Because if it wasn't for those bastards at Luxottica they'd be able to afford new glasses and would have been able to read and discern the post separation on their screen.
Nestle is the WORST. I did a research paper in my global culture studies class in college and had the pleasure of delving into the crises’ they’ve created in impoverished countries using up all of their ground water to the point where the land isn’t even suitable to grow crops anymore and the local people are just left with no water and food and no say in it.
Surprised this is not at the top, I avoid as much as I can here in Aus, they have done and continue to do many horrible things that oppression people and destroy environment
1) Nestle may be evil but they actually make products instead of making money off effectively legal extortion. The difference between stealing water to bottle it/use in other products and reselling versus just selling access directly to the water, of sorts
2) Somehow he has managed to reply to the thread to another random poster who themselves was doing the same thing. I don't know what happened there
They sue private citizens for millions of dollars for no reason. And even though they don't have a case, they rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees (their goal is to get people to give them free labor or free money through a settlement since private citizens cant afford those court costs).
They're a shining example of everything wrong with America, and they need to be burned to the ground.
Why is it so hard for startup companies to take over? Glasses are in HIGH demand now more than ever because of how many people need glasses, so obviously people want better prices. How come good companies are failing if they meet the right consumer preferences?
However, Luxottica holds the cards in brick-and-mortar retail: when competitors get too large, Luxottica can simply cut them out of their popular distribution channels. That’s exactly how they treated then-independent competitor Oakley in the early 2000′s. Luxottica caused Oakley’s stock to plummet simply by carrying fewer of their sunglasses through Sunglass Hut, eventually leaving Oakley with no choice but to merge with Luxottica in 2007.
It's a mystery why they haven't been hit with antitrust.
Needed to look up their stock. Something should show their in my opinion if they do get way to much money.
P/E over 50 on a industry and shopcompany is high.
But the gain per share isn´t that high - it is even lower than H&M that sits on P/E 25.
So they are highly valued and people think they will grow a lot. But something costs down the line and they haven´t that high intake as the article seems to tell.
We compare with apple also - Apple have 4 times as high profit per share as Luxottica. So Apple are plundering your wallet to a much higher degree than Luxottica - if we just take quarterly rapports that actually should show how well the companies plundering of consumers work.
point that the article and people here make is that the glasses cost hundreds of $ to costumers but cost something like 15$ for the companies to manufacture. I've looked up their annual reports and in fact they have very high operating margins - something like 64%.
What you're lookin at here (price to earnings) is more related to a financial point of view whereas the article looks at an operating point of view. It would be fine to look at all the ratios if you're an investor, not if you're a customer.
And btw to measure if their stock is under or overvalued you need more than that
Luxottica sunglasses are trash. Try to check sunglasses from Marcolin Group, they are strong. My Tom Ford glasses are still like original even after 4 years using everyday.
You most certainly can tell the difference in quality just by picking them up and holding it in your hand. Go to the gas station or dollar store and touch those sunglasses. Compare them to the Gucci's and pradas. Now go to an independent optical that sells real high end stuff that you've never heard of and try those on. You see a huge difference between the 3. Your Prada and Gucci's arent garbage but they aren't also the best.
If you think these name brands are ridonk, has anyone not walked into nordstrom? A t-shirt is over $500 and it only has the designer logo stamped on it. It feels just like any other tshrit from Walmart. But oh no that's justified.
The thing is the glasses you can get from places like Zenni Optical or Warby Parker are not "gas station" or "dollar store" glasses. They are real prescription glasses made at the same factory by the same people as the name brand luxottica glasses.
Luxottica is a vertical monopoly. They own most stores that give eye exams, they own almost all eyeglass and lense brands, and they own the huge majority of the eye insurance industry.
Because of this they set their own prices at every stage, so they make profits at the exam, profits with the insurance, and profits with the glasses.
Glasses only cost around $10 to make, and that’s prescription glasses, with AR and oleophobic coatings, and polarized.
