Today's topic: Digital photo processing at Walgreens

Why I tried it:My mother told me there was a coupon in the paper for 10 cent digital prints at Walgreens and with nearly 300 photos from my recent vacation that I wanted to bore people with right away, I decided to give Walgreens a try.

Where I usually go: I typically use an online photo processor (York Photo) because I prints are cheap -- like 8 cents a print. But the cost of shipping (which can be as much as $23 on a couple of hundred prints) can eat up any savings. And, of course, there's the wait factor -- up to a week. Normally, this doesn't bother me, but in the case of my vacation photos, I wanted more prompt processing.

What I did: I decided to check out Walgreen's Web site in hopes that I could upload my photos and order them right from my PC during my lunch hour. I was in luck. I uploaded my photos (all 300 of 'em), selected which ones (and what size) I wanted to print, placed my order and was told I could pick them up after 7:30 p.m. that night.

Quality: The quality of the prints was good -- better, I think, than I get from York Photo, but it was strange that 90 percent of my order was on "digital size" matte paper & about 20 photos were on the glossy, larger paper. I didn't order any of the prints differently...and it said online that glossy wasn't available in for in-store pickup. So...go figure.

Payment: I entered my credit card payment information on line...thinking I had to pay up front for the processing. But, when I picked up the prints, they told me they weren't paid for yet and I had to whip out the old credit card again. I was skeptical, but they don't appear to have charged me twice, so ... again, go figure.

Walgreen's area locations:
3727 Peach St, Erie, PA‎ - (814) 864-0292‎
4309 Buffalo Rd, Erie, PA‎ - (814) 897-7871‎

Would I do it again? Definitely...provided I can get the 10 cent print deal. Avoiding shipping costs and the quick turn around is worth 2 extra cents a print.