Ease of Use - Ordering Process:  

We would like to see Walgreens be a little clearer about their pricing and delivery options upfront. It wasn’t until the end of the process where we presented with the option to have our prints delivered  to home. The whole first step of the ordering process assumes you are picking your prints up in the store and the price in your shopping cart reflects the in-store price.

Walgreen’s upload and ordering process is similar to many of the other services we reviewed. It is easy to use and even the most inexperienced users would feel comfortable uploading their digital prints.

Quality of Prints:  

To test for quality, we sent the same digital photos to all of the online photo developers we reviewed. Unfortunately, we did not find one company that met all of our quality expectations, but overall we were pleased with Walgreen’s prints.

• Sunset: Our sunset image came out well and picture quality is very close to the top three services. The picture is clear and there are enough reds and yellows to make the sunset standout, but we felt that one of our models was just a little dark or shadowed. Click here to see a comparison.

• Black and White: Previously our black and white photo developed by Walgreens was a little blue, this time the picture seemed yellow and a little faded. This was not Walgreen’s best photo. Click here to see a comparison.

• Aerial: Our aerial photo is a picture of London from the top of St. Paul’s cathedral. It was a slightly foggy day and Walgreen’s photo center was able to make many of the buildings in the foreground crisp and bright. However, much like our #1 service, Snapfish, some of the buildings have a hint of yellow. Again, this is not distracting. 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:  

Walgreen’s prices, while competitive, are still high compared to our top three services. Although they are not the most expensive we’ve seen they are reasonable. However, prices do change depending on your mode of delivery. The difference between home delivery and in-store pickup is significant and Walgreens pushes for you to pick-up your photos rather than have them delivered.

Service and Site Features:  

Like many of the services in this review Walgreens has recently incorporated group rooms. Group rooms allow users from various accounts to upload albums and share a space with other users. You can also download up to 5 free hi-res images.

Walgreens recently introduced a new desktop manager application. The W Photo Studio is free software you can download to organize and manage you photographs while offline. The software integrates directly with Walgreens’ Photo Center online.  However, we would have like to see the capabilities for minor editing like Shutterfly or Kodak EasyShare.

Walgreens photo printing includes many of the usual photo gifts, like mugs, photo books, mousepads and more. We didn’t find anything particularly extraordinary; however, the items they offer is comprehensive.

We also liked that unlike many chain stores, Walgreens photo printing services enables you to upload and print pictures from your camera phone.

Shipping Costs/ Turnaround Time:  

It took Walgreens only 4 days to deliver our prints. The photos were shipped in a standard paper photo folder with a piece of cardboard reinforcement in a paper envelope. Even though our photographs arrived without incident we weren’t impressed with the packaging.

To ship us four 4 x 6 prints Walgreens charges $.99 shipping plus tax. It cost them $.97 to ship our photographs leaving $.02 for handling. This is a great price if you are ordering five photographs at a time. Shipping cost does go up with the number of photos you order.

In store pick-up times depend on how busy your local Walgreens is. Most prints can be processed within an hour, and all orders should be processed in less than 24 hours.

In the past, we did experience some delivery difficulties. We believe they were originally lost in the mail. When we contacted Walgreens about the situation they immediately re-printed our order and sent it 2-day delivery, for free.

Walgreens maintains the reputation they’ve built at their local pharmacies and carried it their online business. However, in this very competitive market Walgreens’ prices need to get better, and be careful when ordering your prints; Walgreens strongly advises you to pick-up your order rather than choose the home delivery method. Please see our top 3 products: Snapfish, York Photo and Clark Color.