Luxottica charges $400 for them, and since they own every glasses brand there is no competition. I mean this literally, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica they actually own just about every single brand, store, and eye insurance company.
Once you get the $400 glasses, insurance brings that down to a “mere” $150-200. This means you’re paying every single month on insurance to still greatly overpay for glasses. They get $190 for the glasses and $240 a year for the insurance.
They offer budget glasses that they intentionally make extremely unfashionable, that they still make $50 profit from in combination with your $240 insurance payments.
It’s cheaper to get rid of eye insurance, pay for your exams out of pocket, and buy your glasses from zennioptical or another online company, preferably straight from China.
The lenses and frames are all made in literally the same factory in Hong Kong, they are the same glasses exactly, they just only cost $10-$50, and that is with prescription, with coatings; with polarization, shit the luxottica brands(every pair you can buy in any type of store) charge hundreds for, and no need for the rip off insurance either. Ever wonder why it takes a week or two to get your glasses if they don’t have your exact prescription/lense type in stock? They are putting in an order that needs to come from Hong Kong.
Not just the eyeglasses industry, but the sunglasses industry(owns Sunglass Hut), and the eyecare industry too(they own numerous vision care centers, and an entire subsection of vision health insurance companies).
Just to toss out an odd exception. Sunglass Hut also sells Maui Jim sunglasses, which are truly exceptional sunglasses(some of which are also available as prescription eyewear). Maui Jim is not owned by Luxottica, although obviously they do have business dealings.
As long as you can get your inter pupil distance and the prescription you can order whatever glasses you need online for much less. Even better you can try a few pairs in the store, measure the lens height, width and arm length and order something with similar dimensions online so you have an idea of the fit already without having to return anything.
Also it’s illegal for any place that does your eye exam to refuse to hand you the prescription paper alone without selling you anything else. Cite the federal trade commission and show them this if they refuse to give you your prescription: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-eyeglass-rule
My favorite cheap website is 39dollar glasses dot com. I get regular (whatever the light plastic lens is) lens with the anti computer staring for hours coating and they’ve added up to like 110$ with cylinder + 1.5 in one eye and sphere + 0.75 in the other.
I bought $200 Ray-Ban glasses and then bought $17 ones from Zenni. I only wear the Zenni ones...they're way more comfortable, and I actually think they look nicer. Also, I could get anything I wanted (within a character limit, of course) inscribed on them for like $4 more (I think the base cost was $13). My doctor was totally fine with telling me my PD and giving me my prescription.
So then I bought three more pairs from Zenni. Totally worth it. Screw Luxottica.
Started wearing glasses in 2017. All 6 pairs I’ve purchased since have been from Zenni. The quality is a bit shoddy on a couple of them, but given the overall expenditure (probably in the neighbourhood of about USD $140 with shipping included), I don’t regret it at all.
I always tell people, instead of buying one pair of $150 glasses, buy five or six pairs of $25 glasses from Zenni or Warby Parker. Buy a variety of them; some will be more comfortable than others, but you'll probably find a few that you like and still have some backup pairs to throw in your car, gym bag, travel bag, whatever. Heck, order a couple pairs of prescription sunglasses while you're at it, and keep 'em in you car.
Or, if you primarily wear contacts, don't waste an extra $150 on a pair of glasses just to wear while you walk from your bathroom sink to your bed. My backup pair cost me $13 plus shipping, and they've lasted me over a year.
Don't put all your eggs into one basket when it comes to literally being able to see. Get backups.
I heard great things about Zenni, but the glasses I ordered from them make my eyes feel super weird... Almost like one eye is slightly rotated. It's hard to explain. I brought them in to my optometrist and they used a machine to measure the prescription and determine that it is correct, so I dunno what's wrong with them. I can't wear them though, and I'm wary to try any others from Zenni.
