GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Costco has two basic machines, maybe doubles of them. One machine only prints out 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 size. (I call that call the little printer.)

The second machine prints out any size above that. (I call that one the large printer.)

One tech told me the large printer used a dye type ink. The smaller used a more tradional method to print, whatever that meant.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Photographic emulsion paper.

RobertC

I recently had 15 20x30 prints done st the West Palm Beach Costco. The properly photographed shots came out very Goya’s they usually do.
Shots I submitted that were slightly out of focus exaggerated their flaws.
Overall excellent quality.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Happens on enlargement.

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

Try Sam's club. 20x30 , even 20x36. Look great and Costs $15 or so. I sell them, so must be OK. I have a following built up.
Framed in yard sale frames.
Bill

RobertC

I will try Sam’s. Thanks for the recommendation.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

I think you've given then enough chances. I would stop getting small prints from Costco. If this happened to me, I would write a letter about it to corporate.

JoeM845

If you want fairly accurate, reproducible color from Costco you must first make sure that your local store does the printing rather than sending it out. Look at https://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/ to find your local store. You should see the printers that have been profiled. No printers listed (or no entry for the store) means that they send it out and you cannot predict the printer that will be used. You must select a profile based on the location, printer used, and paper surface. If you use a different printer later, then you must make a different selection. You need to check back every so often to see if the printers at that location have been re profiled.

You must also have a color managed workflow with an accurately calibrated/profiled monitor.

See https://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/profiles.htm and https://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/using_printer_profiles.htm for a suggested workflow. The example is for older versions of PS, but you should be able to transfer to the current versions of CC. The key thing to remember is to convert a copy f the image to the target profile before sending it to Costco. Do not use sRGB with an embedded profile.