You have to pay 15chf if you do it in this machine but you can do in .80 chf if you go to M-print in migros.
All you need to take a photo by yourself in the white background edit a little bit in brightness. Save the photo in your phone. Voila save 14.2 chf
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1n31w6g
Posted by 7ChakraHealer
45 Comments
I’ve never seen a M print shop before
You pay for the convenience, and sure, a huge premium. Clearly people use it and they find their model very profitable.
But thanks a lot for the tip! Will just go to Migros next time 🙂
Convenience. People need to do it rarely so they can sell at this price. Capitalism, profit optimization, yadda yadda.
You don’t have anything.
If you don’t like it, ignore. If there is no value, they’ll go bust. Easy.
“You have to pay 10 CHF for a sandwhich, but you can do it for 2 CHF at home” consider my mind blown
The simple answer is because people use it
“Going to a hairdresser is such a rip-off, just take a scissor and do it at home. Voila save x chf”.
It used to be 10chf not so long ago. Just a whopping 50% increase, nothing to see here.
I love them. 15 CHF doesn’t break the bank every few years, and I don’t have to talk to anyone, make an appointment, and go through all of that bs. I also don’t have a place at home with good enough light to make a pic myself and print it.
My ID photos look like mugshots either way so no big loss on quality.
Why did I buy a sandwich from a store. Could‘ve easy made it at home
Saving 14chfs or saving 30 min of your time…in Switzerland the choice is easy
The last time I went for a new ID card and passport, the photo has been performed directly in the administration office. So why do you want to take it elsewhere?
oh la gare de nyon
Includes the id, but you don’t provide your own photos for the national id (or passport).
Remember the m2 rent price of ZH. That machine uses one;-)
Especially, since nowadays you don’t need to have such a ‘formal’ picture anymore. ID/Passport offices in many cantons will take the picture on-site and for many other purposes you can just use a good selfie in front of a white wall.
Haha I worked for them a few years ago. To be fair the efforts behind it are very big, maintaining hundreds of those machines all over CH and the fact that we use it less every year makes it hard to make it less expensive. Moreover power costs for a machine working 24/7 and the revenue participation of SBB or other parties at certain locations bite their profits. Sometimes I wonder how they are still in business…
Bro, we live in the age of AI, nobody uses these machines anymore, we just take a selfie and Chat Jibbidy makes the perfect photo out of it.
Beware, for EU passport they won’t even accept it when the country you need it for uses a black and white photo, because the background is not white.
Just google how much it would cost if made by a human. You’ll discover how expensive and futile life is…
Such machines are expensive. What do you expect?
You also don’t need an expensive taxi from Zürich to Geneva when you just can walk by yourself.
I mean, I am honestly surprised that these machines are even commercially viable. They get vandalized a lot, have expensive parts and sit around days without anyone using them.
> but you can do in .80 chf if you go to M-print
I mean, sure. Did anyone ever tell you that this wasn’t possible? It’s an unsolvable problem for the companies putting up the machines. The more they charge, the less people use them, so they have to charge even more and the consequence will be even fewer people using them. It’s comparable to these machines selling condoms in public restrooms. They are completely overpriced but I am still sure that they aren’t making that much money.
Yeah! Why can’t everything cost what it used to a decade ago when I last needed to use one of these things?
Ah, inflation. That’ll do it.
Photographer here: The requirements for passport photos are quite complicated to fulfill, which is why even Pros don‘t offer this service anymore since we‘d have to ask more than 100.- in order to not lose money with it. It‘s only worth it if you install the set up and keep it this way forever. Which means you need a constant flow of clients. This business model died when camera stores died and also when swiss passport offices started to shoot the photos there.
Now good luck taking this photo by yourself and printing it at Migros. It‘ll take days until you get a result accepted by any consulate. Or… you just pay 15.-.
You don’t pay the print, you pay the technical knowledge behind it.
Just like you don’t pay me for pressing a button on a photoshoot. You pay me for 20 years of experience in technical, visual and marketing aspects to create your perfectly fitting result within seconds.
Have you tried not using the machine?
That machine has the logic built in to give you the right size for a passport, the right background, lighting, etc. That’s what they charge for. Two alternatives: (1) DIY provided you have the skills and equipment at home to get the size, proportions and lighting right (2) go to a photographer for around twice the cost but excellent results.
So you mean I can save 14.2 francs in maybe 5 years? Genuis
To be fair, if you go to a professional photographer it’s even more expensive. With your 15.- you’re also paying for the maintenance of this machine and for the printing paper, as well as for the rent it costs to put that machine there. Is it expensive? Yes. Is it a rip-off, considering general Swiss price levels? I don’t think so.
What is this for? Last time I made a new ID and passport they took the picture right there.
It belongs to a private company and they do it because they can. Going to a photographer to get pictures like this is a bit more expensive, so the. price it a bit below the professional price which is cheaper but not too high that you go to the professional
You can go to a regular Migros and at the end of the Kassen you can see a photo machine that will let you print stuff for less than 2 francs, not every Migros has this but if there is a big one they should.
En plus le M print est littéralement à 30 mètres de la machine a photo à la Combe. J’y avais jamais pensé, merci pour le tip !
Well then don’t do it in the machine. Prices reflect what people are willing to pay. You can always not pay and goto M print.
Correct me if I’m wrong but passport photos have a lot of specific requirements and those photo booths provided the photos with those requirements.
I once wrote cewe because they indicated on the website that some format might be ok for a passport. They never really answered my simple yes/no question. That’s probably because they don’t want to say it would work and then when it gets rejected you could complain about it.
Was you picture accepted? I think it’s more about how you take it than how you print it.
Just do it online
Clever. You got a business model there. Going to sell it door to door?
even simpler. you can order them via online services. The prontophot is good when you need pictures urgently.
Eg. [Passport photos online from CHF 3.90 – Facebooth.ch](https://facebooth.ch/en/online-passport-photos/)
It used to be 8.- and that was already a lot… jeez
Because people use these for passports, visas and IDs, which usually have strict requirements about photo size, background color, position of the head, etc.
Different countries have different rules and you don’t want your application rejected because the white background of your photo wasn’t white enough or there was too much room above your head.
People pay the 14 CHF because those machines have preset formats and sizes for different passport and ID types. And it’s 10 CHF cheaper than going to a professional photographer.
So that’s the reason.
Wow, when I used to need passport photos, it was easily double the price.
15.- for 6 photos and the convenience? Crazy cheap.
Because it conforms to the requirements for government is pictures.
So 80 cents for the picture and 14.20 for meeting the requirements.
When I went to the UK to get my passport photos taken instore it basically the same as CH prices! I was shocked.
The Cewe machines in Migros are the best option. Just used them for passport photos and paid less than 1chf per print
That’s incredibly cheap in comparison to the US and Canada.