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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)

#221

Post by dotancohen »

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…

  > anti-glare, anti-scratch, spectrum, blue light filter
What does "spectrum" mean in this context? Thanks.

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

#222

Post by dotancohen »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #209
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…

True. But. Even before Luxottica started buying up the industry, glasses were expensive. I worked in the industry in the early 90s (paid for college). We could buy CR-39 bifocal blanks for about $3.50. A frame in the Frames catalog (name brand) was about $10. Tint and UV were about $4 a bottle and would last a week, and that would tint/UV hundreds of lenses. I was making $7.50 and hour and it would take me half an ho…

The tint and UV coatings come in a bottle and can be applied? Can that be done at home?

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

#223

Post by vel0city »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #206
vel0city wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How would anyone know if they in fact got a X layer coated lens (where X could be from 3 to 8) from a discount shop? How do you know you're getting it from the brick and mortar?

Presuming that they have multiple different lenses in stock you can compare them side by side visually? You can wet them, shine a flashlight, put them under the sun for transition lenses, etc... Not foolproof, but it would make it harder to substitute the lower end lenses, 3 coatings vs 2 coating would likely be noticeable. 8 coatings vs 7 coatings might not be. So for the mid range and above it probably doesn't make…

So we can't trust the store to give us the glasses we ordered, we need to test them. To get a control to test against, we're then going to...trust the store and have them provide the control?

How do you know those glasses on the counter touting 8 layers actually has those 8 layers?

It kind of sounds like all you can really do is see if the glasses have the features you requested. Do they transition? Does it seem like they transition as much as you were wanting? Do they seem like they don't have bad glare? Does it attenuate the glare as much as you were wanting? If not, then return them. This is entirely possible with online glasses retailers, they usually have decently generous return policies.

People don't buy glasses because they have 8 layers instead of 7. They buy them because those layers give additional features and it's the features they want. If they can do the features you want in 7 layers instead of 8, does it really matter if it's only 7 layers?

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

#224

Post by JustSomeNobody »

dotancohen wrote: post #222
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. But. Even before Luxottica started buying up the industry, glasses were expensive. I worked in the industry in the early 90s (paid for college). We could buy CR-39 bifocal blanks for about $3.50. A frame in the Frames catalog (name brand) was about $10. Tint and UV were about $4 a bottle and would last a week, and that would tint/UV hundreds of lenses. I was making $7.50 and hour and it would take me half an ho…

The tint and UV coatings come in a bottle and can be applied? Can that be done at home?

It was concentrated liquid that was mixed with water and heated. If you can get your hands on it, yeah, it can be done at home.

Edit: We used BPI(?) dyes and UV. Make sure you don't have anything other than scratch coating. A/R, Mirror, etc. will likely craze in the heat.

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

#225

Post by h3rsko »

dwighttk wrote: post #202
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…

I mean https://zennioptical.com https://www.eyebuydirect.com/ I’ve gotten my last 8+ pairs at one of those two (may have been a third but can’t remember) the most I paid was for some sunglasses where I wanted a few upgrades $80… the rest averaged $12

I use https://www.firmoo.com/ and have never had any issues.

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

#227

Post by dotancohen »

wyclif wrote: post #220
otherme123 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, o…

The dish detergent seems to get under coatings and ruin them, in my experience. Glass cleaner is fine, though.

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

#228

Post by bluGill »

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.

Unless state law says otherwise the optician is an independent business. Check your local laws, some states don't allow that arrangement.

I'm not sure what the business deal is, but it looks to me like the rent the space from walmart and wal-mart does the scheduling. That is the person who does the exam isn't a WalMart employee, but they use WalMart for services. If you watch close you will notice they use a different POS system for paying for your exam from the one you use to buy your glasses.

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

#229

Post by bluGill »

walnutclosefarm wrote: post #208
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.

Yes. Like a charm. Biggest potential hitch is that your optometrist will give you your prescription (they are required by law), but won't include your ocular measurements, which you then have to make yourself at home in order to order the glasses. Get the inter-ocular distance wrong, in particular, and your glasses will not work correctly.

Hint, when buy glasses ask about swim goggles - they will write down the PD distance (since they don't have swim goggles), and then you can keep that number. You still need to buy one final set of glasses, but you can get their cheap frames and be done.

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

#230

Post by _nalply »

bombolo wrote: post #113
wyclif wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out Shuron. USA-made and not owned by Luxottica. Superior quality zyl frames and five-barrel hinges, unlike almost everything Luxottica sells. And they are full service and have top-notch customer service—they'll fill your prescription and also send you five different frames to try on and return: https://shop.shuron.com/

italian made? lol… china made

Probably Italian designed China made
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