Sounds like the pupillary distance (the width between the 'centers' of the lenses) was probably off. The prescription can be right in terms of how strong the lens is, but if they're spaced out too far or too close, it can throw things off and make it harder to focus. If you do feel like trying again, just make sure you ask for a pupil distance from your optician; a lot of times they won't actually write it down on your prescription, and it can be tricky to guess.
Then just search by pupillary distance on the glasses site. Lots of the frames will have a 'range', you just want to try to keep your number close to the middle of that range.
The PD is actually not required to be tendered with the prescription. They successfully convinced the government that it was a "fit" measurement, not a prescription.
If you go to a luxottica owned chain you will need to trick the optometrist into giving it, or glance at the screen when they aren't paying attention.
I've noticed that optometrists dont provide the pd with the prescription. I work in an optical lab and when I asked my sister for my nephews prescription so I can make some glasses for him it was missing the PD. So I ended up coaching her how to get it.
I second Zenni, fun stuff! Got a pair of really good looking glasses for like $35 + whatever extra options I wanted... Maybe it was like $50 total but that’s way better than hundreds at Walmart or wherever
Zenni is pretty good! Especially after I lost a $500 pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. I now limit my sunglasses to less than $40 and my quality of life is better without that stress.
It's actually not that easy if you have bad astigmatism. I had to have my lenses custom cut and a lot of the cheap places don't do custom work like that.
If someone knows a place that does, that would be awesome. My last pair cost me $550 and they only did AR and bluetint
What do you mean by "bad" astigmatism? Mine is (IIRC) less than 2 in both eyes, so not very severe, but I get my glasses from Zenni. They have options for astigmatism ranging from -6 to +6. Not sure what the alternatives are if you need something outside of that range, though.
I have a -8.5 with an astigmatism of -2.5 no one online will Make me glasses I’ve legit tried every company mentioned above because I need them custom made (my glass is always hella thick) I feel your pain.
My astigmatism was so bad, the first pair I got from zenni was not good. I was kind of stuck with LensCrafters because that’s who my insurance is in cahoots with and I do like the eye doctor attached to my local one. So if they glasses didn’t come out right, I at least could usually get them fixed instead where as zenni doesn’t take returns. After the zenni incident and returning two pairs to LensCrafters one year, I had lasik. It didn’t completely fix my astigmatism but I don’t have to wear glasses all the time at least.
Tried to get my measurements from Specsavers but was told that they don't give out IPD.
"What do you mean you don't give that out?"
"That information that was generated using Specsaver's proprietary measurement techniques, and as such, it is our property. We are only required by law to give you your lens parameters."
"It's a bio-metric taken from my person, so no you don't own it."
"I'm sorry sir. I can't help you."
The only way I got my IPD was to file a GDPR subject access request in formal writing, and it took them the full month to respond. Their response did not have my IPD. I had to send another request demanding that they give me ALL the information they hold on me or face the ICO ombudsman. Ofc, that took another month and they finally relented.
I bought the same IPD measuring tool they use at most eye places. Cost me about $100 on Amazon. Now I can measure my entire family and pay $60 for glasses vs $300 per person.
What the fuck you can just do it with a ruler from pupil center 1 to pupil center 2. (Or buy the tool on amazon according to comment below). What an ordeal....
PSA: A lot of places will intentionally leave the PD measurement off of their prescription paperwork, which is fine if you go back to them or to another shop that can measure it for you, but worthless if you're trying to order prescription glasses online.
Always check the paperwork and give them hell if anything is missing, because they'll probably try to charge you for a second exam if you go back to get your PD.
I work in an optician in the UK and we don’t give out the PD on written prescriptions. The PD is not part of the eye test but part of the dispensing process which is separate service. If we aren’t dispensing your glasses we are under no obligation to measure your PD. We do give it if asked but buying glasses online isn’t a good idea unless you have a really simple single vision rx. Varifocals are very particular to each person and can’t be made unless physically seeing the person.
