Cheap prescription glasses
Ira Mitchell of Eagan has nothing against eye doctors. It's the markups on frames and lenses that make him rant about the high cost of eyeglasses on his blog, which he began last November. "Eyeglass stores are for suckers," he wrote.Indeed, the markup on glasses can easily exceed 500 percent, according to EyeglassDirect.com. In his photo at Glassyeyes.com, Mitchell has the look of someone who is not going to pay a 500 percent markup anymore. So when he broke his frames and found that a pair of frames and lenses at LensCrafters would run $400, he did what few people had done before -- he shopped for eyeglasses on the Internet. Judging from the 250,000 sets of eyeballs that have viewed his site, he's not alone.
Since discovering Glassyeyes, I've ordered prescription eyeglasses from two different online retailers, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. You need to have a current prescription handy, which means you need to get an eye exam. The optometrist probably won't want to give you the prescription, because he/she will want you to buy glasses from him/her instead of going to a cheaper place. Insist on getting a copy -- say your insurer or employer requires it.
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When I ordered a pair of glasses from Optical4less.com on July 23rd, I didn't know the company was based in Hong Kong. It wouldn't have made any difference. I paid a total of $70, including shipping for two pairs of prescription glasses (regular and sunglasses) in my favorite Clark Kent style. The box arrived, loving wrapped in brown paper with beautiful bird stamps on it.
The return address is A. Poon, Shop 137, Chung Fu Shopping Center, Tin Shui Wai, N.T., Hong Kong. Thank you, Mr. Poon!
I like these sunglasses even more than the $200+ pairs I have been buying for years. Note the nifty day-glo cases they are stored in.
A perfect fit! I couldn't be more delighted with my purchase.
Optical4Less's plastic frames page is a good place to start looking. They charge $29 for single vision eyeglasses using these cool, chunky framed glasses. Link
Here in Tucson (AZ) a place called Lesco sells all single-vision eyeglasses for $29. Bifocals are $49. They have hundreds of designer frames (probably discontinued models) to choose from, and their customer service is cheerful and awesome. They adjust the frames to fit your face and work tirelessly to get the exact and proper fit. My friend just got some frames that originally cost hundreds of dollars for the $29 price. He was thrilled. It takes only 5 business days, and you can pay an extra $12 for expedited service if you are impatient. I think the hands-on service of personally fitting the glasses effectively shields this company from competition with online purveyors of glasses, at least here. They are wildly popular.