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Comparison of Walgreens and CVS Photo Printing Services
Introduction In this article, we will compare the photo printing services of two popular national drugstore chains - Walgreens and CVS. Both offer convenient options for ordering and printing photos online or in-store. We will analyze various criteria to help you decide which chain is the best choice for your specific needs.
Why Use Instant Photo Delivery Services? Before we dive into the comparison, let's understand why using instant photo delivery services like Walgreens or CVS can be beneficial. Firstly, it is convenient as you can easily upload your photos from your computer or phone and pick them up at your local store in a short time. Secondly, drugstores often have lower prices than professional photo labs. Lastly, these services provide a wide range of product options, including enlargements, collages, and photo books.
Pricing Comparison When it comes to pricing, Walgreens and CVS differ slightly. Walgreens offers photo prints starting at $0.19 per print for 4x6 images, while CVS charges $0.29 per print for the same size. However, CVS offers discounts for larger print orders, making it more cost-effective for businesses. For instance, 100 4x6 photos would cost $21.99 at Walgreens but only $13.99 at CVS.
Variety of Photo Products Both Walgreens and CVS offer a variety of photo products, but CVS takes the lead in terms of options. In addition to prints, CVS allows you to order photo books, cards, calendars, and enlargements. On the other hand, Walgreens mainly focuses on prints and photo books, offering fewer product choices.
Print Quality Both companies prioritize high-quality prints by using top-notch printers and paper. However, CVS offers more printing options that allow users to adjust color, brightness, and contrast before printing. This gives users more control over the final output.
Photo Editing Features Walgreens and CVS both provide basic photo editing features like cropping and red-eye removal. However, CVS goes a step further by offering advanced editing features such as filters, effects, and the ability to create collages. Although these features exist, there are numerous third-party mobile apps and software available that can surpass the default capabilities of CVS.
Storage and Sharing Options Both Walgreens and CVS offer online storage for photos, but CVS allows users to share pictures via email or social media platforms. Walgreens, unfortunately, lacks this sharing feature. CVS also provides the option to deliver photos directly to your Google Drive or OneDrive account, although additional fees may apply for digital storage.
Accessibility of Stores Walgreens has over 8,000 locations across the United States, making it easily accessible for most people. On the other hand, CVS dominates the market with over 9,932 stores spread across various areas, including rural and remote locations. This widespread coverage makes CVS more convenient for those residing in such areas.
Printing Methods Walgreens uses inkjet printing, while CVS utilizes dye sublimation printing. Both methods produce high-quality prints, but dye sublimation is generally considered superior. However, it is important to note that Walgreens' inkjet printing process offers better print quality and faster delivery, including 24-hour service, unlike CVS, which only prints orders before 7 PM.
Customer Reviews Overall, both Walgreens and CVS receive positive customer reviews for their photo printing services. However, CVS tends to be the preferred option due to its lower prices, extensive product range, and higher print quality. Additionally, CVS's availability in rural and remote areas gives it an advantage over Walgreens, which is primarily located in urban and commercial areas.
Delivery Times Walgreens typically delivers photo prints within 7-10 days, while CVS accomplishes this within five to seven days. However, both companies offer same-day urgent delivery for an additional fee. It's worth noting that same-day shipping only applies to orders received before 7 PM local time. Walgreens leads in terms of same-day pickup, offering 24-hour service.
Extra Features CVS outshines Walgreens when it comes to extra features. CVS provides a wide range of options, including creating photo books, calendars, and cards in various sizes, including square prints and poster-sized prints. Additionally, CVS offers an extensive selection of photo gifts like mugs, keychains, and magnets. Walgreens, unfortunately, does not provide any of these extra features.
Pickup Options When it comes to pickup options, CVS offers a more comprehensive range. They provide same-day, next-day, and in-store pickup within an hour. On the other hand, Walgreens only offers in-store pickup for online orders.
Availability Both Walgreens and CVS only offer their services within the United States. Unfortunately, their services do not extend internationally. Moreover, the availability of their services is limited to the areas where their stores exist. In rural areas or villages where neither chain has a presence, access to their services may be restricted or impractical.
