We’re Paying More for School Photos This Year

Many prices are going up lately. Groceries are of course a biggie, but there are some that we might not even notice unless we are really watching. That’s the case with my son’s school photos. We buy the same small package every year. If it wasn’t for Quicken pulling up the last amount we paid to the photographer, I wouldn’t have noticed that the price went up 50% for that picture package.

Since we purchased a small package, the increase only amounted to a few dollars. Percentage-wise, that is a huge increase in price. I can’t help but wonder if this is happening all over or if it’s a local thing. If the prices go up again next year, I may think about taking our own pics next year. I did that when our son was in preschool and he loved posing for the pics in our backyard. They turned out so cute and I even put his name in the corner like with senior pics. But I have it in my head that we need to get the official school photos.

Anyone else feel that way? Have school photo prices increased for you?

Posted by Tricia on September 26, 2008 at 10:44 PM in Spending Money | 18 Comments »
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Simon responded:
Posted: September 26th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Professional photography is definitely becoming more and more expensive.

I worked at the photo studio that did the graduation pictures for my high school while I was in high school.

Even I was surprised at the prices they charged when I was only paid $8/hr.
creditcardfree responded:
Posted: September 27th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Yes, they increased for us this year, too.
celticbuffy responded:
Posted: September 27th, 2008 at 9:48 am
They increased in our school also. I buy the smallest package and the kids always seems to hate how they look in them. I feel like such a meanie if I don’t why them, though. I guess it’s because I don’t want them to feel left out when they are passed out around the classroom. This year our company did offer a family package where you paid full price for the first two kids and half price for any child thereafter. That helped some.
a.b. responded:
Posted: September 27th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I think it’s almost like being held hostage as well, because most schools require their professional photographer to be in the school yearbook or class photos. It gets to be a little bit much when it’s a 50% jump. You can always inform the school and see what they say. I’d be surprised if they even noticed.
danielle responded:
Posted: September 27th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I never pay for photos, but that may change when my daughter gets to school age.
We have a nice digital camera, and I have made so many nice prints with it. I just pay for whatever it is to print.
The Bald Monkey responded:
Posted: September 27th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
My son just started preschool this year so it was the first time for us to order photos. I don’t know what they cost last year but I do know that if you wanted to get photos on a CD, you could choose one photo, and get one copy in Hi res for printing and one in Low res for emailing, for the low low price of $56!!!!

Absolutely ridiculous.
Sammy responded:
Posted: September 28th, 2008 at 8:21 am
My dd’s photos was 20% more this year. I also kind of feel obligated to get it from the school instead of taking it myself – the children get all dressed up and I don’t want dd to feel left out if all the other children are participating.
Esther responded:
Posted: September 28th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
At my daughters’ school, if you volunteer a bit of your time to help the photographer round-up the kids or prepare them for their individual shots, you can get your photos for free.
CanadianKate responded:
Posted: September 28th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I compromised and did the Walmart studio package instead. I got to be there, they’d shoot each kid alone and the two together (to create the illusion of sibling harmony!) and I’d get to approve of each shot. We always had lots of photos at a good price. Remember to book in now because by November there aren’t many after school appointments left.

The package at Sears Portrait studio is currently 35 photos for $9.99. Way cheaper than school photos.
Tiffany responded:
Posted: September 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Hi, I found your site from a link from a US news world report story. Our school pictures also increased dramatically this year. Most schools use bigger companies to do their school pictures, lifetouch, olan mills, etc. Since the majority of the photographers travel and gas prices have gone up so much in the last year the travel expenses have gone through the roof, which they in turn have passed along to us parents.
I’m thinking about suggesting to the school board looking into a local photographer for the spring pictures.
Jaclyn responded:
Posted: September 30th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Hi everyone, I’m a business reporter at The Detroit News looking into school portrait prices for a story. Are any of you from Michigan? Which photographers are your schools using? jtrop@detnews.com
kim responded:
Posted: September 30th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
We had the option of purchasing a portrait cd this year – $25.00 on top of package price. But there was a surprising great deal. The cheapest package at $31.00 incl. 2-5×7s, 2-3×5s, 12-2×3s –
The package that INCLUDED THE CD
kim responded:
Posted: September 30th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
The package that included the cd was $35.00 and I’ll receive 3-8×10s, 4-5×7s, 4-3×5s, 8-2×3s. This doesn’t usually happen. Usually when I try to buy the cheapest package and add a picture on it just equals the same.
Ken Roy responded:
Posted: October 5th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
My mother was an elementary school principal mostly in schools where a lot of her students came from low income familys. She put out a bid request every year for photos. She encouraged the responding bidders to keep the price of the class picture low. She always got at least 1 bid with the class pic priced almost free to get the contract. One year she was able to buy a class pic for all of her students (about 250) w/ $125 donated by her PTA. Noone went without a class pic.Isn’t that the pic that matters anyway? You can get individual pics dirt cheap when the big stores run specials.
So my point (finally, sorry)is: Lobby the principal of your kids schools to agressively protect your pocket, it’s easy for them to stay with the same vendor as last year if they don’t think anyone’s watching!
Cindy Smith responded:
Posted: October 13th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Does anyone have a listing of the prices of the photo packages from Lifetouch this year for North Carolina?
jascha responded:
Posted: December 23rd, 2008 at 11:16 am
Our photos easily jumped 50% this year. I was shocked. The handling fee was 8.00 on top of over-priced pictures. I feel horrible for not purchasing my children’s class photo at the very least, but I can’t afford it and I don’t appreciate the inflation. The KIDS lose out here. I’m sad about it. We already pay the highest tuition in our small city….out of lack of school choices….I suppose if you can pay that they assume they can get you for photos too. Not us.
jascha responded:
Posted: December 23rd, 2008 at 11:20 am
I wanted to ADD to my last post…our “package” was 65.00. Last year we paid a LOT less (can’t recall the price but alwasy found the price to be perfectly reasonable).
Fotoframkallning responded:
Posted: March 19th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Hi, that was without a doubt an interesting read. I had actually been looking for a photo printing related blog for a while now. Great! I have a similar blog, how much do you charge for advertising? because I can’t seem to find the details anywhere.