The halogen penlights we use in our office to measure the proper location of the pupil behind the lenses to insure a better fit cost more than a pair of cheap glasses. Maybe we're trying too hard.

Yeah, you're right. We as consumers should continue to pay 1000% (yes, one thousand percent) markups in order to subsidize your mini-flashlights.

Do you not see the comedy inherent in your statement? A cheap pair of specs is fifty bucks. Taking you at your word, your magic flashlight is what, fifty-five? And yet most of your brethren practitioners are happy to charge $400-500 for a pair of glasses. Honestly, how do you guys live with yourselves? Don't you know that's close to 2% of most peoples' pre-tax income for an entire year? I've driven cars that cost less (I'm not kidding....cornflower blue 1986 Honda Civic 5spd, ran like champ). A single sale of wildly overpriced glasses puts hundreds of dollars into your pocket, meaning each and every customer could provide you with half a dozen of your magic lights. Unless these magic lights of yours have a useful life measured in seconds and you have to break open a brand new one for each eye, I don't see that capital outlay being meaningful in the context of the business.

I don't care if 9/10 of all opticians go out of business, it is not society's job to provide a comfortable living for any professional class, especially one that practices such parasitic tactics towards their customers. You guys got greedy, and now the net, as history's greatest equalizer, is poised to bash your collective brains in. I love it when the chickens come home to roost. Change your ways and start charging reasonable prices, or become as obsolete as the milkman or gas pump attendant before you.

I agree. My interpretation of all of this is that optometrists are undercharging people in order to make greater profit on glasses. In a sense, glasses sales are subsidizing the costs of eye exams.

I would much rather have optomotrists charge whatever the actual costs is for eye exams and then pay the real price for the glasses.

When you pay for a pair of glasses locally you pay for more than just the cost of the materials.

You pay for the professional consideration/judgement, the measurements, the inventory, labor, rent, utilities, our education/certification/contin­uining education... Warranties, adjustments, simple repairs (nose pads, temple tips, screws) and a lot of other things that get wrapped up into the package price.

Would you rather pay $100 for an "eyeglass fitting?" Then pay $20 for each time you need an adjustment.. A verification fee for the glasses.. Reduce it down to the same commercial business as contacts where the only money to be made is in fees?

Why should any office provide these services at no cost? I bet if the doctor's office outlined exactly how much each of the "bonus services" your eyeglasses include, for just the bare metal and lenses you can come close to the web.

I have to point out that I agree that optometrists are not charging enough for exams. As a future optometrist(class of 2010) I will have amassed a debt of nearly $250,000, but then will have to sell my services at $45 an exam(just an estimate based on local exam prices). In the late 1800s an early optometrist charged $3 for an exam. In today's dollars, I believe that is somewhere around $150-200 per exam.

That doesn't mean, however, that I agree that the price of glasses is artificially raised to cover that discrepency. First of all, most opticals charge AT MOST 2.5-3 times retail. Meaning a frame they are selling for $150 cost them $75, so they made a $75 profit on the frame and usually less on the lenses. Then they have to pay rent for the space, wages to the employee who sold it, wages to the lab or the lab technician to make it, taxes and other fees. At what point are you willing to let a business make a profit? Do you go into Best Buy and accuse them of overcharging you on a pack of batteries that is marked up 2000%(and they are)?

What you are not considering is as the previous writer pointed out, all the time invested in the making of and adjusting of said glasses. Additionally, most of the time opticals will not charge you anything if your glasses need to be changed within a certain time period due to a prescription change. BUT they have to pay for those new lenses. So that cuts into their profit margin. Let's say that I sold you a pair of varilux progressives that cost me $150 and I sold them for $350 in a frame that cost me $50 and I sold for $150. On the front, it looks like I made a profit of $300. But I had to pay for those lenses to be made, which probably cost $50-75 dollars(this is assuming I don't have my own lab and have to outsource it. If i did have my own lab it will still cost a lot because the machinery to manufacture lenses costs $20,000plus not to mention highly trained employees to run it). Now I'm down to a profit of $250. Now let's say that you happen to have been tired when you had your exam and what you thought was a great prescription then just isnt' working out. Or maybe you have diabetes and you blood sugar was high which artifically inflated the amount of minus in your prescription. So you get a re-check and now I have to re-make your lenses. It's not your fault that the prescription changed, so I'm not going to charge you to re-make them, but I had to buy another pair at $150 plus the $50 lab fee. That brings my total profit down to $50. Plus I have to pay my employess...So all in all, 1 remake and I'm in the hole. How ridiculous is that?

I've worn glasses for several decades and have never had any kind of "adjustment" that people keep referring to. I've also never had the feeling that the salesman selling frames was any more an eye vision expert than a salesman at Best Buy is a AV expert. I've never had an actual optometrist play any roll in me buying glasses. Like any salesman, the one's selling frames/lenses always recommend/push for the most expensive options.

In all honesty, I'd rather just be charged a reasonable price + mark up. I really wouldn't mind paying $5 or $10 for periodic adjustments or even a "fitting fee".

I think what we are saying is that it seems that the current business model of optometrists is obsolete. It needs to adjust to match the reality of the current situation. I currently pay about $45 dollars for my eye exam. I would be willing to pay another $50 to make it worth the optometrists time. Then I could buy glasses for $25 dollars online and still be better off than if I had paid for glasses at the optometrists.

Same here. I've been wearing glasses and contacts for years and have been everywhere from Hour Eyes (yech...) to high-end doctor's offices in yuppie areas such as Bethesda and Northern VA...and never, not once have they used any special lights or done any actual hands on adjustments. The most they have done is patiently assist me with finding glasses that "look great" on me and fit my small face and features. And as any great sales person does, they have rationalized the purchase of additional but not necessary things and more expensive options. It does take me hours to find a pair I'm happy with so I guess I can appreciate their assistance but I'm usually better off dragging a boyfriend and friend with me to get an honest second opinion of how the frames look on my face.

Anyway, I do appreciate this article. Some smart@ss poked fun of buying glasses online as an exciting new online business that everyone who has internet access should know about. I already use the internet to purchase tons of everyday essentials and products without second though. However, I never really thought buying prescription eyeglasses online (I know about contacts) was feasible. So I do appreciate the heads up and the writer's review of his ACTUAL experience with the process and different sites.

No optometrist or optician in the country is charging you an elevated fee for eyeglasses. When you purchase a blouse from Macy's and it cost you $50...more than likely, it costs Macy's $25. The cost of doing business. Believe it our not, eyeglass pricing is no different. The price to you is reflective of the cost they must pay. Any business, optometrist, opticians, McDonalds or Macy's must have a reasonable profit to continue to be in business, otherwise you would not have a place to purchase a blouse or a Big Mac.

Secondly, you get what you pay for. You can purchase a pair of eyeglasses from a local optometrist for $99 or less and you get what you pay for. The quaility is not the same. If you want a pair of eyeglasses with all the bells and whistles (which in most cases is beneficial to you) that is your option and you will pay more. You can either purchase a Ford Fiesta or a Mercedes - your choice but you get what you pay for. It is a preference. But no need to assume or accuse optometrists of gauging customers just because you can purchase eyewear cheaper elsewhere.