I love it when I get a visit from the beast. To be honest, I rarely check my daily visitor logs (who has time?), but when I do, one of my favorite views is the "recent visitor map". It never fails to motivate me to continue when I see visitors from all over the planet.

There are a few places that I look specifically, though; the LensCrafters HQ in Ohio and the Mothership di'supremo in Milan, Italy. I got a visit from Cincinnati, this afternoon.

I was reaching for a pair of socks in the ol' socks and underwear drawer a while back and felt a strange lump under a pile of some of the more rarely worn articles in the back corner. I pulled out the 39DollarGlasses micro-fiber pouch and found the origin for the GlassyEyes site.

I've never masked my disdain for Luxottica and what they've done to the optical industry here (in the States) and increasingly around the world. I've been kicking this idea around for quite awhile. 

See it as an attempt to inform those looking for the same coupons I was looking for in late 2006 when this online-eyeglasses world unfolded to me. Eighty dollars off or even half-price at LensCrafters is still an outrageous fee to pay for glasses no better than the twenty pair scattered around my home and car.

Take a look and share (or blog) the link. People need to know what they are dealing with when they walk through those sliding glass doors at the mall.


Thanks!

Related Posts and Links:

• Luxottica Suxotticas


• Why I Do It


• SUXOTTICA

I lived for years with one pair of eyeglasses at a time. This is the model that I'd argue over 90% of eyeglasses-wearing Americans live by. First of all, eyeglasses are traditionally expensive, and secondly, they're really, really expensive. Who buys two pairs? Rich people, unlike me.

This online eyeglasses thing is a huge deal for us "common people", but there is a catch. Even with fast shipping, it's going to take a week (maybe two). Why wait when you don't need to? You can get a spare pair now starting at less than $8 (from EyeBuyDirect), but even at a multiple of that low, low price, you really ought to prepare for that "uh-oh" moment on which the jerks at LensCrafters have based their profiteering for years.

The high cost of eyeglasses has been a brilliant marketing move for them. Make eyeglasses so expensive that people won't have a backup and when those break, they'll be desperate for their "next fix", and we'll be the only ones here to serve them.

Thank goodness we're free of them.

Take stock in your eyeglasses stock. You can deck yourself out in a couple of pairs, and a sunglasses for each car and still have money left over for that iPhone you've had your eye on -- or maybe fill a cart at the grocery store, and be able to see what you're putting in it?

I've gotten a lot of email and posts from people under the impression that I'm somehow anti-optometrist, or that I'm against the practice of getting your eyes examined. This certainly isn't the case.

What I am advocating is, separate the optometry from the retail side of things. There is no reason that the person checking my eyes should see any financial benefit from my prescription (and no I don't buy that "independent optometrist" housed inside the LensCrafters is truly independent). I go to an ophthalmologist who isn't (in any visible way at least) affiliated with an optical store -- and I have to wait weeks to get an appointment. That's the way it should be (except maybe the "weeks" part).

Do you want your police officers to own jails? Do you want your presidents (and vice presidents) to own stock in oil companies and defense contractors?

If you need quick eyeglasses, you're screwed. My suggestion? Keep your eyes in check, keep a valid prescription handy, and buy a cheap "reserve pair" from one of the decent on-line places. You'll be glad to have them when you feel your current pair snap under the weight of your ample rear end.