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At CVS, 2 passport photos costed $12+tax. Holy &#%$! Where are better choices? Even at that hefty insane charge, it's not self-taken. The employee used a camera to take. I remember many years ago I took 4 photos for myself behind a curtain at Kmart and it was something like $7-8. Not sure if it changed (probably).
It is not the pics that is expensive-it is the passport themselves. We were going to get passports a few years ago. We have a good camera so we can take pics ourselves but when we went to get the passports we were knocked down by the prices. $110 for the book and $30 for the card. If you want both it is $140. We decided not get a passport then. We still need to get one.
It is not the pics that is expensive-it is the passport themselves. We were going to get passports a few years ago. We have a good camera so we can take pics ourselves but when we went to get the passports we were knocked down by the prices. $110 for the book and $30 for the card. If you want both it is $140. We decided not get a passport then. We still need to get one.
Cat
Tell me about it. Another US govt rip-off. They figure the people who travel around the world must have money, and such a small percentage of Americans get a passport. They think its ok to screw us with outrageous fees.
Considering your passport is good for 10 yrs, that $100 averages to $10 a year. Those $12 photos, good for 10 yrs, cost you a whopping $1.20 a yr. If your photos get returned, had that happen once, the store will redo them for free.
I don't call $12.20 a yr an 'outrageous fee'..it's a cheap price to pay to able to travel the world.
Location: St Thomas, USVI - Seattle, WA - Gulf Coast, TX
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First, take the passport photo at home, for free. There are clear directions online: Photo Composition Template
Second, agreed with Kim in FL. I'd say that $110 (or even $140) is a VERY small price to pay to have the privilege to traverse the globe the way a U.S. passport allows you to do, especially knowing it's good for 10 years. Maybe everyone already knows this, but a U.S. passport is really, really unique in how widely its excepted for entrance into foreign nations. People in other countries have to go through the hoops of getting country-specific visas just to go on holiday...
We Americans are INCREDIBLY lucky to have the travel privileges we do.
At any rate, it's not a rip-off. It's a huge privilege.
to the person that rep'd me, I had photos done at Walgreens and the State Dept rejected them because the headshot needs to take up a certain percent of the photo and these didn't. I took the pics and the letter and they did them again.
Of course its an outrageous. Why the hell would we need the US governments permission to travel around the world as free individuals philosophically? I nean if anything we owe the places we are visiting for using their services and so I dont have a problem with visas. But were not paying 10 a year to travel the world, its 10 a year going to another massive federal government sinkhole. Unless you think printing a piece of paper and entering into a database costs over 100 bucks. Ripoff. I mean I pay far less per year for my drivers license and that covers tangible road issues. The federal government doesnt own as individuals and give us leases to have freedom to travel for cost. If anything these ridiculous passport fees keep a hell of a lot of lower income people passport-less. I mean 500 for a family for one trip? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this? I mean there are plenty of families who will never travel more than once in that period.
Of course its an outrageous. Why the hell would we need the US governments permission to travel around the world as free individuals philosophically? I nean if anything we owe the places we are visiting for using their services and so I dont have a problem with visas. But were not paying 10 a year to travel the world, its 10 a year going to another massive federal government sinkhole. Unless you think printing a piece of paper and entering into a database costs over 100 bucks. Ripoff. I mean I pay far less per year for my drivers license and that covers tangible road issues. The federal government doesnt own as individuals and give us leases to have freedom to travel for cost. If anything these ridiculous passport fees keep a hell of a lot of lower income people passport-less. I mean 500 for a family for one trip? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this? I mean there are plenty of families who will never travel more than once in that period.
Problem is that you do not have an absolute right to enter another country. And if you don't have a passport they will not let you in.
Problem is that you do not have an absolute right to enter another country. And if you don't have a passport they will not let you in.
Im not debating we need a passport. Im telling you sticking outrageous fees to a paper booklet is a travesty to our populace. And since this is America we can actually talk about this as an issue and someday fix it. I mean countries in Europe charge upto 50% less.
I used to take and print our passport photos but went to CVS instead when my passport expired last month. I got a coupon for $2 off so $10 is a good price to pay for the convenience.
My husband is a serious amateur photographer so we have all kinds of cameras, lenses, Photoshop, high quality printer. However, it is time consuming to take portrait photo, scale the print to meet all the passport photo requirement. If we were going to print other stuffs, I will fire up our Epson Stylus Pro 3800 but it's not worth it to print just the passport photo. The archived ink is expensive at $60/cartridge (the printer has 9 cartridges). The ink wasted in head cleaning when the printer first turned on can be few bucks!
I don't know how much that Walmart, Kmart or cheap photobooth places charge but have a bit more faith that the CVS passport photo will meet the official requirement.
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Where are better choices? Even at that hefty insane charge, it's not self-taken. The employee used a camera to take. I remember many years ago I took 4 photos for myself behind a curtain at Kmart and it was something like $7-8. Not sure if it changed (probably).
