Earlier this week, Jen asked me to print about 600 photos from my iPhoto. I printed out the first 100 here at home, before I realized how expensive the project would become. For example, 100 sheets of 4×6 photo paper cost about $12.00/package. Ink cartridges run about $40.00/each, and this many pictures would require several of them. Given these pricey conditions, I decided to find an online photo lab that could do the printing instead. A Google search brought me to Winkflash. The site’s pricing looked good, so I signed up. I made several attempts to upload my photos to the Winkflash site. Because I’m a Mac user, I was forced to use the site’s Java-based upload tools. These tools suck. They are slow and they do not work. I tried at least five times to upload my files using these Java-based services. Each time, the Winkflash site either timed out or gave me a “proxy error.” In Winkflash’s defense, I didn’t bother to contact the company’s tech support, and they do provide a toll-free support phone number right there on the upload page. But I don’t want to talk to anyone. I want to upload my photos. Winkflash touts the ease of use of its “Transporter” application. But Transporter is Windows-only. And yeah, I have a Windows box here. But I don’t want to transfer all these files to that machine, just to transfer them again to Winkflash. So I’m done with Winkflash. I’ve moved on to another site, and I’m in the process of uploading my images to that site now.

I will report on my experience with that site when I’m done with it.