Ease of Use - Ordering Process:  

The process of uploading and ordering photos from this service was extremely easy. You were able to view the images stored on your computer, or just “drag and drop” images that are on your desktop.

Quality of Prints:  

To test for quality, we sent the same digital photos to all of the online photo developers we reviewed. CVS’ prints experienced many of the same pitfalls that Kodak EasyShare did.

• Sunset: CVS’ sunset photo was among the best we received. They balanced the right amount of yellow and red without making our models look too dark or fake. It is probably their best photograph. Click here to see a comparison.

• Black and White: The black and white obviously had way too much blue. This was especially apparent in the lake behind our model. Click here to see a comparison.

• Aerial: Although our aerial photo came out nicely with regard to color, but it was obviously cropped way too much at the top and bottom. Click here to see a comparison.

Note: To check quality, we took each set of prints received from the online photo developer and laid them down side-by-side for comparison.

Pricing:  

CVS photo printing service is comparable to most brand name online photo services, but they don’t come close to matching the prices of our top three services. Additionally, their 1-hour in-store delivery price is quite expensive, and naturally they really push for you to use the 1-hour service. Be careful during the ordering process and make sure you select “Home Delivery” just before placing your credit card information.

Service and Site Features:  

CVS offers an adequate selection of photo gifts including toys, apparel, housewares and more. They include all the services you’d expect to see offered on a typical photo printing service, including online storage, album sharing, basic photo editing tools and one year inactive account expiration. However, you have to access your account, but not necessarily buy anything, once a year to remain an “active user.”

CVS encourages you to order prints online and pick them up at a local CVS store in one hour. The price for this service is $.19, significantly larger than the home delivery service. When ordering our prints we were slightly confused when the page indicated that the prints were far more expensive than we expected. Don’t worry, in the next step you are presented with the option to pick-up your prints or have them delivered. If you choose to have them delivered they are much cheaper.

We were disappointed to find that although CVS offers the standard print sizes, they do not include a large selection of print sizes for those looking for more customized photographs.

Shipping Costs/ Turnaround Time:  

CVS Pharmacy charges to ship us four 4 x 6 inch prints were $.99, the actual postage for USPS First Class was .97, leaving only $.02 for packaging and handling. However, the more photographs you order the more they charge for shipping.

Our prints came in a standard cardboard photo folder packaged in a light-weight cardboard shipping sleeve.

We gave each photo developing service anywhere from 1 to 6 business days to send us our completed prints. Our prints from CVS Photo arrived in 4 days.

Although we weren’t terribly impressed with CVS’ photos, we weren’t that disappointed with them either. What they lack in prints, they make up for in ease of use and shipping cost. Please see our top 3 products: Snapfish, York Photo and Clark Color.