Scanning Large Quantities of Photographs?

Hi,

I'm still searching for the best alternative for getting a massive quantity of photos over to England for my move on July 11. 

I know that Ritz Camera will do this, but it seems prohibitively expensive at something like $50 for 450 photos, on sale when I checked.  Is there some other service that will scan photos and put them to disk? 

The MBags, as suggested in a different thread, won't work according to the USPS.  I called to inquire, and while at one spot on the USPS website, printed material is defined to be anything with images on it, *apparently* what can and cannot be shipped in the MBags varies by destination -- and to the UK, the photos can't be sent in the MBags.  :-(

So... looking for best solutions.  The photos are in books and albums.  If I had 20 years to twiddle my thumbs, I could scan them on my own computer, but I'd have great-great-grandchildren by the time I finished such a project.  I can only think there must be some commercial operation that would do such a task using faster "industrial-strength" scanners that could get it done very quickly!?

The other suggestions was just to dump the photos out of the lovely boxes and albums and into Glad bags or some such, and stuff them into a suitcase.  That might be my final option, but I'm worried about what condition the photos would be in once they arrived. 

Argh!  ~pulling hair out~

~Teddy

I was going to suggest one of the big scanners, you might be able to do a google search and find something cheaper.

Do you have a place you can store your stuff until your next trip back to the US?  You could always just take bits and pieces over each time. 

You might be surprised that it doesn't really take *that* long to scan them yourself - if you have the time, that is. I recently scanned about 350 old family photos and it took me about a week of doing a couple of hours every day.

You might be surprised that it doesn't really take *that* long to scan them yourself - if you have the time, that is. I recently scanned about 350 old family photos and it took me about a week of doing a couple of hours every day.

I was going to say exactly the opposite.   I had planned to scan all of mine, and it was just taking forever.  Of course, my scanner was a few years old, but it just seemed like too much hassle in the end.

When it came down to moving time, I just pulled all the photos out of the albums they were in (which were largely falling apart anyway), put them in an index card storage box, and packed them in with everything else.  I figure I've got the rest of my life to put them back into new albums, or even make proper scrapbooks with them. 

Thanks all for taking the time to reply...  I have about 7 or 8 photo albums, and they are so old, I don't think those photos can be physically removed without destroying them.  :-(  They'll have to be moved in the albums.

Then I have about 6 boxes of photos - the boxes are about the size of a shoe-box.  I just did a count this morning, and I guestimate that each such box holds a minimum of 400 photos.  Then, on top of all that, I've got about 3 additional boxes of photos that are more or less double shoe-box size ... so maybe 800 pics per box.

Oh my tired brain, I don't even know how accurate I am.  Moving date is July 11, so no possible way for me to scan them myself.  I had thought of putting them in a plastic crate thingie with luggage straps to secure it.  It would be oversized and overweight, but it would get there.  However, cost is a factor and my budget is, shall I whimper, non-existent?

Similarly, future trips back and forth to get the bit by bit is a slight possibility, but will be limited by budget as well. 

I have sort of decided ... still thinking on it ... to go through the photos by hand as quickly as I can manage without getting hung up on memories and triggers and such, and cull out the ones that I've somehow clung to despite total ridiculousness.  I know a lot of the photos are duplicates that I kept.  Some are simply out-of-focus shots of important events that I kept for sentimental reasons, but you really can't see anything...so I could toss them.  I'm sure that come under the category of "Who the heck is THAT?" in the photo.. so could probably reduce this quantity by a lot if I just sat and did it.  Then, at least the weight would be reduced and maybe packing would be easier.

On the packing also, I was thinking of just dumping whatever photos I decided to keep after the above process and putting them in plastic baggies of some kind (Zip-Loc?) where they'd be easier to pack in normal suitcases amongst other belongings.  I'm a bit reluctant to this because I think the photos might end up damaged, but at least they'd get there.

I don't know WHY I never dealt with this over the years before.... 

Thanks again, and any other ideas, PLEASE do share!!

~Teddy

ps  Googled to find scanning services, and everything I've been able to find looks like it would be outrageously costly for the sheer number of photos I have.  Even if I cull out the "bad" ones as I mentioned above, I think I still will have many pounds of photos!!  :-(  Everything so hard and stressful!!

Pls forgive typos ... 

I just went through the same scenario (though on a smaller scale, I had one large plastic tupperware container of photos). I spent an entire day going through them all and throwing away duplicates and sorting into piles of keep, maybe and don't need. For my old albums I removed the pages from the albums to save space.

I used the USPS large flat rate boxes (about the size of 2 shoe boxes?) to send to England, at just under $60 each. I didn't want the pictures to take up any more weight in my suitcases, as I already have entirely too many clothes and shoes to take with me! Each box of pictures weighed about 16 pounds and the post office said I saved $15 each box by being able to fit into the flat rate boxes (which let you send up to 20 lbs for the $60).

I sent the box on a Friday and it got to my Nan's house by Tuesday afternoon.

Although you have lots more pictures than I had, so shipping $60 per box can get costly, I chose this method because I didn't want an extra 30 lbs+ in my suitcase towards the 70 lb max for checked luggage.

Hope it works out for you!

Teddy I'm really feeling for you.  I think I've really lucked out because we've been moving my things over for the last year.  My photo albums went over before any souvenirs from my travels, my nick-nacks and my clothes. 

Let me know what you end up doing!

UK Husker, sounds like USPS was a good choice for you.  I have spent several hours today going through photographs, picking and culling.  I have managed to shrink 3 shoe-boxes into 2 shoe-boxes, minus a handful of "extra special" photos of deceased relatives.  I keep trying to do the math ... cost of purchasing an extra suitcase, plus base cost of 1 more extra piece of luggage, plus possible additional cost of overweight luggage ... versus USPS.  In the end, I don't know how many photos I'll have after the culling process...  I do have a plastic trunk that I can use for heavy stuff like photos...  Just daunting...

Sscarllet, I wish I'd had the good sense you did, and brought stuff over with me on my visits to my wife, and sent stuff back with her when she came here.  :-(  I don't think I could actually visualize the day when we'd get to this point, so I just kept thinking, "Next trip, I'll send/take stuff..." 

And, oh jeez, if it was just the photos...  Grrrr...  I've been tackling my paper files, which is no easier.  Which card/letter/memento from your mother, or from your best friend, or other special person does one keep and which ones can be parted with?

Agonizing!!

Thanks very much for the support.

~Teddy

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I used the USPS large flat rate boxes (about the size of 2 shoe boxes?) to send to England, at just under $60 each. I didn't want the pictures to take up any more weight in my suitcases, as I already have entirely too many clothes and shoes to take with me! Each box of pictures weighed about 16 pounds and the post office said I saved $15 each box by being able to fit into the flat rate boxes (which let you send up to 20 lbs for the $60).

This sounds like a terrific idea for me! Thanks for the tip