School District says ENTIRE district is Lifetouch Contract Only!

Buttoning up the business for an entire school district is simply good salesmanship by your competitor. I suspect your competitor demonstrated that they had the resources to provide for the photographic needs, committed to competitive prices and in return for an exclusive relationship, offered a percentage of the sales to the school district (or PTA, etc.) in return. This agreement also eliminates the need for each school to go out and arrange for it's own photog which is arguably more efficient - keep the school district employees focused on their real jobs.

I know it doesn't feel good to be locked out. The photography business involves salesmanship and your competitor used a clever tactic. Find out how long the contract lasts (one school year?) and monitor the district's satisfaction with the relationship. If you have the resources (skilled employees, equipment, etc.) to take on the entire school district, offer a competitive bid to lock down the business for you next year.

Cheers,
JB

It's also a matter of industry integrity.

there's a difference between having a clever competitor who beats you to your old clients, and being bullied out of the market by Wal-Mart style dirty tactics. Especially when they pay their bottom workers neigh minimum wage to do what is worth alot more than that, while the powers at the top get very fat pockets. Lifetouch is the skeeze of the profession.
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daily blog - http://www.digital-chemist.com/journal/

LT and teddy Bear have ads in every sector and employment search engine around. $8.00 per hour. I am sure after some years you might get a raise and the quality would go up some. What can be expexted for that wage?

As others have mentioned, there are other costs to go with these packages. I personally would not want to deal with that kind of volume and potential for disaster using such inexperienced help.
Shooter2

IPictureU said:

Well I got the hammer dropped on me today.

It seems that the waisted months and energy that I have expelled
over the last year have some to this.....

"The district is exclusively using Lifetouch photography for all
it's school photo needs and cannot venture outside of it's
contract."

Is this legal?????

Is this happening to anyone else?

Click to expand...

Whether it's clean politics or dirty, good employee relations or bad, there's one thing that most people seem to be forgetting here. Lifetouch can service an entire school district, so there's only one contract to negotiate. How many schools in your district? 50? I'm betting the board would rather negotiate one contract than 50.

--
Normally, a signature this small can't open its own jumpgate.

Ciao! Joe

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

One of the pro forums I participate in has had discussions on wedding venues becoming unavailable to professional photographers. In many destination wedding locations (Bahamas, Hawaii, Las Vegas, California, Florida, etc.) more and more hotels and banquet halls are not allowing the bride and groom to bring their own professional photographer! They MUST use the one provided by the venue at their prices! Sometimes the venue has their own photographers, but more likely they contract exclusively through one studio. It started with the cake, then the flowers and the DJ/band and now the photographer.

I have a pro photographer buddy in a smaller market that is now trying to tie up, by contract, all of the churches in his town for wedding photography through his studio! The churches are seeming to be interested because of two reasons: they get photographers who understand the "rules" about photographing in a particular church, and the churches have found an additional source of income. The payments to the churches work for my friend's studio because the churches allow him to post notices about "no flash photography or video lights during the ceremony," and the church announces the same before the ceremony starts.

Now that all of us American citizens will soon need a passport for travel anywhere outside of the USA (to get back into the country)... what if the U.S. State Department contracted with Walmart or Olin Mills or JC Penney for all Official passport photos or maybe even official secure digital files in the future?

What if all commercial photography in U.S. National Parks could only be done by a certain contracted photographer?

What if towns and cities limited who could actually have professional studios in their town? .... oops, already happens in small town near me... you have to have a special Professional Photographer permit (complete with DOJ finger printing and background check), not just a business license to do business as a professional photographer.

The days of the professional photographer may soon be over.... not from the p&s cameras and not from poor quality images or lousy customer service, but from the convenience of an institution consolidating all of its work through one major chain studio.

heh, it's odd, because editorial photography has gone the opposite direction. No longer are magazines using their own, in house, contracted (salaried) photographers. It's all gone freelance.

what happens when couple decides they want this style of photography coverage, and the church's contracted shooter doesn't do it? they take their wedding to a new location where they can have their favorite photographer do what he does best. Church looses.
--
daily blog - http://www.digital-chemist.com/journal/

If it is a public school they are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of your state. Was the contract awarded competitively or as a sole source?
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Dean D. Fetterolf
http://www.pbase.com/dfettero
http://www.ddfphoto.com

I'd enquire of the local education department what the tender process is. I know here in Oz government has pretty strict policies on this and has to be seen to have a level playing field. It might not help you this year, but it will certainly help you next. For example the notices of tender here are only put out in certain publications, if you don't get them then you never get the contracts.

My experience of these kind of large organisations offering this type of photography is that they cut corners, pay very low wages, and prefer to use untrained staff. Its the sales people in these teams who earn the money not the photographer.

I found your point no less pursuasive the second time around. Seems to me CA has a pretty good idea about how to prevent inside dealing (and I am not suggesting that that occurred here). In fact, it strikes me as a pretty good rule in general. Let everyone see what the deal was. May help other people present a bid next time around. What reasonable objection could you possibly have to openness in government contracting?

