Call it advertisement, spam, or whatever... but stop paying a fortune for glasses!

[wolfwings]

Whenever I see multiple friends suddenly bitch at once about this time of year about the price of glasses (why does everyone get glasses just after Labor Day? *shrug*) I realize I've missed telling someone else something: Glasses are a rip-off on the magnitude of thousands of percent. Yes, for every dollar you spend nine or more can end up being profit for the vendor.

How'd you like to be able to afford to get a bi-yearly eye exam, and regularly buy three to five pairs of glasses a year, and still pay less than $200 a year? Sure, won't work for some ultra-extreme cases, but here's how for the majority:

1. Wal-Mart charges $50 for an eye exam at locations so equipped. If you just need a basic exam, they're perfect. That's between $50 and $100/year. Make sure to ask for your "PD Number" which usually isn't filled out on the prescription sheet unless you remind them. It's how far apart your eyeballs are.
2. GlassyEyes is the central blog that links to all major internet eyeware vendors that don't ass-rape you. $8 for a pair of prescription glasses? Ding, look here. There's plenty more up to around $60/pair for hingeless memory-titanium ones w/ ultra-ultra-light lenses and sillyness like that.
3. Order from one of those sub-sites, no wierd voodoo, no insurance claims, just pay about what you would for a couple pizza's, and wait anywhere from a week to a couple months. Yes, months in some cases for some of the on-line vendors. One sub-vendor that comes and goes due to their long shipping delays but incredibly low prices is Zenni Optical. They're the one I've personally bought stuff for others from, and most of my friends have personally ended up using them with great success, but their shipping times vary across the full gammut from 2 weeks to the full 2 months. They DO eventually ship though!

So who can't do this? Those that need a new pair of glasses in the next 24-48 hours. That's pretty much it. If you can be patient, you can order a half-dozen pairs ranging from cheap $8 ones to keep as spares in the glove-boxes and night-stands of your life and for going swimming in (yes, you can get a pair of solid-plastic corrosion-proof prescription eyeglasses w/ tinting just for poolside/beachside use, huzzah, now we're talking civilized living!) and still have one or two pairs of really nice day-use glasses.

Comments

[catwoman69y2k.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

Thanks for the links. Ill keep my eyes open (no pun intended) for deals at these places during the next time I need to buy glasses. Sadly I have to go with polycarbonate lenses due to the severe vision difference between the right and left eye.

I also have a stigmatism in the eye that is not the lazy eye. Plus, doublehyperphoria to go with it. Need transitions because Im light sensitive. :( yeah...

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Another option Zenni offers (and most of the others do as well) is fixed tint on their glasses, in 10% (reflects the color of the tint, but doesn't actually affect your vision, nifty for 'rose tinted glasses' or the like you can wear indoors easilly) pu to 90% (great for prescription sunglasses).

Polychromatic + 1.67-index lenses would admitedly cost about $80 extra from Zenni per pair, but all of their glasses are polycarbonate as far as I've seen, and have extra scratch-resistance coatings.

And most of their glasses are available with matched-size-and-style clip-on tint carriers/sunglass attachments, as another option to the transitions.

[buran.livejournal.com]

I use transitions because I don't want to have to deal with the hassle of separate sunglasses. It'd be nice if "darkest" was darker, but honestly, it's pretty nice as it is.

I went with CR-39 and didn't see much of a difference in thickness vs. my polycarbonate existing Lenscrafters glasses, and I do have some difference in right vs. left. But you might have a stronger scrip than I do.