The once-mighty Kodak announced the closing of their photofinishing subsidiary, Qualex, and the three remaining photofinishing operations that provided service to the United States. George Eastman must be spinning in his grave! Kodak was built upon photofinishing, from Mom and Pop drugstores, to early camera stores, to Kodak stores and massive photofinishing operations. Surely, this must be a battle the digiheads at Kodak have won. Which begs the questions, the Kodak digiheads ask, if Kodak does not provide photofinishing, why manufacture film, equipment, darkroom chemicals, paper, or anything else related to or supporting non-digitial photography?
The day will come that college business classes will study Kodak as an example of how to kill yourself one step at a time. Why not, for example, mop up all the photofinishing business left, even if it gets down to having one central operation in the United States? With new or remodeled Walmart stores eliminating one hour processing, why not go after all that business? Why leave all the processing business to Walgreens and Target stores, and others, not to mention centralized Fuji processing operations for Walmart? Why not try to sell the photofinishing operations to someone who cares and sees the remaining potential? Yes, Kodak, cut one vein at a time and before long all your blood is gone!