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Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

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Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#371

Post by PavlikPaja »

interlocutor wrote: post #107

The reason glasses cost so much is because one company owns: (1) nearly all brand name frames including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Prada eyewear, Armani eyewear and so on, (2) nearly all retail stores such as LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical and Target Optical and (3) EyeMed, one of the largest vision insurance companies. See this eye-opening 60 Minutes story on Luxottica: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDdq2rIqAlM…

Are they also the reason why optometrists insist that it's an inborn effect, despite all the research pointing towards an environmental cause?

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#372

Post by erklik »

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #40

Title correction: Why are glasses so expensive in the US? The American eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry. Please stop using the US as the "that's how it is"-standard. In Germany, you pay a very reasonable (from my layman perspective) price for the lenses, maybe about 40$ plus another 30$ if you want to have non-reflective glasses or product from big name producers and stuff like that. Like every fashion pr…

Unfortunately, its rather similar in Australia. Got a recent quote for a pair of glasses to be at $1000.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#373

Post by rootusrootus »

hello_friendos wrote: post #267
RickS wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They own the distribution channels, top to bottom[1]. Lenscrafters, sunglass hut, target optical, etc. If you don't play ball, they'll kill your distro. They did this to oakley in a hostile takeover[2] – luxottica cut them off and took almost 40% off their stock price. Oakley was then bought by lux. What's stopping you from selling mom and pop? Mostly nothing. Warby Parker – and to a lesser degree, coastal – are doin…

EyeBuyDirect is owned by Essilor. Coastal is owned by Clearly, which is owned by Essilor.

So Luxottica strikes again, and continues to build their monopoly. Even when you think you're voting with your wallet, they still profit.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#374

Post by charlieflowers »

cheeseomlit wrote: post #340
cryptonector wrote: post #212

One word: protectionism. Nothing else can explain it. The U.S. healthcare system is rife with protectionism, and it's disgusting. From how hard it is to become a doctor, to how hard it is to build a new hospital (you need a "certificate of need" in just about all States to build one), to FDA regulations on drug manufacturing being extremely expensive, to too many drugs not being over the counter (thus requiring a tri…

I think what you're describing is bureaucracy, red tape, over-regulation and crony capitalism. Protectionism as I understand it would be measures taken to reduce competition from outside the country, not within it

(Not GP) -- That may be the official definition, but I think he's right in that it is the same exact principle applied at the industry level.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#375

Post by irrational »

dwaltrip wrote: post #308
traek wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are so cheap there is no reason not to do it this way. Besides the environmental cost, maybe.

Relative to other things like travel, commuting, home energy usage, electronics, etc, I'm guessing the environmental cost of a pair of glasses is very, very low. It is important to focus on effective actions. For example, a lot of people think that somehow recycling affects climate change, which (AFAIK) is not true in any meaningful sense. That isn't to say one shouldn't recycle -- there are plenty of reasons to do s…

Plus you can probably donate the glasses. There is probably some poor person out there with a prescription close to yours.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#376

Post by bdcravens »

My wife was an optician for 15 years; she left the industry because of the crazy retail sales environment (focus on sales and commission instead of customer service)

She had the idea of being an independent optician, but not selling glasses. Rather, offering services like adjustments, frame styling, measuring PD, etc, to service the growing market seeking out glasses from places like Zenni and Warby Parker.

Personally, I didn't think she'd find enough people willing to pay for those services, but perhaps there's an opportunity there.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#377

Post by vkou »

cryptonector wrote: post #364
cheeseomlit wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what you're describing is bureaucracy, red tape, over-regulation and crony capitalism. Protectionism as I understand it would be measures taken to reduce competition from outside the country, not within it

When the law requires that you get a "certificate of need" in order to build a hospital, that is very much a protectionist measure. Requiring that medical student careers be approximately a decade long is another protectionist requirement. The FDA often functions to protect large players. There is a ton of protectionism in the U.S. healthcare "market".

> Requiring that medical student careers be approximately a decade long is another protectionist requirement.

No, that's just reflective of how damn difficult it is to distill the body of knowledge required to be a doctor into a brain.

Just because you can learn enough Javascript in 24 hours to build an insecure one-page CRUD app with an animated duck, doesn't mean that you can do the same with the human body.

It takes years of theory (med school), and years of supervised on-the-job practice (residency), to build up the knowledge and expertise required to give people good medical advice.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#378

Post by glaberficken »

mrob wrote: post #101
glaberficken wrote: post #32

Relevant previous discussion: [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17061380 I live in Portugal and I have needed prescription glasses since i was a child (I'm now in my 40s). I have always felt frames particularly are priced in a cartel like way. Of course for lenses there is more of a justification depending on the thickness/prescription (it is harder to make a more curved lens that is thinner and lighter). In f…

>they try to sell you add on treatments (Anti-reflex, UV coatings, etc) In my experience some of these coatings end up shortening the lifespan of the lens as they create a surface that is easier to scratch. In my opinion, the best material for lenses is the cheapest: plain uncoated CR-39. It has the best Abbe number of any common material (lowest chromatic aberration), and good scratch resistance. I clean mine using…

Wow, cannot upvote this comment enough. Super helpfull, thanks! Definetely going to go with uncoated lenses. Will the opticians even know what I'm talking about when I ask for CR39? I have one concern though I'm - 6 Dioptre on each eye. so lens weight has always been an issue for me. even a few grams extra make a big difference. I always go for rectangular low profile lenses with the greatest thickness reduction they can apply and they always advise for Polycarbonate lenses.

What's your take on this?

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#379

Post by JJMcJ »

fwip wrote: post #332
dwaltrip wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relative to other things like travel, commuting, home energy usage, electronics, etc, I'm guessing the environmental cost of a pair of glasses is very, very low. It is important to focus on effective actions. For example, a lot of people think that somehow recycling affects climate change, which (AFAIK) is not true in any meaningful sense. That isn't to say one shouldn't recycle -- there are plenty of reasons to do s…

I believe that recycling aluminum takes significantly less energy than smelting it in the first place. I don't have any idea about plastics/papers.

Aluminum is the only part of recycle that is really profitable. That's way people picking through trash take the cans and nothing else.
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