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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)

#311

Post by Eddy_Viscosity2 »

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…

It's almost as if monopolies are bad. I also thought they were illegal. Why hasn't Luxottica been broken up by antitrust laws?

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

#312

Post by Terretta »

Kevguy wrote: post #271
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?

Zenni is a good choice _if you know your PD_ (pupillary distance) - the distance from nose to center of pupil. 1 mm off will turn your glasses into headache machines. And the phone apps that purport to measure this are universally bad. Get it professionally done at a place that will give you the value. Costco will do so. If you don't want to purchase online Costco is decent price - $180ish for the progressives lenses…

Costco also* has actual "Transitions" lenses while a bunch of the Luxxotica brands don't.

* also, meaning, along with Zenni

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

#313

Post by akiselev »

walnutclosefarm wrote: post #207
Nition wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Mine generally last a two years or so, before they are scratched and fogged to the point that my vision is affected. The big culprit is dust - often metal dust, but also hardwood dust - in the shop. Even if you religiously use a non-scratching, micro-fiber wipe (which is hard), just dragging the stuff across the lenses damages them. Another culprit is glue, particularly CA (super) glue but also other types. You may n…

For me it’s always been chlorine and other cleaning products. Salt water and sweat doesn’t help either.

Forget to take the glasses off before you jump into the pool or readjust your glasses while cleaning the house and before you know it the coating starts to dissolve. Even if you’re religiously rinsing them, the accumulated damage to the coatings fogs up the lenses and weakens the surface against scratches.

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

#314

Post by kalabilla »

seesaw wrote: post #104
paulmd wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(not indian but this is my impression from what I've read) india has a very weird medical economy at times, geared to the costs necessary to deliver ultra-basic care to many people who are dirt-poor, utilizing generics (occasionally of questionable quality), the ultra-cheap cost of labor, etc. for example centchroman is an interesting case-study... the government basically paid to develop and take it through trials a…

I have used an Indian online site [1] to order a really good pair of glasses. It cost me $150, but I found the quality to be much better than what I could get in the US. [1] https://www.titaneyeplus.com/

you ordered from a brand which is considered premium in India. You can get similar kind of glasses at even lower price at lenskart.com and from local stores.

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

#315

Post by LinuxBender »

nine_k wrote: post #270
Symbiote wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy "reading glasses" from a supermarket in Britain for $4. They might be OK, but custom lenses will almost certainly be better. (Also, glasses ordered online in Britain start at less than $10 a pair. Once something purchased that infrequently costs less than a McDonald's meal, there's not much pressure to further reduce the price. It's one hour work at the legal minimum wage.)

Here in the US I could buy reading glasses in a pharmacy for less than $10 (several variations). They come in a range like -2.0 to +2.0 in increments of 0.25. I don't wear glasses, but I suppose I did I could get something that roughly works for me for a price of a coffee and a couple of doughnuts. These glasses don't look cool, but don't look ugly either, they are just extremely basic. Likely fine for reading at hom…

They are also on Amazon. There are folding reading glasses that go from 1.0x to 4.0x that are $15 for 2 pair. I keep one on me for really tiny print. It even survived ending up in the washing machine.

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

#316

Post by P_I_Staker »

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?

I definitely think it's cool that they have some pretty freaking cheap frames. That said, I didn't pay more than $100 for my frame.

They didn't have that many $100+ glasses at the store. I think the frames that I bought for like $60 (didn't even hit the max, so they were free). Honestly, think they're nicer than most of the frames there.

You can buy oakleys for like $40-70. Even the sale ones tend to look better than the ones on zenni. Some of the nicer zenni's are $40+ anyway.

Of course it is really cool to see decent frames for $20 or less. I'm going to keep it in mind in the future.

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

#317

Post by P_I_Staker »

tikhonj wrote: post #101
smt88 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think that I'd ever pay more than $100 for a frame again. $100 sounds like it's ~10x what the price should actually be for simple plastic shapes, and it's probably more than 100x the actual cost to manufacture them.

I assume that's $100 including the lenses—seems like a reasonable price for something that requires custom high-precision manufacturing, although it would be great for the price to come down even further over time. I have a moderately strong prescription (with slight differences for each eye) and I got the best glasses I've ever had from Zenni for $72.90 + tax. Could have been $60 without a presumably overpriced anti…

Normally when you say "frames" you mean lenses excluded.

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

#318

Post by lupire »

newyankee wrote: post #288
lupire wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India has very low labor costs, so you get a lot if all you need is something you can get by paying someone to do something with materials on hand, without substantial energy or rare materials.

What stops us from making , decent quality 20 $ glasses and selling in US for 50 $ max ? (inclusive of shipping, export duties etc)

Nothing, which is why there are lots of independent eyeglasses websites selling cheap glasses.

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

#319

Post by wyclif »

dotancohen wrote: post #198
odysseus wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wanted to like these, but these are some ugly frames compared to some of Lux's Italian-made frames. Same deal with a lot of discount frames (including some from Luxottica) - very old styling and cheap looking materials. But to each his own - I'm sure some people will like Shuron and maybe I'm not up on the latest trends.

> very old styling Correction: Original styling. These were the guys who invented that styling. The problem is, they've hardly innovated styling at all for decades.

Yes, Shuron invented the classic "browline" frame and that's why Shuron Ronsirs are what Hollywood used for frames in "JFK" and "Malcolm X". Pretty sure they also invented the "cat's eye" style frames for women, too.

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

#320

Post by walnutclosefarm »

lobocinza wrote: post #293
walnutclosefarm wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine generally last a two years or so, before they are scratched and fogged to the point that my vision is affected. The big culprit is dust - often metal dust, but also hardwood dust - in the shop. Even if you religiously use a non-scratching, micro-fiber wipe (which is hard), just dragging the stuff across the lenses damages them. Another culprit is glue, particularly CA (super) glue but also other types. You may n…

Rinse with water before wiping.

That removes way less than all of the abrasive dust, and to some extent just turns what remains in to an abrasive slurry. You still get abrasion of the coating over time. And water doesn't help at all with damage due to solvents, glue, and the like.
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