Two Thumbs up for Zenni Optical

[Lucille]

I ordered two pairs of glasses. My order took 5 weeks to arrive.

Pair #1 is a titanium rimmed, oval frame. My prescription calls for
progressive lenses, and I ordered photochromic lenses. I have a
strong nearsightedness correction (-7.00). I had to order mid-index
lenses because Zenni doesn't do progressives with high index. I was
worried that the lenses would be too coke-bottleish, but they're
fine. The lenses are about 1mm thicker at the outside edge than a
similar pair I have that's high index. The frames I ordered have a
small, narrow lens so that helped. The lenses have also had their
edges polished nicely and they fit the frame perfectly. The
prescription seems to be accurate, the AR coating looks good, and they
darken up in sunlight and lighten up indoors just like they're
supposed to. All this for $100...compared to over $600 for my last
pair of glasses that I bought from a local optician (and they're
falling apart after 3 years of gentle handling).

Pair #2 is a plastic frame. I ordered single vision lenses with a
dark 80% tint for prescription sunglasses. These are very nice,
also. They cost $15.

I've heard some people comment on poor quality with Zenni optical, but
both of these glasses look fine. They're actually more flattering
than my other glasses that I've paid top dollar for.

I'm thrilled with this. I wear glasses all the time, and now, instead
of paying a small fortune for them, I'll be able to order new glasses
whenever I want. I'll be able to have a wardrobe of eyeglasses.

I have to admit I've felt a bit guilty about this. I feel like I'm
contributing to the outsourcing of American jobs by buying my glasses
direct from a Chinese company (I believe that Zenni is making the
glasses in China). But I guess the local opticians that I've been
going to my whole life haven't felt any guilt about overcharging me
for my eyeglasses. If I'd just be saving a little money by ordering
online vs. buying locally, I'd buy locally. But the savings here is
just too huge to pass up.

[Paul]

And it's not as if those $600 glasses were necessarily handmade in the
USA by skilled artisans who were paid well. A lot of the expensive
boutique-y glasses sold in American stores are made at least partly in
China anyway.

[Fred Di]

Yes the lenses and frames are probably made in China.
The guy who spent 15 minutes assembling your glasses was probably paid
less than $5 for that time. Similarly for the clerk who waited on
you. The remaining $490 went into the pocket of a greedy optician.

There are very few consumer items sold in America that have the
ridiculous markup that eyeglasses do.

If you bought a Computer for $600 from Dell in the US, then went to
the street market in Bejing, or Hong Kong, or Tokyo, you could
probably find on equivalent one for less, maybe $400 or $500, but not
for $100. 10 or 20 or 30% markup is reasonable. But the markups
optical shops charge should be criminal.

This industry has be wrought with fraud and abuse for 100 years.
Congress felt compelled to pass a law.... 50 years ago... requiring
eye Dr's to hand you a copy of your prescription. Prior to that they
would keep it secret and insist that you but glasses from them. 60
minutes did an exposee on the inflated cost of eyeglasses 20 years
ago, Since then the costs of lenses and frames has fallen
dramatically with efficient production in China. But instead of
passing that cost savings along, optical shops raised prices, laughing
all the way to the bank as an uneducated public paid and paid.

Just last week, the local TV station has a reporter who helps people
save money on various items. I heard a teaser about a story were he
bragged that you don't have to pay $200 for a pair of glasses, you can
get them for $40. I emailed him telling about $8 glasses from Zenni,
no response. The $40 shop advertised heavily on that TV station.

The same thing with Consumer reports, they did a story a while back
about various optical shops with prices over $100.. I emailed them
about Zenni and other on line sources, no response.

[Lucille]

Yeah, I know. The frames say made in China right on them. But I
guess somebody in the USA does the lenses. That's the person I feel
bad about. The dispensing optician probably has a huge markup---him
I'm not worried about.

Oh, and it was $660. I found the receipt in a drawer today.

[Chuck Knight]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-GJQGOJw-4

This is an automated lens edging machine. You load a pre-manufactured
circular blank into the machine, and it automatically cuts the lens to
the proper shape and size.

The circular blanks are mass produced, in China.

The only person who "does the lenses" in the US, is the kid in the
back room who loads the machine. As you see it's an automated
process...little skill required.

There have been numerous mentions on this list, of the kid who last
week worked at 7-11, and this week wears a lab coat. This is not far
from the truth, in many places.

-- Chuck Knight

[Lucille]

I guess that kid from the 7-11 must be the one who made my other pair
of old glasses. The lenses seem to be kind of sloppily ground and
they don't fit the frame properly. You can see daylight through a gap
of about 1 mm between the edge of the lens and the frame on both
lenses. And that pair cost me "only" $400 or so.

