For those who are still old enough to like printing photos or looking for an inexpensive way to get a passport photo, the Signature Kirkland in-store photo centers were a budget-friendly delight.
In recent years, Costco has eliminated the analog version of this service, closing its photo centers in its warehouses – recognizing that most of its customers were storing their photos in the cloud, transporting them on their devices and not buying as many prints. This valuable square footage has been outsourced to more profitable businesses.
But until now, Costco kept photo services (including storage) online at CostcoPhotoCenter.com (opens in a new tab). This benefit will no longer be available starting January 28, as Costco hands over all photo options for its members to the online photo giant. Shutter (opens in a new tab).
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Costco began notifying customers this week of the change. The transition to Shutterfly begins on January 11, and January 31 is the last day for Costco members to download any photos they have stored on CostcoPhotoCenter.com to their personal computers. It’s really not a lot of time if you have a huge archive of photos that you need to download and store… somewhere else.
Customers will still be able to take advantage of the legendary Costco discount on photo products. Costco members will get 51% off all Shutterfly orders and also free shipping on orders over $49. This benefit will begin on January 11. To register, members will need to go to Costco.com and click on “photo”. Costco said all account information, address books and Photo Center photos will be transferred to Shutterfly. Despite this helping hand, this change will still be an upheaval for Costco Photo Center customers.