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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

#521

Post by walterbell »

mmastrac wrote: post #121
Epskampie wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert, but I researched it a bit online since I found a charlatan who was promising people they could get rid of glasses completely. Expert opinion is that this is not possible, myopia is a physical condition that cannot be reversed easily. It is possible to get used slightly weaker lenses, but this is mostly your brain learning to adjust to the slight fuzziness. This seems in line with what tianmingwu ex…

Is that EndMyopia / BackTo2020? I signed up for the "email intro" just to see what it's about, but it's really just a bunch of breathless testimonials and random references saying that you should wear slightly less strong glasses than your prescription. He's basically trying to get people to pay $99 for a forum to talk about the same stuff. The TL;DR for his program seems to be that glasses cause myopia to worsen, es…

There's a free facebook group with hundreds if not thousands of posts with vision improvement stories. No money needed. But vision improvement takes way more effort/time/motivation than the average person can muster.

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

#522

Post by __david__ »

schaefer wrote: post #322
gibybo wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't Walmart do this without a membership? How do they get away with it?

when they ask - you say "no, thank you". They get away with it by training the vast majority to consent for no particular reason.

That's always my technique at stores that try that (aside from CostCo). The nice part is that they really aren't used to people saying that (especially if you say it very pleasantly, as if they had offered you something) and will often stare at you with a "deer in the headlights" look.

The worst that's ever happened was that I once had a Best Buy guard yell at me and start trying to chase me out into the parking lot, but I just ignored him and he eventually gave up and went back. Flaunting fake authority like that makes me very happy for some reason.

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

#525

Post by SZJX »

outworlder wrote: post #280
Aunche wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Needing a prescription for glasses is a bit absurd to begin with. The worst case of wearing the wrong prescription is that you'll get a headache. I suppose it could be a bit dangerous if some drivers were slightly disoriented, but I can't imagine glasses being more dangerous than something like Tylenol.

I... can't form a coherent response. How do you even know which prescription to get? Do you have astigmatism? How do you measure that? It's not a scam. It's just overpriced in the US, because they can't get their stuff together in the health department.

That doesn't make much sense because adult vision doesn't change much. It should be perfectly valid to use an old prescription unless you want to re-check your vision. I've never seen this law in Asia or Europe and people are living just fine.

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

#526

Post by walterbell »

KineticTroi wrote: post #474
mikekchar wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wanted to chime in here because while I don't have a wide head, I have a long distance between my ears and my nose (i.e., narrow but long from front to back). It literally took me 40 years to figure out that if the arms of the glasses are not long enough, the glasses will tilt down, because the curve of the arm will sit on your ears. This results in really poor vision (as you can imagine). It sounds stupid tha…

BTW - These acetate frame arms can usually be heated carefully with a torch, and bent to straighten them up. Thus making them much longer. Sometimes you can even rebend them farther back. Though straighter arms are somewhat more prone to fall from your face.

A bowl of hot water will usually work to bend acetate frames, but not plastic frames (which cannot be adjusted). Be sure to keep heat away from the lens/coating to avoid crazing.

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

#527

Post by yabatopia »

brymastr wrote: post #439
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…

There are other non-Luxottica options in the US. Warby Parker, Bailey Nelson, and Ollie Quinn to name a few. Almost everyone sells Essilor frames though but not quite everyone is owned by the eyewear conglomerate. At least with Bailey you can get some quality frames for a decent price.

Does anyone know the non-Luxottica options in Europe, where the market is much more fragmented across countries?

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

#528

Post by dirktheman »

Expensive? I have astigmatism, top notch lenses with blue light filter and a slight varifocus (Eyezen, highly recommended for screen work) and a designer frame. This was a rather expensive purchase (around 350 euros) for me, but since I'm behind a screen a lot it's worth it.

Also, I bought these glasses at my local glasses store. I get headaches whenever my glasses aren't exactly centered or straight, so in a typical year I come in around 10-15 times to adjust them. They give me great service all the time, always cleaning the glasses and replacing screws/nose pieces for free. When I got theses glasses the lenses were replaced two times (I had transitions, didn't like them, and I got headaches from the second pair because my brain couldn't get used to the new astigmatic values), also without additional costs.

Buying glasses online is fine, but since I rely on my glasses every waking hour and require a lot of service, I'll keep buying them from my local shop. Probably not the most economical way, but 350 euros every couple of years isn't that shocking, either.

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

#529

Post by Double_a_92 »

dawhizkid wrote: post #46
jawns wrote: post #15

Reminder, if you're in the US, the FTC says your eye doctor must give you your prescription after your exam. If a doctor refuses to do so, they can face legal action and penalties. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2016/05/buying-prescriptio... That said, I don't think the FTC stipulates what information must appear on the prescription. Many docs leave off your PD (pupillary distance), which is a necessary measuremen…

biggest scam is that glasses/contact prescriptions only last a year in the US

You actually need a prescription to buy glasses in the US? 0o

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

#530

Post by arendtio »

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…

IMHO, the prices vary extremely but if you want to get just a basic pair of glasses, you can get away with a very cheap. I don't wear glasses myself, but last August I accompanied someone to get a pair of new glasses from Fielmann (Wikipedia: 'Fielmann is market leader in Germany and Europe's largest optician').

In the end, one glasses cost 18€ (special deal) and the other one about 57€ (sunglasses, special frame). Given the 2+ hours, we stayed at that shop (sales talk + eye testing + frame adjustments) it was probably a net loss for the company on that day. I know other people who got their glasses for about 700€ from the same shop (more expensive frame + more features (e.g. thinner lenses)).

So it might be that the market situation is kinda bad and is getting abused. Nevertheless, I have the anecdotal evidence that if you are just after a vision correction (and not some fashion accessory), you don't have to pay a fortune (in Germany). This might be helpful to keep in mind when you are after your next glasses.

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