> > Oh, and it was $660.  I found the receipt in a drawer today.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Lucille]

OK, I don't feel guilty anymore.

I'm awfully glad I discovered online eyeglasses. I've been wearing
glasses since I was about 6 years old--I'm in my 50s now. These
greedy opticians have squeezed enough money out of me.

And the $100 pair I got from Zenni is actually about the nicest pair
of glasses I've ever had.

> > just too huge to pass up.- Hide quoted text -

[Patrick]

Thanks, Chuck.

Every pair of new eyeglasses frame has the filler lenses. Lab workers
need to put this "Filler lens" as the model in the lens edging
machine, and then put the real lens in the machine. The machine will
just work and "copy" the shape and size of the filler lens, then you
got the exact lens for fit into your frame. Of course the lab worker
need to make sure the right angle is placed to ensure the optical
center of the lens.

Different machine has different speed and accuracy. Essilor edging
maching is very good alternative.

Normally, fitting one pair of eyeglasses, including the grinding and
fitting, takes from 10-20 minites at most. If using Essilor machine,
it is 10 minutes only, with accuracy.

> > Oh, and it was $660.  I found the receipt in a drawer today.- Hide quoted text -

[Chalo]

Lucille wrote:
>
> I ordered two pairs of glasses.  My order took 5 weeks to arrive.

> [...]

> I've heard some people comment on poor quality with Zenni optical, but
> both of these glasses look fine.   They're actually more flattering
> than my other glasses that I've paid top dollar for.

I got my latest glasses from Zenni just yesterday. I was so happy
with the cheap sunglasses from my last order that I ordered another
pair with no tint. $8 for the glasses, plus $9 for the strong
prescription surcharge, plus $5 for shipping, equals $22 total.

They are great glasses and the frames seem to be the equal of any
other plastic frames I have owned. I got regular index lens material
which resulted in slightly better optical quality than my latest high-
index lenses. The mostly clear plastic frames (with black front
surface) do a good job of minimizing the lenses' apparent thickness.

I am happy to buy made-in-China glasses at appropriate prices after
paying a skilled local optometrist or ophthalmologist for his expert
service. If my previous fantastically expensive glasses had done
better at meeting my expectations, I might never have discovered
discount prescription glasses online.

Chalo

[Chuck Knight]

Re: Poor quality from Zenni

Some of Zenni's frames are exceptionally nice, and some are less so.
This is true for any brand and any retailer. Strangely, at Zenni, the
quality and price seem to have no direct correlation.

Zenni is renowned for two things -- exceptional price, and exceptional
optical quality. They're known to get your prescription not just
within tolerances, but absolutely dead smack perfect, and countless
on-list reviews have proven this. They have the occasional mistake,
but what company doesn't?

Re: Buying from China

While I would prefer to buy from a local retailer, the difference in
cost is impossible to ignore. Given equal quality, I can't justify
paying 20 times more. Well, 19 times, actually...I did the math.

Forget about nice, or attractive. Had I been able to find *any* pair
locally for around $100, I would never have tried the online option.
Local places are pricing themselves out of the market, and they don't
seem to realize it, or even care!

-- Chuck Knight

[Patrick]

I guess that the eyeglasses will be the one of the pruducts that will
be outsourced from China and India very soon. I can also predict that
our local optical industry will be forced to face a painful re-
structuring: either the local stores can go online at the similar
prices as Zenni is selling, or the local stores will be driven out the
game. This is the law of economics. No one will be loving to pay 10-20
times more than the online stores for a pair of eyeglasses, while only
worth 3-5 dollars of manufacturing cost only.

Just like almost all the toll free numbers are being answered by
Indian young people trained with American accent in Dehli or
Bangalore, eyeglasses will be outsourced for sure.

Walmart everyday takes about 20,000 pairs of eyeglasses orders from
its customers throughout North America, which has a share of 10% of
the country's total purchase of prescription eyeglasses. Guess what is
the share of Zenni now? About 1.25% to 1.5%. This is an exciting
number.

Accoording to the statistics of the past years, the annual purchase of
prescription eyeglasses is about 76 million pairs. I can predict that
with the development of online sales, it will become common for one
people to have 2 pairs, some may even have 10-20 pairs, so the annual
national consumption of prescription eyeglasses will reach 150 million
pairs in the coming 2-3 years.

By then, eyeglasses will really be consumed at the same manner as
other fashion items, and people will really create their eyewear
wardrobe in the coming years.

Let us wait and see!

> > Chalo- Hide quoted text -