Most of the eyeglasses-related email I get has a lot to do with the economy. It seems to have ramped up a bit over the past few months. Just this week I got three emails with socio-economic themes.

One of the emails I got was from an electrician struggling mightily to keep his going. He did a little math and reinvested the savings into big oil the business.

"I usually spend almost $600 on my bifocals. I just spent $89. I have a fleet of six Econoline vans to fill every day or two. Your site just saved me a day or two of fuel expense with enough left over for lunch and dinner. Did I mention, that the glasses are perfect?"

Another came from a single mother -- and I get these a lot. Her daughter broke her glasses (again) and even with the "deals" she thought she was getting at her optometrist, she was going to have to add to her debt to get it taken care of before school started.

"My cube-mate showed me your site and said, 'one of these place might have kids glasses.' I was blown away!!! ...I able to get her glasses replaced for $40! Budgeting for the next time they break or get lost won't be such a huge problem."

The last one came from a friend who recently lost his job. He went fishing with his dad a few weeks ago and lost his prescription sunglasses over the side of the boat. He was planning on doing without -- having far too much self-respect to go for the traditional old-guy clip-on flip-up.

"And then I remembered your site! ...skipped the polarization on these, but $24? Even I can afford that! They turned out great. Thank you, Thank you!"

I've heard grumblings about how this effects our economy negatively. All of this "buying eyeglasses from China" business. Here's my take. Yes, many of the frames are made in China. How does that differ from most of the frames you buy in the store? Not in any meaningful way -- except you're not going to get a big (I'd argue horrendous) "DG" emblazoned on the temple.

Additionally, what is often forgotten in the equation is what happens to the money saved by not overspending by a factor of ten. It's not flushed down a toilet. It goes into our lives in such meaningful ways. Perhaps two or three trips to the grocery store for a family of 5 (I've got three kids) -- keeping the money local rather than in the pocket of some Italian billionaire.