Thank You

I've always done my own for passports, etc. (IDP, train passes, Visas). However, recently my daughter needed to get her passport renewed very quickly. She didn't have the time to be "putzing around". As a graduate student, she doesn't have money to spare, but I advised her to go to Walgreens and pay to have them do it. That way she'd have something that wouldn't get rejected.

Sounds like you may end up at AAA. We now have a AAA membership and with the membership, the photos are at no charge. It might be worth considering. We were sure happy to have it when we were camping in a remote area in Oregon and our car wouldn't start.

TC, glad you have a solution, even if it’s not the most modern, theoretically easiest and simplest approach. Whatever works for you is the best approach. Happy travels, and hopefully, easy passport replacement. Hopefully easy passport acceptance everywhere you go, too.

I just saw jules’ response. Her AAA must be cheaper than ours, with our 40+ year membership. Our Passport (and International Driver’s Permit) photos have never been free, but also aren’t prohibitively expensive. The local Post Office actually did our last passport-sized photo prints, for Cambodian visas. Not every U.S. Post Office takes passport photos, so you have to check. I doubt any provide thumb-drive versions.

@CYN, I was sure you were wrong, because I have heard others that get photos and IDPs at AAA for no cost. However, I did some googling, and it sounds like most often, you do pay for the IDP. I just confirmed with my husband that we've not paid for IDP as AAA members. So, I don't know if its a difference between states, or if our local office is just different. We did have photos taken last August for rail cards, and there was no charge.

For certain, I will now call ahead to my AAA office before trekking over to them for IDP and photos.

My adult twin daughters both have passports expiring in August. One had to renew via mail and expedite (extra charge) since she had travel within 6 weeks. She had to mail a photo, so she had it taken at Walgreens. The other one was able to renew online and had a coworker do a photo. It took them two attempts to get it right, so super simple. Also, the online renewal was super simple in contrast to the daughter that had to renew by mail. Plus, its impossible to submit a photo that will be rejected. There really is no risk to doing a "do it yourself" passport photo. They both got their passports in about three weeks. Strongly advise folks to watch the expiration of their passports so as to take advantage of online renewal.

I want to say that the local AAA office just northwest of Denver charged $20 for IDP’s - $12 for the document itself, and $8 for the photos, one glued into the IDP and one that they kept at AAA. My numbers may not be perfectly correct, but I know they’ve never been free. At least the AAA office finally got rid of the awful camera that had a super-bright flash, timed so that the subject’s eyes were closed as a reaction, and required a dozen retakes before an acceptable one could be obtained.

Maybe that does vary by state, or you know the secret word for complimentary IDP/photos! :-)

We now have a AAA membership and with the membership, the photos, IDP,
etc. are at no charge.

I can confirm that Oregon AAA charges for photos and IDP, I got one a couple weeks ago. It wasn't expensive ($20 total) but it definitely wasn't free. My member rep showed me the photo before printing it out so I could confirm it looks just like me (and just as bad as my passport photo!) It may be that a different membership level provides different benefits, I have just have the basic membership.

I had my passport photos taken at Staples a couple years ago and amusingly they had the photo "booth" set up right in front of the entrance door. Very distracting if you were trying not to smile and keep a neutral expression while gobs of people walked by you. :)

I just called my AAA office. At the Burnsville, MN office, for AAA plus members, photos for any reason are free. (I got photos last August for rail passes) As far as the IDP, the payment goes directly to the government. She said likely our IDPs were likely covered for us when we first joined AAA and then again when acquired their credit card, (we haven't needed an IDP for a bit over a year since we've been traveling to English speaking countries).

Our office is about a 20 minute drive, so typically I just do my own photos.

Thanks Cyn for prompting me to double check the fees.