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Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

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Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#171

Post by acomjean »

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #128
jusssi wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does buying glasses online even work? I have never tried, so I'd expect it to be like buying shoes without trying them on (which I won't do either, based on in-store experience I'd be returning 9 pairs out of 10 for bad fit). I wear glasses for 95% of time, I want to not hate how they feel.

you tyoe in your prescription and a week later they appear. if you dont like them, send them back.

I think you also need to measure the distance between your eyes. The only not supper easy part.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#172

Post by wikfwikf »

doikor wrote: post #168
londons_explore wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lenses are no longer custom high precision manufacturing... In fact a 50 cent laser pointer has far more far more precise lenses than a pair of glasses. Lenses today tend to be polycarbonate plastic anyway - which means they can be produced rapidly like any other plastic moulding.

For a lot of people you can just take lenses from the production line and cut them to shape and be done but that is not always the case. Personally I always have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to get new glasses done as the lenses have to be made to spec and the lenses alone are around 350€ and no they are not any cheaper at any online retailer that operates here if they even offer to make lenses to my spec.

Which country and what is special about your eyes or glasses?

I have noticed that in France glasses with decent but standard frames cost around 5 times as much as in the UK. My suspicion is that the difference is related to how supplementary health insurance works in France rather than any special manufacturing requirements.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#173

Post by azubinski »

Usually, people buy glasses for a long time. Carrera with chameleon glasses served me for almost 15 years. They were expensive, yes. But they lasted 15 years. And this means that during these 15 years I did not buy new glasses. And so do a lot of people. And that means that if you start a company that makes cheap good glasses, you will be in trouble in a couple of years. Because good glasses last a long time, people love them and don't want to change them. So you raise your prices. I have vintage Ray Ban from the 1970s, still with real glass, not plastic, I love and wear them, and I'm not going to buy new "aviators" because I already have them. It's just such a specific product, it's not impersonal plastic boxes of electronics, this is a thing that is always with you and becomes a part of you. And there are many unknown manufacturers of cheap glasses, in any supermarket in the EU you will find racks with these glasses.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#174

Post by kolp »

jwr wrote: post #156
planetsprite wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't a new company simply undercut the competition? I don't imagine the barriers to entry are too high for manufacturing glasses, are they?

Not for manufacturing, but you need good designs first, something people will want to buy. And most people will want to buy something with a BIG BRAND NAME on it. I tried buying glasses online and discovered another problem: the industry hasn't standardized on measurements. It's very difficult to buy frames online. The numbers/measurements will be, for example, for lens width and nose bridge width only — go figure ho…

The frame size is normally written (in Europe, at least) on the inside of one of the arms of the glasses. Find an existing pair that fits you and note the measurements. That measure, together with your prescription and PD should be sufficient to order online.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#176

Post by doublerabbit »

guidoism wrote: post #136
chasil wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glasses aren't that expensive. I buy them from https://zennioptical.com I don't think that I'd ever pay more than $100 for a frame again. The sunglasses that we buy in a drugstore can be had for paltry sums, why not prescription eyewear?

I paid $11 (shipped) for a pair of glasses from them for use in VR. I didn’t want to screw up my normal glasses. For eleven bucks they aren’t bad at all. Not my style. And I didn’t get any coating so the reflections are bad but man, I can’t see for shit without glasses and I’m happy that if I even fall on hard times I can at least pay for a new pair of glasses.

Why not get custom lenses inserts for your VR kit? Its what I did for my Index, not expensive at all.

https://vroptician.com is where I got mine from.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#177

Post by femto »

acomjean wrote: post #171
RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you tyoe in your prescription and a week later they appear. if you dont like them, send them back.

I think you also need to measure the distance between your eyes. The only not supper easy part.

Measuring Pupillary Distance (PD, or distance between your pupils) is easy! Here's how:

1) Stand in front of a vertical mirror, making sure you are square to the mirror.

2) Place a horizontal ruler on the surface of the mirror.

3) Close one eye and move your head until the reflection of the centre of your pupil lines up with zero on the ruler.

4) Keeping your head still, open your eye and close the other eye.

5) The Pupillary Distance is the reading on the ruler that lines up with the centre of the reflection of your pupil.

6) If you want to double check it, just swap the opening of your eyes and check that the other eye still sees itself at zero.

I use this method whenever I order glasses online and have yet to have a pair of glasses that have any error in the manufacturing. I now only buy glasses online.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#178

Post by someweirdperson »

andirk wrote: post #150
petilon wrote: post #19

Glasses are expensive because there is no competition. One company - Luxottica - owns pretty much everything. You go to LensCrafters and prices seem super expensive, so you go to Pearle Vision and that's expensive too, so you go to Target Optical and prices are still high and then you think maybe glasses are expensive, since you went to multiple stores and they all have similar prices. What you don't realize is that…

Is there some way to make this comment a billboard? The lenses are manufactured per individual according to their need. Granted it's within a spectrum of choices such as it's -1.5 or -2, not -1.66421 (right?). Then one can add features to the lenses like anti-glare, anti-scratch, spectrum, blue light filter. Insurance covers 100%, and it's not a lot. But the frames?? They're very, very small amounts of metal and mass…

> Granted it's within a spectrum of choices such as it's -1.5 or -2, not -1.66421 (right?)

Usually right, typically in 0.25 steps. Then there's Zeiss i.Scription [0], with lenses produced not only to weird numbers, but also to correct higher order deviations than just spherical and cylindrical.

I haven't tried those yet, seeing slightly changing test results on the needed standard correction, so I assume that higher order correction would be a short term improvement only.

[0] https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/us/eyeglass-lenses-from-ze...

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#179

Post by donutshop »

chasil wrote: post #90
imroot wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked on the retail IT side of things at Luxottica. I don't even think that you've scratched the surface of just how prevalent Luxottica is: you've touched the retail side of things, but, you also haven't touched the manufacturing side of things (Lux has patents on the hinges used in glasses), the wholesaling side of things (Lux supplies generic and branded frames to your local optician on less-than-preferred term…

Glasses aren't that expensive. I buy them from https://zennioptical.com I don't think that I'd ever pay more than $100 for a frame again. The sunglasses that we buy in a drugstore can be had for paltry sums, why not prescription eyewear?

Another great site is goggles4u.com

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#180

Post by BridgetJones »

Nition wrote: post #129
RajT88 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I buy 5 pairs of glasses at a time (cheapest ones I can manage which look OK). 5 at a time is still cheaper than 1/3rd the price of low cost normal glasses. And each of those 5 pairs is half as durable. It is a similarly wild situation where eye exams at Walmart can be cheaper than at a regular eye doctor covered by my insurance.

I bought my lone pair of glasses in 2009 and I've replaced the lenses once since then. I wear them every day. Now I'm wondering what everyone else is doing.

FYI, I wear my glasses 16 hours a day (100% of awake time), so I replace them every year, just to get a fresh pair.
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