The end of an era. Costco has published a statement regarding their printing labs’ not being utilized enough and the print services in-store have begin to shut down and cease operation by February 2021.
Aside from local small businesses, the only options to print are Pharmacies, UPS, Fedex/Kinkos. Why are Costco Photo Labs Closing?
A letter was shared on this blog here stating the closure.
What Costco photo center services are ending?
Staring Feb. 14, there will no longer be services for;
- ink refills
- passport photos
- photo restorations or the YesVideo Home Movie Transfer Service.
These options will no longer be available. Ink refills can be bought on Amazon or other online retailers.
The company is urging all members to plan to retrieve any remaining orders by March 28th.
You could invest in an EcoTank Printer by Epson. The EcoTank are cartridge free and you just use ink bottles.
What Printing Services Will Costco still offer?
Costco will still be offering print services online even though they are closing their warehouse photo labs. So that’s good news for those that still want to print pictures, create books or calendars. Online services include;
- Prints, enlargements and posters
- Stationery and photo greeting cards
- Canvas, metal and acrylic prints
- Photo books and calendars
- Photo blankets and other photo gifts
- Business printing products
Is this due to the Covid-19 pandemic? Well according to IBISworld
Revenue in the Printing industry is forecast to decrease 14.4% in 2020 alone, revised from a mild drop of 0.7% in the year estimated before COVID-19 (coronavirus) hit the global economy.
“Following the spread of the coronavirus, the decline in demand for print advertising is expected to accelerate in 2020. Declining corporate profit has further hampered spending on advertising and increasing unemployment has slashed consumer spending.
“Even with the pandemic expected to pass in 2021, demand for printing is forecast to continue declining over the next five years, as the prevalence of e-commerce and digital marketing continues to expand. As such, economic recovery will not be enough to bring the industry out of decline in the next five years. For more detail, please see the Industry Outlook chapter” – via IBISWorld.com
Costco sent out an email to members with their decision, and are advised to pick up any orders by March 28th 2021.
When was the last time you had film developed? Or needed photos printed from an SD card, or even needed VHS video transferred to DVD. Do you agree with Costco closing their in-store photo labs?
