this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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Nah, glasses don't have to be expensive. I notice literally no difference between pairs I've had that were over $400 and pairs that were $50. It's just shaped glass... And whilst I mostly agree with you on headphones, there are a very small number of manufacturers out there who are doing some fantastic budget headphones. The earbuds I use now cost me $40 and shit all over any others I've had (and have lab verified frequency response curves to prove they are legit too). Should add, that even though they are budget, some of their products can easily cost over $1k, but then they are emulating headphones that cost over $5k...
Glasses are one I’d specifically advise against spending tons of money on. All of the different brands and designers are all owned and manufactured by the same two or three lens manufacturers for dirt cheap. I can guarantee that the $400 pair of glasses is using the exact same lenses and frame materials as the $40 pair, because they’re both made by the same companies on the same machines in the same factories using the same materials.
The only reason different designers and brands exist is to give customers the illusion of choice. The same way Nestlé owns an entire conglomerate of food companies that are on the shelves next to each other so you can “shop around”, the glasses brands you’re comparing in the store are all owned by the same company.
Glasses are only expensive because those lens manufacturers also own the major glasses retailers, and force smaller retailers to play by their rules if they want to be able to sell their glasses. The glasses only cost ~$10 to manufacture and ship, regardless of the style. The rest is pure markup.
Buy those fuckers online for like $50 a pop. Hell, if you want to spend $400, just buy like six different pairs. Now you can style them for your particular needs. Maybe you have a daily beater pair, then a more classy pair for going out, a sports pair for working out, etc… And they’re all made using the exact same machines that the $400 glasses were made on.
Google Luxottica (which is one of the main lens manufacturers) just for a glimpse of how wide their ownership goes. All of the big optics companies have focused on vertical integration. So they own the companies that produce the lenses, the companies that produce the frames, the companies that market the frames, etc… And they only keep them separate to give the customer the illusion of choice. When you walk into a LensCrafters, it doesn’t matter which glasses you buy; All the money is going to the same parent company regardless.
The issue isn't frames, it's the lenses.
Er, the lenses are still stupid cheap. I literally paid $50 all told for both frames and lenses. And I just searched for online budget retailers here in Australia, went with the first result, and their single vision lenses (even with my current prescription which is a bit fucked cos my eyes are vastly different and one of them is so bad the lens may as well be the bottom of a coke bottle) start at $AUD9.95. Bifocal is a bit more expensive, but still quite reasonable with prices starting at $AUD42. Sure, they have fancy Kodak lenses for $AUD280, and getting coatings and UV coating costs more (I still say that $AUD80 for the ultra premium ones with added blue light filtering and all those bells and whistles is "cheap" compared to what I used to pay), but there is no reason you can't get a pair for under $AUD50 that'll do you just fine.
Ok. Your lenses are cheap. Others aren't because of their prescriptions and additional needs for the lenses.
Someone's lucky enough to only need single strength lenses and/or have choices of lens suppliers.
My previous pair was single strength, cost me $60.
The ones I recently got are different strength in each eye and a reading field since I'm both near sighted and 41.
The new ones cost me almost 10 times as much WITH a Black Week discount. These aren't designer glasses or anything. They're the cheapest rims that could accommodate big enough lenses from the cheapest optician using the ONLY lens supplier available in Europe.
It's a huge fucking scam and the only way to avoid being taken advantage of would have been continuing to have truly atrocious vision.
Nope. Both eyes are vastly different, and I've never shopped around for lenses, just buy what the optometrist recommends me. I am in Australia, so things may be different due to that. And I feel you on the limited frame selection thing, one of my lenses may as well be the bottom of a coke bottle, I too don't get much choice when I select a new pair.
Yeah, sounds like the lens situation is vastly different because Australia. I'm gonna look into seeing if I can't find a much cheaper supplier online for my next and/or reserve pair in spite of my pain in the ass ..
As for frame selection, that doesn't really bother me as much since the one I got costs basically nothing compared to the lenses and looks good on me.
I just mentioned it to point out that the glasses weren't so expensive because I'd foolishly gone for one of the name brand/designer frames 😁
Nah, no need to apologise for that, I was just trying to relate to you on that issue. It doesn't bother me either, I could not give a fuck how I look 95% of the time (special occasions like weddings etc are different. And I bet my mum wishes I gave more than half a shit about my appearance in public hahahaha). But I do like to have choices (even if my ADHD does mean it takes me FOREVER to actually make a decision), so it does annoy me somewhat.
As for the online supplier, if you're North American, theres an online store called glasses are awesome (that's not actually it's name, but if you say the wrong thing is the right thing on the internet, someone will invariably correct you. It's like Zillow or zenni or something? Starts with a z, that much I do know. Used to get mentioned on Reddit a lot), but they were super cheap when my mate ordered their spider jereusalem knock off glasses for a costume party. His prescription is a bit more normal than mine so he might have saved some money there, but even with shipping from the states to Australia, it was still absurdly cheap (I think it was less than $AUD40).
Edit: Googled it like a sane person, its www.zennioptical.com and I just clicked on the first pair I saw. All up, they wanna charge me $USD26 before delivery for the most basic options (most basic lenses, no coatings etc. the coatings costs were kinda reasonable though, started at $USD4 and went up to like $USD35), and that includes a $USD9 additional charge cos my prescription is so insane. Seems pretty good to me. Way cheaper than what you suggested yours cost (you didn't give an exact price, but I'm not an idiot so I can figure out the ballpark of "10x more than $60" hahahaha).
Welcome to my boat, my inattentive brother!*
Yeah, I was actually looking at Zenni Optical already. I've managed most of the prep, including setting up my virtual try-on and finding out how wide my glasses need to be (my overall head size including my fivehead is "gigantic" but apparently My face with is only "large" 😁) so now I just have super technical stuff to find out. So technical that I'd need to ask my optician.
How exactly am I gonna get someone who's evidently paid partly on commission to give me the data I need to buy somewhere else? 🤔
*by which I mean that we're in the same boat and I too have enormous trouble choosing things. Hell, I'm pretty sure I got the wrong prescription the last time because the uncertainty of my ADHD/anxiety combo made me so uncertain which image was clearer some of the time 😂
For me here in Australia, my yearly check up (although I only go every two years) is paid for by the govt. Back when I was at uni and super poor, I still went to my childhood optometrist cos I still lived at home, she lived within walking distance, and why not? And over the four years, she'd do my exam for free, then give me all the info I needed to be able to go to the super cheap optometrist to get them made there. This was back in 2003, way before we had all these budget options we have now. So, being able to get a pair for $180 as opposed to the $500 my childhood one wanted for hers was worth it. To be fair though, her range was pretty damn stylish compared to the other.
And I dunno if you're saying that in case you think you might be offending me, but even if you weren't, a phrase like that would indicate you're an ally anyway! Also, who can get offended by being called brother? Although, I am male, maybe that's giving me some bias... Anyway, my weirdness aside (it's friday night, I've had a couple of beers hahahaha), yeah, shit. It's fucked. I actually get a double length session when I go now (still for free!). Twas my first time seeing this optician and she asked me "do you have ADHD? Or maybe youre otherwise neurodivergant?" And I was all "yessasssss...?" So now we take longer and do more stuff. I've never really fucked up, but there's been some glasses I've had where I'm like "yeah, this is like 85% instead of the 100% the last pair were..."