A Review of the Photography Business Olan Mills

Olan Mills, for those of you who have never heard of them, is a very popular photography business in the United States. They are known very frequently for their work with church directories as well as their work in the private sectors.

That being said, here are some things that you might want to know if you ever decide to get your pictures done with them.

Pros of Olan Mills Pictures:

- They're always very professional. I feel that that should go without saying since it's a professional company, but that is not always the case with photography studios.

- The pictures from all the studios I've visited (and there have been several) have always been of high quality and all the people I've met that have had their pictures taken by Olan Mills (again, there have been quite a few) have been extremely satisfied with the way the pictures turned out, myself included.

- There is always some sort of great coupon deal going on, or some sort of discount for buyers. The pictures overall aren't too expensive (a package for usually around $10 gets you quite a bit of pictures and then it's $13 for an 8 x 10 sheet on top of that).

- The pictures don't fade over time and they keep quite nicely. We've got Olan Mills pictures from 18 years ago that still look brand new.

Cons of Olan Mills Pictures:

- Like all businesses, they're going to try to sell you more than you want to buy. They have a lot of really expensive features that they can do for you that you can do yourself, such as collages, that they will try to get you to buy.

- Like all businesses, they can get kind of pushy with trying to get you to buy because they want that sale. I've seen some customers get quite annoyed when they pick up their pictures because all they want to do is swing by and grab them and then the photographer is trying to push them into buying something and they just want to leave and they get frustrated when the photographer won't take no for an answer.

Pros of Working for Olan Mills:

- They offer good, competitive pay with the possibility of improvements. I was a Sales Associate, which is an entry level job selling coupons to people as they enter KMart, where our branch was located. I started at an $8 per hour wage, which is a lot better than other entry level places.

- It's a good atmosphere to work in. Obviously it differs from studio to studio, but the studio photographers have to be pretty outgoing and fun people in order to really do their own jobs well, so usually they're a fun bunch to work with.

- It's good interpersonal experience and a fun job to perform as long as you're outgoing and like working with people.

Cons of Working for Olan Mills:

- Work is pretty temporary and not to be relied on. As a Sales Associate, you have a quota of one coupon per hour to sell and if you don't sell enough you get fired (as I have been) regardless of your past history there.

- Meeting a quota is hard, especially if you haven't had to do it before, and especially where there's limited customers, so keep that in mind when applying. Make sure that 1) you're qualified for the job in that you can be outgoing enough to stop people and try to get them to buy and 2) there's enough traffic where you don't have to worry about seeing the same people every day (which is what I faced in my branch because it's such a small store).

- No benefits. I assume that studio photographers get benefits because they are the main employees and they are full time, but there are no benefits for part-time employees at all whatsoever.

- The district manager wasn't even the one who fired me. I expected that I would be fired for not selling enough coupons, so it didn't come as a big surprise or anything, but she called the studio photographer at my studio and had her say that it wasn't working out. I really enjoyed working with these people and I liked their personalities, but to me that was the biggest blow of all that the district manager, who was the one who interviewed me and first trained me for the job, couldn't even be the one to fire me. It just seemed a bit unprofessional to me, but it may not bother some of you.