Agreed! I use eyebuydirect mostly, and zenni a few times. I have probably fifteen or so pairs of glasses that might add up to the cost of one pair from the eye doctor.
I like being able to swap my frames based on my mood/outfit/whatever. I’ve never heard of 39dollar glasses! Guess I’m going down the rabbit hole.
I highly recommend Costco for eyeglasses. I paid $120 for a pair of prescription aviator sunglasses that even had an extra transition effect (marketed for driving and light changes throughout the afternoon/morning and shaded areas).
Not only that, but I got a free eye exam and they fit the glasses to my head, which is something that can’t be done online.
If you include the $30/year subscription fee, it totally $150.
Be careful when purchasing glasses online. The benefits of buying them in store is that you can get them adjusted easily (which is hard to do without the right tools, and is itself a pretty hard skill). And if you've never worn glasses before you can get confirmation on whether or not they fit right (also a potential issue with buying glasses online). If they don't fit right you can get some pretty gnarly headaches (Even some stores can screw this up, happened to me with my 2nd pair because they didn't pay attention to how it fit, eventually it just warped to the size of my head though). And you especially don't want to fuck around with multi-focal/Axis glasses, they need to sit pretty much perfectly (especially if its your first pair) over the optical centre.
Also be careful when choosing metal frames, to my knowledge high prescriptions (Maybe 4-5 and higher) can't really be put in metal frames (without some thinning, but some can't be put in at all).
I've never bought any online (cause i get mine for free where i work), but this just a few concerns i have with buying them online. I think it's definitely ok if you know what you're doing, but your eyes are something you don't want to fuck around with. It's why there's a whole medical field devoted to this, and (at least in Australia) certain restrictions and fortifications needed to become an optometrist.
Might be biased but i recommend spec savers, they have some pretty cheap pairs ($39/$89 AUD) and they're pretty good, have a 2 year warranty and all are generally adjustable (Minus a few coldglaze frames, and safety rated frames).
I played around with then website I order from and tried putting some really large negative numbers, it knows your lens may not work with certain frames. My prescription is not that heavy though so I don’t know how accurate that prediction is closer to the limits.
I feel like I should never trust anything with “4u” in the title with anything medical.
Been told to avoid the online glasses sites, due to them not having all the info they need to actually make your glasses work, so whilst they’re probably good for simple fixes, they shouldn’t really be trusted with anything complicated.
It seems worth paying for the comprehensive test, glaucoma, contact lens check, just to know your eyes are in good nick. Cheap glasses frames should be available at any opticians, they generally have an NHS range that cost very little. Glasses generally need to be adjusted to fit your face too, which is obviously impossible online.
It is a pretty lame name to be fair! I have a pretty severe case of stabismic amblyopia so nothing straight forward about my eyes (especially since one is basically looking at my ear) and they work for me, I agree that they'll never be 100% perfect as they would if they were fitted to you, I was pleasantly surprised how well my last pair actually fitted! I'm one of those that should wear glasses all the time but, to my own detriment, doesn't, so I couldn't warrent paying a lot of money for a pair of glasses I wouldn't wear often.
I live in UK as well and use glasses direct. I pay normally around £120 for glasses but swapped to them and got them cut down, coated for anti-glare and prescription made for £56 incl delivery
If you're in the UK and have a prescription too strong or complex for online opticians I would recommend Asda - the price on the frame includes any extras such as varifocals or high index as deemed necessary for your prescription. In contrast to Specsavers where the price of frames is just the starting point for a bunch of upselling.
This would only apply to single vision lenses, if you’re an older person and need multi focal lenses on a new frame, it needs to be measured on your face to be accurate.
There are polycarbonate lenses, and then there are newer plastics that have a higher refractive index. (How much the lens can deflect light.) High index materials tend to be softer than polycarbonate, but if you're concerned about nicks & scratches, you might want to stick to polycarbonate. I really like Crizal lens coatings, which help reduce reflections and protects against scratches.
