be in the school next week!!

@Vapeyvapevape hahahaha

@Cait73

Small person in question is my grandson I've had custody of him since he was 9 months old, I feel pressurised into buying them to send copies to parents and other Nanna but none of them contribute financially

My Mum is of the "sod them" attitude but I can't help this sense of duty and I'm angry because I feel taken advantage of (by the photography company)

How on earth are you being taken advantage of by the photography company??? They aren't compulsory. They are priced to cover their overheads and make a profit - same as every other business in the world. Just take your own if you don't want to buy them.

I paid about 50 for the digital download for dd. Agree it's such a rip off, but it's our first one so we have just done it.

My d's pre school you can buy 1 photo for like £8 or £9 or there are bigger bundles, which we do but everyone who wants a photo pays for it.

@Carrotte I saw it on Facebook- so true though 🤣