An Yle analysis has found wide variations in prices paid for annual school and daycare photos in Helsinki, with residents of well-to-do areas sometimes paying significantly less for the service than parents in less prosperous parts of the city.
The investigation examined the result of Helsinki’s decision to open up a competitive bidding process to select suppliers for photo services to more than 300 schools and daycares across the city.
Extensive bidding process
Yle reviewed the procurement material and found that the tender asked potential suppliers to send offers to provide photo services to roughly 70 schools and more than 250 early years education centres, such as daycares and playground clubs.
Altogether 24 firms participated in the bidding and submitted offers for a standard photo package that included a class or group photo, a single portrait of the child and an additional smaller series of portraits. The schools and daycares had been divided into 39 areas.
The bidders were allowed to study historical data showing the areas where parents most often ordered school photos. The best areas for business included districts with many schools and daycares and where well-income families tended to live.
The firms bidding for the contracts sometimes aimed to secure contracts for more profitable areas by offering low prices for the photo package. In many cases the prices were even loss-making, however firms such as Kuvaverkko said that they expected to make a profit off other merchandise such as mugs, pillows, larger portraits and fabrics bearing children’s photos.
Lowest prices often in affluent areas
The result of the extensive bidding process was that 10 photography firms were assigned different zones where they could sell their services. More than half of the bids (14) were rejected because the offers did not conform to tender requirements.
Yle found that the outcome of the tender process however, was wide price swings for the same photo set across the city.
The cheapest photo package containing a class photo, portrait and portrait series at a Helsinki school cost 1.60. At its most costly, the same package purchased at a Helsinki daycare came in at nearly 17 euros.
Yle’s analysis showed that photo package prices were very low in school and daycare areas where firms submitted tenders with loss-making prices – typically in affluent neighbourhoods and districts with large schools.
The city’s procurement process was no different from many other public tenders, where the lowest-priced bids tend to win supply contracts.
Kontula photos six times pricier than in Kaivopuisto
Parents of toddlers in Helsinki daycares are likely to pay more than the guardians of school-aged children for their photos, the Yle probe found. However there were also distinct price differences depending on whether or not the photo set was for a toddler or primary school student.
For example a family from Kontula, eastern Helsinki, with a child in daycare, would pay more than six times more for the photos than a family resident in central Helsinki’s swank Kaivopuisto district.
In addition to Kontula families, parents from areas such as Jakomäki, Puistola and Suutarila – all in eastern Helsinki – would have to fork out 16.70 euros for the set of photos.
By contrast, families with addresses in Kaivopuisto, Eira, Lauttasaari and Töölö in central and western Helsinki would pay 2.60 for precisely the same set.
City official: Process partly "missed the mark"
Yle reached out to Helsinki department head Liisa Pohjolainen, who is responsible for the city’s school and daycare operations to ask her opinion on the outcome of the tendering process.
"We decided that a tender had to be done. It is a bit complicated but in my opinion we had quite a good result. We got several suppliers and prices fell," she said.
Deputy mayor Pia Pakarinen, who is reponsible for education admitted that the tender process partly missed the mark.
"Of course in part because the end result was so unequal in different areas. It shows price differences between small and large daycares as well as between small and large schools. And to some extent there i´s a regional split. We would have hoped that there wouldn't be such large differences," Pakarinen noted.
Below is a list of the cheapest and priciest photo sets for schools and daycares in Helsinki. Parents of children in other institutions pay prices that fall between the two extremes.
LOWEST PRICES FOR SCHOOL PHOTOS – 1.60 EUROS
Hietakumpu elementary school
Hiidenkivi primary school
Jakomäki primary school
Karviaistie school
Latokartano primary school
Maatulli elementary school
Malmi primary school
Pihlajamäki elementary school
Pihlajisto elementary school
Puistola primary school
Puistolanraiti elementary school
Pukinmäenkaari primary school
Siltamäki elementary school
Suutarinkylä primary school
Tapanila elementary school
HIGHEST PRICES FOR SCHOOL PHOTOS – 7 EUROS
Hertsikka elementary school
Herttoniemenranta elementary school
Kulosaari elementary school
Laajasalo primary school
Outamo school
Poikkilaakso elementary school
Porolahti elementary school
Roihuvuori elementary school
Santahamina elementary school
Sophie Mannerheim school
Tahvonlahti elementary school
LOWEST PRICES FOR DAYCARE PHOTOS – 2.60 EUROS
Lokki–Silkkiuikku, Melkko–Särki, Pajalahti–Veijari, Päiväpirtti–Vaahtera, Ratikka–Topelius, Ruoholahden lastentalo–Jaala, Saukko, Telkkä–Lunni, Kampinmalmi–Lauttasaari–Töölö
Aleksi–Luotsi, Alppimaja, Eira–Haukka, Franzenia, Kaisaniemi, Kaisla–Kaleva, Kaivopuisto–Onnela–Tähtitorni
HIGHEST PRICES FOR DAYCARE PHOTOS – 16.70 EUROS
Herttoniemi, Ilomäki, Jollas–Poikkilaakso–Puuskakulma, Kulosaari–Santahamina, Laivakello–Ranta, Merituuli, Nalle–Tahvonlahti, Porolahti–Tammisalo, Roihuvuori–Strömsinlahti, Satama, Siilitie, Tuorinniemi, Yliskylä, Kaakko
Fallpakka–Laakavuori, Haikara–Ruuti, Humikkala–Mellunkylä, Inari–Jousi–Kuovi, Kivilinna–Portti, Kontula–Kurki, Lammikko–Pihapirtti
Leipuri–Tuulimylly, Liinakko–Loimi–Varhela, Myllymetsä–Neulanen, Myllynratas–Myllytupa, Nalli–Sakara, Saana–Tunturi, Itäkeskus–Marjaniemi–Myllypuro
Alppikylä–Suurmetsä, Himmeli–Perttu, Kaskisavu–Pentinkulma, Klaara–Vihtori, Kotilo–Naava
Kumina–Pikkuprinssi, Minttu–Neilikka, Nurkka–Savotta, Seulanen–Vaskiniitty, Jakomäki–Puistola–Suutarila