Moral Quandary

So my kid's school takes pictures twice a year. Fall ones are pretty typical; they send 2 proofs and an envelope with choice of packages, which they'll print up on demand & sell you.

Spring pictures are a whole different animal. They take the picture, even if the kid says, "I don't want my picture taken, my Mom doesn't want any" as mine did. Then they send you an 8x10, 3 - 5x7s, 10 wallet-sized, and a whole sheet of bookmarks, guitar pics and other assorted plastic punch-outs, cheerily printed with the school year and little cutesy backgrounds.

They send you all these photos, then they say pay $12 a sheet for the ones you want, and send the rest back.
AND SEND THE REST BACK.

Why, exactly? They've already printed them, it's not like they're gonna lick the ink off and reuse the paper. And though she's a pretty cute kid, i don't think they'll want to hang her picture in their homes...They've put the same investment into making them, whether I buy all of them or none of them. ($12 a sheet is ridiculous btw. Fundraiser pricing, the money goes to the school)

It's a ridiculous business model. I'm not going to pay outrageous prices for something I didn't want in the first place.

I was supposed to decide & return them last week, but haven't, cuz I'm slack like that. I'm tempted to call and say the cat ate them or the dog lost them, but I'd really like to help out, even though I'm not going to give them any money. I could offer them some of these OTHER pictures of my kid, would they like those? Not that I'd actually give them any. I'm not giving pics of my kid to somebody who's just going to run them through a shredder! That gives me the heebedy-jeebies just thinking about it.

Also, I'm a bit offended by the wastefulness of it. Photo chemicals ain't made of kitten giggles and rainwater, after all. Those unwanted pics have to go somewhere; all the energy used to produce them had to come from somewhere.
Is it my capitalistic duty to try to bankrupt these fools?
Is it my moral obligation to return their goods to them, though they hold absolutely no value?

Discuss.
I know I'm supposed to do the right thing, but remind me why, OK?



* I actually gave the kid a check to cover the page of bookmarks etc cuz they're cute and she likes to swap them with her friends, and sent the rest of it back. But I also took a decent close-up of the 8x10 with my camera ; )