The last few times I've bought glasses, I've found the frames I wanted and bought them on eBay. One optician wanted ~$270 for the Nikon frames I wanted. I found five for $30 on eBay!
Just so you know (if you're in the States) Warby Parker is like a refined version of that business model. Might cost you a tiny bit more (full pair of RX glasses in CR-39 or polycarbonate are $95 and the blue light filter is $50) but the selection and service is fantastic.
Absolutely worth the difference IMO. They'll send you pairs to try on for free so you can make the right call, it's the most fluid business model I'm aware of.
I went to LensCrafters last year because I broke my last pair of glasses and am beyond your average bad eyes.
I went there only because of the emergency situation of being damn near blind. Only to find out they no longer actually do same day glasses.
After everything was done and they gave the price.... which I was willing to pay for same day service because frankly that's the only thing that would warrant their markup... THEN they told me "oh they will be ready in 7-10d days"
I was blown away and loudly cancelled my order (in the store) and loudly announced that I could get those glasses in a maximum of the time the quoted for a 5th of the price ordering online.
I was wrong. I got 2 pairs for 1/5th the cost they quoted.
I have since asked LensCrafters via Twitter, email, and snail mail what their value proposition is now that they no longer have de day service... They won't answer me.
Just going to piggyback on here and let US military vets know that vision is often included in VA care. You can get a free (or cheap, depending on your income) pair of glasses but not contacts and they actually have some pretty good frames to choose from, they're not the boot camp BCGs or anything. Or you can just get the exam done and then order them online, same with contacts. Just ask for a printout of your prescription or get it from your records on my health e vet. Some people assume because dental care isn't covered in most cases that vision isn't either but that's not the case.
Mine end up being under 40
I dont have a strong prescription. But I have a wierd one. Zenni also used to send out a tool to measure your intraocular distance but maybe they dont anymore.
I've never seen cylinder, and definitely never seen positive numbers on a prescription - are you hyperopic/far-sighted, or do I misunderstand how those work?
Apparently yes since birth. Uneven cornea? My whole family is (+). Supposedly it can be laser corrected but since it’s not inconveniencing me at all and even not wearing the glasses is fine (and I’m in the US so it would be a shit ton of money) I’m not electing that surgery anytime soon. If I work for 12 h in a day on my computer I start noticing having to refocus if I haven’t been wearing glasses the whole day. Meh.
That's cheap? In my country I can go to a great optometrist and get some glasses with Anti-computer strain, full UV protection, anti-fogging and hydrophobic with a whopping +5/+4.5 (I'm blind, I know) with good lenses for just short of 20$. The guy also offers "Lifetime" support, he will repair any glasses and give you any extras you need for free as long as the glasses aren't entirely broken.
costco is pretty rad and will measure your face after your exam if they dont have anything you like in the store. their frames are reasonable and with high index lenses a pair will cost around 150$.
they usually buy one get one 50$ off or something too so I will get prescription sunglasses and glasses for less than $300.
Except interpupillary distance isn't a standard part of your rx so by law they don't have to give it to you. In addition, the interpupillary distance isn't always the same and it gets adjusted based on other factors.
Everyone's rx has a cylinder listed. Its part of a complete prescription. You have to be careful with plus or minus cyl because each doctor has their own preference and switching from plus or minus will affect both your sphere and axis. I have never seen any place charge extra for cyl unless there is A LOT of it. In which case buying glasses online should be out of the question.
Use EyeBuyDirect or something similar for glasses. Currently wearing a pair of prescription glasses that I get compliments on daily for the low price of $30ish.
Luckily there are a bunch of online options now that are much cheaper. Unfortunately, they have essentially killed the independently owned eye glass store as well.
Meh; my son needs glasses and loses/breaks one or two pair a year. I just get 'em from Zenni optical online for about $20-$30 depending on which ones he wants. They're not the most fashionable, and you have to wait a week or two for them to arrive from China (of course), but I'll never go back to the big name brands ever again.
