[dsmithhfx]

My experience runs the gamut from custom prints, to drugstore and supermarket labs, to own film developing and printing in a cooperative b+w darkroom (where I met my wife, as it happens). I've moved on to a hybrid film --> digital scan workflow, most recently getting my films machine-scanned at a c41 lab and burned to cd's, after many years of laborious flatbed scanning and photoshopping from negs, spending well north of an hour per shot! To each their own, but I have to say that, while hand-developing and printing have their charms, and I love to see gelatin-silver prints on rag paper, they also introduce a certain tedium and risks into the process, not to mention expense, hazardous chemicals and (not least) what to do with all those prints! One is able to replicate and extend any imaginable darkroom manipulations digitally, and generally make a better job of it whether with photoshop, open-source GIMP or other, lesser tools (I can do quite a lot right within gThumb).

[ColColt]

I wouldn't shoot unless I could develop my own. I primarily shoot/develop B&W and want control of the final product. Who knows what developers they use in a commercial lab. They make no compensation for an overcast day or bright sunny day and mostly use a generic developer and time depending on the film.

[tuco]

... Who knows what developers they use in a commercial lab.

With BW we can safely assume they will definitely use a box-speed developer and typically one that supports replenishment.