will dwayne's stop developing S8 Film?

[Futureman]

Hey guys, this is purely speculative here, but since Kodak has started developing K40 for Americans so cheaply, will Dwayne's still be able to do it? Sure, there are a lot of people who will still use them until they run out of the old "processing not included" films. Why would anyone use Dwayne's then? I am mainly worried if Kodak decided then to stop developing the film for us in the US. I am worried that maybe Dwaynes will stop because of kodak and that Kodak might later stop also.

[BolexPlusx]

I think that since Dwaynes processes K-40 for Wal-Mart for something less than the $4.88 Walmart charges they will probably be able to come down in price for their direct processing. If they are smart they will start buying K-40 in wholesale lots, package it with their own mailer and sell it at a competitive price. They can also compete on the basis of rapid turnaround in the US since they don't have the transit time to Europe. They could probably serve themselves and their customers well by cleaning up their act with Wal-Mart or finding other outlets for their services

Barring that, you are right, they won't be competitive. The idea of K-40 processing coming from only one supplier is not a happy thought. Even if you ignore the usual concerns about monopolies, all it takes is one fire, one strike or one major equipment failure and K-40 processing would grind to a halt.

[David M. Leugers]

The fact is, Kodak mailers have long been available heavily discounted from large photographic supply stores and yet Dwayne's has not only survived, but has prospered. I agree that they could get more business by solidifying their agreements with outlets like Walmart or offering discounted mailers to compete with Kodak. Maybe they already have as much business they can handle without a major investment to install additional processing lines. I read once where it cost one million dollars to set up a Kodachrome motion picture processing line... I do not think Dwayne's will be going out of business anytime soon as long as Kodachrome is still available. I understand they process thousands of cartridges daily.

[jimmilling]

Is Wal-Mart still processing movie film. Two Sam's stores local to my area (Houston) have stopped processing 8mm movie film since they changed their processor to Fuji. Have anybody experienced the same?