One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people • Hacker News Board

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#51

Post by digler999 » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:12 PM UTC

randyrand wrote: post #4

I got 4 pairs of glasses on amazon (needed the opposite of reading glasses which are hard to find in stores) for $8. I was pretty darn impressed by how cheap the free market is vs doctors offices.

I think it's great that places like Zenni are undercutting optometrists' prices. But as soon as I read "Amazon" the first thing I thought of was knockoff products from China and how harmful those could be to ophthalmology. It's one thing to get a phony "1 TB" USB stick, its another to get two pieces of clear polycarbonate labelled "-3.25, 0.5" that could actually harm your eyes by looking through it.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#52

Post by waterfowl » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:14 PM UTC

kefka wrote: post #40

So, where can I buy high quality sunglasses (have 20/15 vision)? Obviously junk doesn't cut it, and I really don't want to feed the Luxottica monster.

Maui Jim sunglasses are reportedly exceptionally high quality, also not part of Luxottica. My brother loves them, I don't wear sunglasses.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#53

Post by eikenberry » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:14 PM UTC

PascLeRasc wrote: post #26

Arcsech wrote: post #11

Glasses are a total racket. Purchasing your glasses online is many, many times cheaper than going to Lenscrafters or basically any other brick & mortar store in the US. I've been buying online for years and they're every bit as good as usual ones. You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. If they refuse or tell you how evil buying gla…

Warby Parker ( https://www.warbyparker.com/ ) makes some really nice "luxury" glasses, even though they still cost less than the cheapest pair you'll see in a typical store. They'll even send you 5 frames to try on at your home.

Thanks for this. I've looked at all the others and was generally disappointed in the selection. So far I'm impressed by what I'm seeing at warbyparker.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#54

Post by sprawl_ » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:15 PM UTC

kefka wrote: post #40

So, where can I buy high quality sunglasses (have 20/15 vision)? Obviously junk doesn't cut it, and I really don't want to feed the Luxottica monster.

I've heard only great things about Maui Jim. Pricey, but high quality and not Luxottica.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#55

Post by ren01r » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:15 PM UTC

I am using prescribed glasses since I was in 3rd grade. I feel like I'm wasting money when I spend more than 1000 INR (around 15 USD) on glasses. I can't imagine spending 700 USD on glasses. I can live on that money for about 4 months with that money.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#56

Post by PinguTS » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:17 PM UTC

The comments are very interesting. I think glasses are a very specific issue. The question is: do want perfect view or just want to see something better.

For better view this is great.

But for the developed world it is not comparable. Either because the eyeglass frame should follow some trend, or the glasses itself needs some additional threatment.

For example, my glasses are 'cheap' even as I need special glasses. Yes, the diopter are different between left and right. But much more important is the parallax compensation for me. My optician exchanges the glasses even for free, if they don't fit. So online, is realy not an option.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#57

Post by chillwaves » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:18 PM UTC

jjnoakes wrote: post #38

Arcsech wrote: post #11

Glasses are a total racket. Purchasing your glasses online is many, many times cheaper than going to Lenscrafters or basically any other brick & mortar store in the US. I've been buying online for years and they're every bit as good as usual ones. You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. If they refuse or tell you how evil buying gla…

My close friend tried Zenni. They sent her glasses which gave her fishbowl vision every time she rotated her head (edges warped quickly as the head turned). She contacted Zenni support and was told "We found a defect in your lenses and we'll send you corrected ones". The same thing happened with the second pair. So she contacted them and got the same "We found a defect" and they sent her a third pair. Same thing happ…

Just to chime in this is my experience right now and it degrades my quality of life. It looks fine if you are focusing in the center but anything to offset you can't see, it's blurry and it causes considerable eyestrain. I was happy to pay $70 instead of $400 for a pair of glasses, but I need to find a real optometrist and just pay up. I have terrible vision, -7 contact lens RX (ish). And astigmatism. These glasses are probably fine for people who need less correction.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#58

Post by Declanomous » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:18 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #46

Declanomous wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a really wide head, but a relatively narrow face. I have a lot of problems with fit as well as style as a result. I just went to Costco and tried on every pair of glasses they had, figured out what style looked best, took the measurements off the frames that fit, and used that to order glasses online. Costco's profit comes from their membership fees rather than selling anything, so you don't have to feel bad a…

> Costco's profit comes from their membership fees rather than selling anything Membership is key both because its essentially zero cost, and because paid membership motivates choosing Costco as the place to make purchases (one reason Costco sells so,much more per unit of floospace than, e.g., WalMart), but Costco, absolutely, does make profits from sales, even if its margins are fairly low.

Well, their stated goal is to only make as much profit as is needed to cover their expenses. I personally don't consider that profit, but the price they sell goods for is indeed greater than the cost they bought them for.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#59

Post by dba7dba » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:18 PM UTC

I've heard that all these different brands in eye glasses industry are mostly owned by just a few holding companies. Hence the high price for everything related to eye glasses.

Never bothered to actually check but I remember hearing that in a podcast.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#60

Post by rogerdpack » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:19 PM UTC

jakebellacera wrote: post #47

Namrog84 wrote: post #7

The site makes it look like exclusively a charity? I can donate and that means someone gets glasses. But can I buy them for myself or a friend as well? I couldn't find the answer (on mobile)

Based on this page[1], it looks like they provide the machine and training required to produce the glasses on-site in remote locations by locals so that they can operate their own businesses. This makes a lot of sense, because it's a lot cheaper to deploy X quantity of materials required to produce the glasses all at once vs hundreds of individual glasses. Also, it helps boost their local economies. [1]: http://www.o…

If they really want this to go wide spread, they should make a way for locals to "make money" on the machines, like they can resell them for $2

then it could spread and be self-sustaining, and everywhere would have $2 glasses, which is actually somewhat affordable, even in developing countries.

My only other concern is what about astigmatism? Are they teaching the people that distribute it to accomodate for that (like "2 hour optometrist training" LOL)