Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

latimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 326 posts

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

#211

Post by kotaKat »

krageon wrote: post #196
femto wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Or you get a single eye exam and call it a day. The results will have your PD, which doesn't change.

Not every opto is always willing to give you your PD. Some like to beat around the bush because they'd rather try to nudge you into buying in store instead.

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

#212

Post by readenough »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #190
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've had very good luck ordering from Zenni and Coastal. It is perhaps a bit harder to find a frame style you like, but once you have a frame of reference for say width measurements it's not so bad. They're especially good for cheap prescription sun glasses. I bought a whole stack of them years ago I'm still working through. If I go to the river or where ever and something happens to them I'm out $25 instead of $250.…

coastal.com redirects to eyebuydirect.com. Is that the same one you are talking about?

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

#213

Post by m000 »

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?

For Europe, Ace & Tate [1] are affordable and pretty good quality. Frame + lens go for €110, or €120 to include blue light filter coating.

Frankly, unless we're talking about real designer pieces, glasses have been a completely utilitarian/commodity item for the past half century. The real achievement of Luxottica (which also reflects in their brand name) is that they still manage to sell them as premium/craft products.

[1] https://www.aceandtate.com/

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

#214

Post by bombcar »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #190
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've had very good luck ordering from Zenni and Coastal. It is perhaps a bit harder to find a frame style you like, but once you have a frame of reference for say width measurements it's not so bad. They're especially good for cheap prescription sun glasses. I bought a whole stack of them years ago I'm still working through. If I go to the river or where ever and something happens to them I'm out $25 instead of $250.…

> Why is it so many of these simple services increasingly feel like total scams in the US?

Because 'quiet franchising' is a huge money maker for those selling the franchises.

For alterations you need to look for someone who does full custom clothing in-house; cleaning services almost all now ship even the cleaning to some central location.

I was able to find an actual cobbler nearby; they're still out there but it can be hard to find.

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

#215

Post by Aulig »

Lots of recommendations for Zenni here, which is excellent. I'll go ahead and recommend AliExpress if you want the absolute cheapest. You can get everything from very basic (usually ~$5 for same strength on both eyes, ~$15 for different strengths) to any custom combination of glasses & frames ($30+) there.

I've bought around a dozen and have only had good experiences. In case of bad experiences (one arrived a bit bent) you can get a refund.

I'd recommend going for a metal frame though, since they're more durable.

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

#216

Post by bombcar »

robertlagrant wrote: post #164
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.

> 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 don't know the situation, but it's possible that Walmart doesn't make any money on that, or even loses money, to get you into a Walmart store.

It might be, but I suspect not; the optometrist is 'independent' so if Walmart is subsidizing them it's by free rent or something.

It's likely that it's mainly volume (and NO insurance paperwork at all) - the one I went to doesn't even take insurance, cash or credit card only.

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

#217

Post by bombcar »

Maursault wrote: post #105
wrycoder wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got it wrong the first time. He’s an MD ophthalmologist.

Unless there's need for specialized medical or surgical treatment, getting eye exams and eyeglass prescriptions from an ophthalmologist as opposed to a optometrist is like getting your teeth cleaned by an oral surgeon rather than a dentist. Astigmatism and/or myopia, refractive errors, corneal disease, amblyopia? Optometrist. Ptosis, proptosis, endophthalmitis, macular degeneration, excess tearing, detached retina or…

To be fair, I had a dentist who was technically an oral surgeon but would sometimes even bump the hygienist and do the cleanings himself; because they were easy and he was bored. Same cost to me so I didn't mind.

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

#218

Post by bombcar »

Johnny555 wrote: post #86
adzm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention the pupillary distance is not commonly included on optical prescriptions which creates a significant hurdle, even though it can be measured yourself or usually given when asked.

I've had great experience with Zenni for single-vision prescriptions, but when I graduated to progressive (i.e. bifocal) lenses, the Zenni lenses were terrible and I couldn't use them. Not sure if it was the frame fit, or poor PD measuring on my part, but I tried twice and both times I couldn't use them. The glasses I got from my optometrist are much better, at 3X - 4X the price of Zenni.

Zenni needs a "send in old glasses and we'll match" feature added.

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

#219

Post by bombcar »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #119
kmonsen wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t all fsa account cover glasses? Pretty easy to use that for pre tax dollars on eyeware. You can spend it wherever you want.

Vision insurance will typically be subsidized by the employer around 50% or more, so it could still be more expensive to not use the vision insurance.

The crappy "vision insurance" we got "for free" was still more expensive out of pocket than a Walmart optometrist visit + 5 pairs from Zenni.

It's entirely a racket; would be like selling oil change insurance.

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

#220

Post by wyclif »

otherme123 wrote: post #138
wyclif wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also prefer glass lenses. The tradeoffs seem to be weight (glass weighs more) and durability (glass can be cleaned with cloth or a towel without scratching, plastic lenses need to be babied with a microcloth or else you get little swirly scratches that will eventually ruin the lenses). I'd rather have my glasses weigh a bit more if the lenses are more durable.

Don't clean your glasses, wash them. The scratches are caused by particles of dust pressed by you against the lens, and then rubbed all around. A quick rinse removes almost all the dust, and then you can dry them with any clean towel, tissue or even the shirt. I also use a drop of soap to degrease them. I have plastic lenses with zero scratches after five years of use.

Oh, I know about this. I did rinse them thoroughly. Then I used a few drops of Dawn dish detergent to wash them. But what I found was that even if you clean plastic lenses thoroughly, what counts is how you dry them. If you use paper or even a towel it can scratch them incrementally over time.

It's so much more convenient (or maybe I'm just lazy!) to be able to dry glass lenses with a towel, paper towel, a t-shirt, or anything absorbent.

Post reply on HN