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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

#511

Post by sshanky »

So far I think the best value, even better than Costco, is Sam's Club. Bring them frames and they will trace them and measure your PD, then make you a pair of single vision Pentax lenses with AR coating, for less than $40. Add $60 and you have polarized sunglasses. This is for CR39 plastic which is optically superior to polycarbonate/high index lenses. There is also a great warranty, since Sam's Club will let you return anything practically any time.

You can find most frames for a few bucks on eBay, including popular brands like Ray Ban.

I have bought quite a few pair so far and am super satisfied, especially with the optical quality, compared to the competition's "HD" stuff.

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

#512

Post by sudosteph »

traek wrote: post #440
sudosteph wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just got my eye exam done this morning, and I agree it really does make a way better experience. I think it's a state-level law thing. Here in WA State it's illegal for a optician to refuse you a plain eye exam or refuse to give you your prescription information, including pupillary distance: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=18.195&full=tru...

It's not, it's a nationwide thing enforced by the FTC. WA and some other states have stricter laws which include pupillary distance. https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/com...

Good to know. But judging by the current messaging on the site that where you're supposed to send those complaints for that... I don't think there's much enforcement going on right now.

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

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

#513

Post by intertextuality »

My experiences in the US in 2015 and prior:

* Took exams, but didn't receive PD (pupillary distance). Had to take another exam and specifically ask in order to receive that.

* Frames from most places except Walmart were disproportionately expensive, and walmart's styles... were lacking. Only select styles were reasonably priced.

* Nowadays my family in the US uses Warby Parker. Last time I used it the prices were reasonable, one just needed their pupillary distance measurement and an eye exam taken within one year.

* For both Warby parker & brick and mortar shops, you had to wait for the new glasses to come in.

* The process for contacts was better, but still quite expensive. I had to drive to the eye exam so I couldn't do the enlarged pupil process.

My experience in Korea in 2018:

* I walked into a random glasses store, picked out a pair of frames, gave my old glasses to the clerk in order to scan them, waited 10 minutes, and then walked out with thin, good-looking, strong-prescription glasses for $80. Couldn't have been easier or more straightforward.

* This year I plan to get contacts to see what the process is.

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

#514

Post by walterbell »

outworlder wrote: post #284
tianmingwu wrote: post #51

A few years ago I found a technique on youtube to help myopia by wearing slightly lower prescription glasses. And the author recommended zennithoptical.com for cheap glasses. I was almost shocked to find their price to be that cheap. And when I bought a couple of pairs, it turns out their quality is quite decent. I have since bought more than a dozen glasses from zennithoptical.com, at a total cost of about $300. And…

> A few years ago I found a technique on youtube to help myopia by wearing slightly lower prescription glasses. That is not physically possible. Maybe (and that's a big concession, I'm very skeptical) it could work with kids, with still-developing eyes. No amount of glasses trickery will reshape your cornea in adulthood. Other than the physical world constraints, if this hypothesis was true, people's myopia would nev…

It works for some people, not others. Reasons unclear, but there is published research which explores this topic at length, especially with techniques that can be monetized, such as special contact lens for myopia treatment. In some Asian countries, it is a national health/economic priority due to high prevalence of myopia.

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

#515

Post by kkarakk »

enraged_camel wrote: post #172
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…

>>Please stop using the US as the "that's how it is"-standard. The US is the standard for the overwhelming majority of things that are commonly discussed day-to-day on this site. I'm not sure why anyone would take issue with this, other than having had their pride scratched.

Russia set the standard in interfering in the US elections and therefore the world...

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

#516

Post by kkarakk »

cryptonector wrote: post #392
vkou wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 tak…

Medical training in the U.S. requires first a non-medical degree.

yeah i remember my cousin telling me about how she -an american citizen educated in private schools her whole life- had to study english for some reason as part of the requirement of becoming a doctor. the pre-med requirements are pretty much stupid garbage

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

#517

Post by walterbell »

Aunche wrote: post #325
jolmg wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The worst case of wearing the wrong prescription is that you'll get a headache. Doesn't using the wrong prescription worsen eyesight faster? At least, it's been my general experience that when a child is curious about people's glasses and is given the glasses so they can experience the effect, they only let them try it for a couple seconds and are explained that using them for too long can cause damage to their eye…

The eyes don't care about what's in front of it. The brain does the image processing, so that's the only thing that's affected by a bad prescription. If your glasses are so wrong that it causes eye strain, it may cause damage, but you'd have to purposefully put yourself into that ordeal. https://mayoclinichealthsystem.org/locations/la-crosse/servi...

Try a web search for neuroplasticity.

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

#518

Post by walterbell »

pugworthy wrote: post #19

You want to know what's outrageously expensive, yet equally important for basic ability to function in the workplace and other situations? Hearing aids. Hearing aids are glasses for your ears. But compared to them, glasses are unbelievably dirt cheap, and basically fully covered by a lot of decent company insurance plans. Hearing aids? Not the case. Imagine if glasses cost $2-3000 per lens. PER LENS. And your company…

iOS 12 Live Listen can use airpods to relay audio from the iPhone mike, a capability previously limited to hearing aids. Can be useful in a pinch.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/11/11/how-to-use-airpod...

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

#519

Post by walterbell »

sf_rob wrote: post #229
nomel wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why aren't people using them? I've converted several people, but not being able to touch them and try them on first appears to be a significant problem.

I'd pay a fee to "borrow" the empty frames of 3-5 selections from Zenni and then return them prior to ordering. I've had mixed success on fitment from Zenni.

Eyebuydirect will return/exchange any glasses within 14 days, lens included. Since they are owned by Essilor, the lens quality is comparable to retail stores. Some of their frames are good quality clones of designer eyewear costing 10x up.

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

#520

Post by quantummkv »

rootusrootus wrote: post #94
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…

The original article too long for you to get through? ;-) The company that basically owns the entire eyewear industry top-to-bottom is Italian. Just merged with a French company. I know it's popular on HN to talk about how crappy the US is, but in this case you jumped to the wrong conclusion.

> The company that basically owns the entire eyewear industry top-to-bottom is Italian.

That is in the US (and maybe Europe). In India I got my glasses with all the regular filters from Titan for about 50$ including the frame.

Titan is a brand owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata. Not by Luxottica. So your example is still US-centric.

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