This Morning I Parted Ways with Lifetouch

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Oh how I wish you had posted this yesterday, I sent in 3 checks this a.m. for almost 100.00 If I had known there was a Lifetouch support group I would have not caved.

 

[CPM]

Tomorrow is school picture day for my son. I get a free package because I help out during the picture taking process. I wouldn't buy them. They always come out terrible!
Our school does the class picture towards the end of the year because at this point they are still trying to places kids in the appropriate classroom.

 

[AKLRULZ]

Lifetouch SUCKS! With digital technology it is inexcusable that photographs come out so horribly. How did they corner the market I wonder on school photography? I know I could take better shots with my tripod.

I wouldn't be concerned with what anyone thinks to be honest. I would let your PTA/Principal know the reasoning.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

I just received DD's pictures yesterday and was very pleased by them.

Now last year the whole picture was off center and looked terrible but I didn't do the re-takes because in the original pictures she was missing her two front teeth and it was so darn cute. By the time re-takes came around her teeth had already started to come in.
The picture was still really cute but it drove me nuts for it to be all to the right of the picture. I thought that professionals knew how to line things up with the cross bars in the viewfinder.

 

[RitaZ.]

This is the first year that our school isn't using Lifetouch.

I paid $20 per kid for the cheapest package, with Lifetouch the cheapest was $12. I almost didn't do it. Last year's picture of DD was horrible, the picture was off center and part of her arm and shoulder were "chopped off". They were supposed to have a re-take day, but then Wilma hit and there was no school for 2 weeks.

We'll see what this year's pics will look like. If they're crappy again, this will be the last year that I do it.

 

[aunt kelly]

....and I thought I was the only parent on the planet who refused to buy those horrid Lifetouch photos!

 

[nuke]

You can return them. Just don't expect your money back immediately. In DS's Kindergarten picture he had his eyes 1/2 closed so he looked drunk. Good look for a 5 year old. I called and they said to send them back. I kept the class picture and paid I think $8 for it. They eventually refunded my money but it took at least two months.

First grade I told him to make sure his eyes are open, so he has them open as wide as possible now looking like a crazed druggy. What's a mom of a boy to do?

 

[piratesmate]

This is the first year that our school isn't using LifeTouch. There were only 3 packages, but they were just as much as I remember LifeTouch being. Our students are photographed even if Mom doesn't buy the pix because the school gets a copy for their files & then they also do the ID cards.

Our school also does the prepay in the Fall & "decide" packages in the Spring...and the Spring photos are always better. My issue with those is that there's always a "gimmick" sheet like rulers, or stickers, or whatever - totally junk IMHO but the kids always want them. My kids usually wanted them badly enough that they offered to buy that sheet themselves - talk about feeling like a lousy mother.

 

[Nancy]

The problem that we have is you buy the pictures in advance. So when they comes back "not so good" you are stuck with them.

We also use Lifetouch. They take the picture for the yhearbook and school id regardless of whether or not you buy a package.


You don't need to be stuck with them. I have returned mine for full refunds more times than I care to admit. I get the cheapest package ans then return it within a few days. It gives instructions right in the package on how to return them.

 

[Goofyzgurl]

We have fall and spring pictures. They take the picture, we get to see it first then we buy what we want. They print the whole package and I guess throw away what we don't get. DD (2) is in daycare and they have pictures taken by Teddy Bear Portraits. Now those people should do the schools b/c dd (2) always comes out looking great in her picture. We always say we're not going to get the whole pacakge but cave when we see how cute they are.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Just curious, but have schools already done their pictures? Did I miss our picture day? Or worse, did Maddy have it, and not tell me?!

 

[Nancy]

You know what's even better with Lifetouch...I had 3 kids in 3 different schools (all same district), all used Lifetouch and all had different pricing in the packages! The highschools were the cheapest, middle school was the highest. I'm wondering if package prices are negotiated by the schools.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I buy the basic package every year.
Then they can go back snd say "what a horrible picture and how could I ever wear that ugly outfit!"

 

[MUFFYCAT]

Just curious, but have schools already done their pictures? Did I miss our picture day? Or worse, did Maddy have it, and not tell me?!

Your DD is young enough that a notice would have been send home with her homework.

 

[Aidensmom]

My son always smiles real goofy in pictures, and he actually has a decent smile on his school pictures we just got back from Lifetouch. However, the photographer apparantly never learned how to center his subject. The whole left half of the picture is just background, and part of DS is cut off on the right.

Retakes are next week, but I am afraid if I have them retaken, DS will look goofy.

 

[RUDisney]

First grade I told him to make sure his eyes are open, so he has them open as wide as possible now looking like a crazed druggy. What's a mom of a boy to do?

OK, so you made me laugh so much that I snorted in my office. Kids are so literal, but doesn't it make you wonder what the photographer was thinking when s/he snapped that picture? How could s/he possibly have thought that is a picture that you'd want and cherish?

 

[CPM]

Just curious, but have schools already done their pictures? Did I miss our picture day? Or worse, did Maddy have it, and not tell me?!

I just happened to have been looking at your elementary school's web site. You posted it somewhere and I like to compare web sites because I am in charge of our PTA'sweb page.
It's not listed on your calendar at all. Not sure if they usually list it or not.
BTW, your school web site is awesome!

 

[Pigeon]

Then, his school started offering spring pics also. With these, they take pics and send home. If you like, you keep and send check. If you don't, you return pics. The pics are posed and super cute.

My kids' school started doing this last year. I about hit the roof I was so mad. First of all, it is a huge waste of educational time to do picture taking not once, but twice. Our poor kids get so much homework because they just can't cover everything during the day, but yet they have ample time for this crap.

Then, the stuff our kids got sent home with in the spring weren't just straight pictures, they were all sorts of key chains, magnets, etc. The pictures were much better than the traditional ones in the fall, but I thought it was playing dirty to let the kids see the nifty second set of pictures. There was no way I was paying for them after already shelling out $80 for the fall pics. So I had some tiny satisfaction in knowing that Lifetouch had paid to process the spring set and not selling any of them (to me, at least).

 

[MrsPete]

The teachers aren't making any money off the pictures, so why would they think ill of you?

The individual teachers don't make money from the picture sales, but a portion of the sales does go to the school. Still, no one will think badly of you for not buying.

I agree with others: the classroom group shot is worth buying.

 

[MrsPete]

First of all, it is a huge waste of educational time to do picture taking not once, but twice. . . There was no way I was paying for them after already shelling out $80 for the fall pics. So I had some tiny satisfaction in knowing that Lifetouch had paid to process the spring set and not selling any of them (to me, at least).

I'm a teacher. Each classroom spends about 30 minutes total having its pictures made. I don't think that one hour total picture time is really cutting into the school year.

Regardless, you should never shell out money for photographs (or anything else from the school that you don't want) just because it's offered.