Mobile Apps CVS offers a dedicated mobile app that makes it easy to print photos directly from your phone. The app is available for both Android and iOS devices. On the other hand, Walgreens also offers a mobile app, but it merely redirects users to the web version of Walgreens photo services.
FAQ Q: What is an instant photo delivery service? A: An instant photo delivery service refers to the process of getting your photos delivered directly to your Google Drive or OneDrive account. However, please note that additional fees may be applicable to obtain the soft copy of the image for digital storage.
Q: What is the size limit for photos at Walgreens and CVS? A: Walgreens has a size limit of 8MB per photo, while CVS restricts photos to 5MB. Regular photos taken with a DSLR or smartphone typically consume between three to six MB, so compression or conversion to JPEG may be required.
Q: Which is the better photo printing service, Walgreens, or CVS? A: Both Walgreens and CVS offer high-quality photo printing services at reasonable prices. However, CVS is the better option if you are seeking discounts on large print orders, a wider range of product options, and advanced photo editing features. If quick pickup is a priority, Walgreens offers 24-hour service.
In conclusion, both Walgreens and CVS excel in providing photo printing services, but CVS has a slight edge due to its lower prices, extensive range of products, and advanced features. However, for those with specific requirements or residing in rural areas, Walgreens may still be a viable choice. Evaluate your needs, preferences, and location to make the best decision for your photo printing needs.
Like Walgreens, CVS drugstores are ubiquitous, making them ideal pickup locations for photo prints. Just upload your pictures to CVS Photo's website, select the size and number of photos you want, and then pick them up the same day at a local store. Another similarity between CVS and Walgreens is that both charge more per print than most online photo printing services that deliver your pictures by mail. In fact, CVS Photo's minimum prices are the highest we've seen. Despite this premium, the quality of our CVS test prints is less consistent than what we got from Walgreens, which is our Editors' Choice winner for local-pickup one-hour photo printing. If you don't need same-day printing, our top pick for photo printing quality is Nations Photo Lab. And for good results at the lowest price, look to Walmart Photo.
Prints from CVS Photo cost more than prints from its competitors, at 42 cents per 4-by-6-inch photo. Snapfish charges just 9 cents, and Amazon Prints cost 17 cents for that size. Other in-store pickup options also cost less. Walgreens Photo charges 39 cents, and Walmart Photo charges only 14 cents whether you have your photos mailed or pick them up in the store in an hour. As with most of these services, prices are frequently discounted, there are volume discounts, and you can often get online coupons. Like Walgreens, CVS no longer mails standard-size photo prints—it's in-store pickup only.
Larger sizes are also quite a bit pricier than competitors, with CVS's 5-by-7s ringing up at $2.99 each. That's more than Nations Photo Lab ($1.75) and Shutterfly (69 cents). At the 8-by-10 size, even the pro photo finisher Printique charges less ($2.65) than CVS ($4.49). That's quite a premium to pay for local pickup, but do keep in mind that you don't have to pay for shipping as you do with most services that mail your pictures. CVS Photo can make prints for you up to 24-by-36 inches in size.
As is the case with most online photo printing services, you can order more than just paper prints at CVS Photo. It offers standard options such as greeting cards, calendars, photo books, mugs, T-shirts, and wall canvases. You can also get images printed on blankets, potholders, mouse pads, and other items. For $40, you can get an apron festooned with multiple copies of your photo. CVS doesn't offer quite as massive a selection as Shutterfly does (personalized flowerpots, anyone?), though it's more than most people will ever need or want.
It's easy to start ordering prints on CVS’s website. All you need is a name, email address, and password. The password requirements are stringent, with special characters required.
CVS's photo-ordering site sports a modern and clear interface that bears a strong resemblance to Snapfish. You can upload image files from your computer, but CVS doesn’t let you import photos from Facebook or Instagram. You can, however, connect your Google account to transfer photos from Google Photos.
(Credit: CVS/PCMag)
Before you upload photos, you must create an album for them. By default, CVS Photo uses the current date as the album name. When uploading from your computer, you can select multiple files at once, and you can drag and drop files onto an album. JPGs and PNG files are allowed, but not TIFF, GIF, or HEIC/HEIF files. Because of its 100-megapixel limit, CVS rejected a 108-megapixel shot from my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, as did several other services, though Mpix, Snapfish, and Walgreens accepted it. Pharmacy competitor Walgreens also accepts HEIC/HEIF files, which I appreciate, as the newer format takes up half the storage on my phone without reducing image quality.