And apart from whether or not this photog should "let it go" or not, your reply said a lot more about you then it does about the photographer. America? Lawyers? At best your initial reply was a complete non-sequiter but I suspect it's indicative of some prior axe to grind.

edleg said:

What if towns and cities limited who could actually have
professional studios in their town? .... oops, already happens in
small town near me... you have to have a special Professional
Photographer permit (complete with DOJ finger printing and
background check), not just a business license to do business as a
professional photographer.

Click to expand...

Can you name the town or city the requires a background check to be a "professional" photographer?

Edleg-

So what happens when your friend gets a booking from one of 'his' churches and finds himself locked out at the reception hall because he is not "their" photographer?

Does the bride end up with 2 albums ??

In order to get a business license in the city of Santa Maria, CA (Santa Barbara county) you must pass a background check (and pay for it out of your own pocket) before you can get a business license as a photographer. There are only a handful of businesses with this requirement (see below). Fortunately I live in an unincorporated area and do not need a business license to work out of my home-based studio, but I am bidding on some work to be done on city government property and I may have to go through the process anyway.

I quote from the city business licensing info:

"The following businesses require a police background investigation. The investigation may take up to 45 days to complete.

Photographers
Massage Therapist Peddlers/Solicitors
Fortunetellers "

(unquote)
Fine company they put us in!

so call it 500$ a day after the overhead is covered.

what is our notional school photog doing with the 243 work days of the the rest of the year?
if he carries on that 14% margin he's doing OK.
--
Member of The Pet Rock Owners and Breeders Association
Boarding and Training at Reasonable Rates
Photons by the bag.
-----.....------

if I mock you, it may be well deserved.

that is sounding like someone who knows how to grease the wheels of commerce.
"it's my contract; I stole it fair and square!"
--
Member of The Pet Rock Owners and Breeders Association
Boarding and Training at Reasonable Rates
Photons by the bag.
-----.....------

if I mock you, it may be well deserved.

I should have guessed someone would throw up Wal-Mart. what is with that monomania?
--
Member of The Pet Rock Owners and Breeders Association
Boarding and Training at Reasonable Rates
Photons by the bag.
-----.....------

if I mock you, it may be well deserved.

hehehe they left out Gamblers and Actors!
--
Member of The Pet Rock Owners and Breeders Association
Boarding and Training at Reasonable Rates
Photons by the bag.
-----.....------

if I mock you, it may be well deserved.

I will find out and get back to everyone about it......Hmmmmmm. My guess is that it was a sole source since I wasn't involved in any of the process before.

The Freedom of Information Act.... interesting point

Thanks

Jeff

Dean D Fetterolf said:

If it is a public school they are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) of your state. Was the contract awarded
competitively or as a sole source?
--



Dean D. Fetterolf
http://www.pbase.com/dfettero
http://www.ddfphoto.com

Click to expand...

Let me Understand this Correctly...

Are you suggesting that I also check neighboring districts and if Lifetouch is offering these other outside districts are getting a better deal than the district here is getting from lifetouch that it might help my case to have them look at my studio for thier school portraits?

Sorry...It's early maybe I'm just sleepy still.

Jeff

Question_Man said:

Under California’s public record laws, you can request a copy of
the contact, RFP or bid documents. I would do that, and see if it
was not put out to bid. If not, then why not?

Maybe if you spoon feed it to the newspaper they will do a story on
it. One angle is that parents are getting ripped off, cause the
district is too lazy to gets bids…

While you’re at it… Put in requests to other districts in the area…
If you can show that one district gets a better deal than the
others then that add to the case...

Click to expand...

In Georgia, the independent photographers went to court for the right to include senior portraits in the yearbook. We won because it was "Restraint of Trade" to allow only 1 company's photos to be used. Not all states are like that but the same case will win as the trade applies to Federal law. As far as lower class photos, I think it would also work but not economically feasible.

The contract should be made public as it is a public school system and supported by taxpayers.

edleg said:

In order to get a business license in the city of Santa Maria, CA
(Santa Barbara county) you must pass a background check (and pay
for it out of your own pocket) before you can get a business
license as a photographer. There are only a handful of businesses
with this requirement (see below). Fortunately I live in an
unincorporated area and do not need a business license to work out
of my home-based studio, but I am bidding on some work to be done
on city government property and I may have to go through the
process anyway.

I quote from the city business licensing info:

"The following businesses require a police background
investigation. The investigation may take up to 45 days to complete.

Photographers

Click to expand...

Yup.

edleg said:

Massage Therapist

Click to expand...

That requires certification almost everywhere.

I've had couples massage 1 and 2, and therapy 1. Still a ways from my Michigan CMT license, but I could do it.

edleg said:

Peddlers/Solicitors

Click to expand...

I assume this should have been separate. Not licensed in Michigan, but I wish they were. We get at least two door-to-door a week. Mostly office supplies. Weirdest I ever had was a door-to-door shrimp salesman.

edleg said:

Fortunetellers "

Click to expand...

Not licensed in Michigan. I'm both a scryer and a tea leaf reader. I also do the occasional crystal singing bowl cleansing, healing NAf flute playing, and the odd bit of wizardry. My friend Tahnee is a Reiki practicioner and a Wiccan.

--
Normally, a signature this small can't open its own jumpgate.

Ciao! Joe

http://www.swissarmyfork.com