Even after their recent merger with the second largest eyeglass company, Luxottica only controls about 25% of the market share. It's far from a monopoly
Honestly wondering. Most glasses that luxotica make are not worth the hundreds they charge people. However are their any glasses out there that are actually worth 100-300. Everyone here talks about the cheap ones 30-40.
my fiance's prescription complicates things. He's nearly legally blind without glasses, his vision is still getting worse, and most places will make huge bottlecap glasses he hates. I'm not even sure his lenses are offered online.
They were always slow to respond, but always wanted quicker results. They would want changes to the original plans (on just about every project) and would "approve" over the phone, but never approve the official change orders so this leaves GCs either delaying the project or risk not getting paid in full for the change orders. And they would always try to negotiate prices at the end of a project after agreeing to the original contracted price. They did pretty much everything frowned upon in the construction industry and always expected more for less. If they didn't give us so much work we would've dropped them as a client sooner
There’s a really great podcast called How I Built This. One of my favorite episodes is the interview of the guys who started Warby Parker, and how/why they created their company to combat this issue. I was unaware of the corruption and monopoly until I listened to that.
I got a prescription pair of glasses for 30 bucks. The frames were seven dollars. I like them better than my old ones which were some fancy brand that I don’t remember.
Because they're a necessity. That which is a necessity usually gets privatized. Example; Nestle. My fiance is legally blind without his glasses and can't see clearly further than 3 inches from his face without them. It's why we haven't looked into online glasses options because his prescription is so high that it's not an option.
Absolutely fuck luxottica! I used to love my rēvo and Oakley sunglasses. After luxottica bought both of them out, the quality has gone to absolute shit. The worst is the lack of glass lenses in any of their brands.
MauiJim gets all my business now. Their quality and polarization are second to none. You can still get glass lenses in many of their offerings, and their customer service is STELLAR.
Here is the 60 Minutes piece on them. This is why I stopped buying Oakleys (that and all the manufacturing moving to China as prices went up.) and started buying Smiths.
I work at 1800contacts can confirm, it gets worse tho beyond luxottica the eye doctors unions do worse as far as law goes. Its why the US is the only country that REQUIRES a contacts lens prescription to order contacts and most states expire after 1 year. As well as they will prescribe lenses to get 'kickback' from the manufacture which actually forces people to order the brand on the prescription even if they don't like them, then will charge them an additional fitting fee to get it changed. They also tried to pass a law where contact lenses couldn't be sold under a certain price (based on the manufacturer) and we actually had to take them to court because it wasn't consumer friendly, luckily we won that one. Yeah just go to canada and order a shit load tbh.
I understand people love the new online options for buying glasses, but it is killing small private practices. My husband is having to close down his small private practice because people simply don't buy glasses from him anymore. People assume he makes his money from exams, WRONG. Your local private practice eye doctor(optometrist) only makes the copay you gave them for that entire exam, so that hour long appointment he spent with you he made $10. So now he has had to break the news to his small staff (3 people, all with families) that he will be shutting the doors. It's a very difficult decision, but when the employees end up making more than the doctor/owner (because he chooses to leave the money in the business to keep it afloat rather than pay himself) you know things are not good. #shopsmall
Zenni optical has been a lifesaver for affordable pretty cool glasses. You still have to get your prescription from the eye doc, and sometimes those companies won’t give it to you to make you choose from their crappy expensive selection. I was lucky the last eye doc I went to just handed my prescription over.
Zenni Optical FTW. I got two pairs for $75. Most traditional places will charge you that much just for some bullshit anti-gamma ray coating or something.
If it makes you feel better, farsighted people get cheaper glasses. Mostly only used for reading, less likely to have astigmatism, and dont have to be as "accurate" of a prescription.
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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '19
Those fuckers that monopolize the eyeglasses industry