(Credit: CVS/PCMag)
Once you've uploaded your pictures, CVS Photo has basic editing options similar to what you get in Walgreens Photo and identical to what you get in Snapfish. You can turn on auto color correction, contrast, and fill flash, and you can use sliders to adjust brightness and contrast. You can also apply a limited number of effect filters, including black and white, sepia, and color tints. Finally, you can crop and rotate the images.
You can share the albums you create via email or with a web link, and the resulting presentation is reasonably attractive. If you share it via email, the recipients have to have CVS online accounts to view your pictures, but sharing via a link doesn't come with that requirement.
(Credit: CVS/PCMag)
I approve of CVS Photo's ordering page, which lets you enter a quantity for each size print you want all at once. Some services make you choose the prints and then choose the size for each separately. You can choose a matte finish, but not for in-store pickup, which is restricted to glossy. Before checking out, the site offers to get you to add a collage print of your photos to your order. You can pay either at online checkout or when you pick the prints up at the store.
CVS's estimated ready-for-pickup time was one hour after I placed my order. I received an email a little more than two hours later saying the photos were ready. When I got to the store, the staff hadn't actually printed my order yet, but they did it while I waited, which took only a few minutes.
The CVS Pharmacy Android and iOS apps let you order prints from photos stored on your phone or from images you've already uploaded to your CVS account. You don't get any cropping, editing, or special options with the mobile apps, but you can order printed gift objects like mugs and magnets. The app has a simple interface that makes it easy to get prints quickly in various sizes. You can't take screenshots because the app's security policy blocks it, likely because the CVS app contains personal health information, such as medications prescribed to you.
When I picked up my photos, they were loose in a manila envelope. I hand-carried them home, so this isn't such a big deal. Still, High-end photo processors usually ship photos in cardboard boxes or thick cardboard sleeves and give further protection to the photos with additional envelopes inside. I'm more disappointed that there is no text on the back of my test photos to indicate the filename or a title, something many other services add. That's not a deal-breaker, but it is an organization helper that I miss when it's not there.
CVS Photo produces impressive large prints on Kodak Moments paper, which is optimized for the printer used. My test photos are sharp and pleasing in general, but the smaller 4-by-6 prints have mechanical streaking and are a tad oversaturated. The 5-by-7 and 8-by-10 prints, however, are among the sharpest test prints of any service I tested, though the colors are inaccurate. Walgreens Photo yields less saturated colors but without any streaking.
(Credit: PCMag/Justin Pietropaoli)
In the portrait detail above, you can see the streaking in the CVS print. I placed the same order a second time to see if the problems would repeat; the new print doesn't have this much streaking, and the larger prints don't have it either.
In the larger 8-by-10 print from CVS, the detail is sharp, but the image is oversaturated.
(Credit: PCMag)
Here's a crop of the original image file for comparison:
(Credit: PCMag)
The second time I ordered a 4-by-6 (below), CVS returned a respectable image, one without the streaking I saw on the first try. However, the colors are still not as naturalistic as they are in the photos from other photo printing services, and there's less detail than the Walgreens print.
(Credit: PCMag/Justin Pietropaoli)
Here's the original image file:
(Credit: PCMag/Justin Pietropaoli)
Our test order at CVS cost more than competing photo printing services charge and significantly more than Amazon Prints, Snapfish, and Walmart Photo. Despite the high prices, the final results from CVS are acceptable, though inconsistent, and they fall short of what you get from the one-hour competition from Walgreens and Walmart. Our Editors' Choice winner for photo printing services offering one-hour local pickup is Walgreens Photo. If you don't need your photos in a hurry, Nations Photo Lab is our top choice, while Walmart Photo is our budget pick.
CVS Photo
3.5
Check Price
Pros
Cons
The Bottom Line
CVS Photo can serve your immediate photo printing needs, but you pay more than competitors and the print quality isn't the best.
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