elderly parents buying glasses for 500$+

Nahhh, they got ripped. It all depends on the power of their scripts. I have both glasses and RPG multi-focal contacts. Are their eyes that weak?? Even you are near blind (-10 or worse), require bi-focals and progressive lens dont cost that much at a private optometrist. You're looking at $300 at most with 1.74 density (any higher tends to be glass composition and majority optical places wont even entertain you). Reason being for very weak eyes they have to go to high density glass (1.78-1.80 or higher) to get the proper refraction angles. Problem is glass composition lenses tend to shred small fragments of glass when dropped and cracks. These shreds can get into your eyes and cause damage. Hence, they stick with the high density plastic material which do not shred. Now if they are getting ripped on designer frames (as part of the total price) that's another story with these overrated overpriced Luxxotica brands. I always thought seniors health care plans with the govt includes optical coverage. Anyone have knowledge about this??

Your parents' money - they decide. If they can afford them it is totally up to them. Personally, we buy our glasses from our optometrist (and my husband does see an ophthalmologist) and has a very strong prescription. Her prices are reasonable and she carries frames/lenses at every price point. She is excellent by the way - the best my husband has ever met.

No one can say they've been ripped off as we have no idea about the frames, that's where much of the money is spent.

Costco is pretty reasonable when it comes to price but again that depends on what frames they get.

Clearly is a good option as well, very good prices but unless you are in Vancouver or Toronto no physical stores to go into so might be a harder sell on them.

Clearly and the online retailers are only good if you have a very accurate PD reading and even then you get what you pay for.

In a store/optometrist office, frames can vary from $75 - $400+ depending on the brand. Lens cost also varies depending on the coatings. But the advantage is that you get to try them on, you have an accurate PD reading taken, and you have an optician available to check the fit and adjust the fit once they come in. Most also come with a warranty. That's worth it to me.

It's not unreasonable for a "good" pair of glasses to cost $500. I've seen people spend over $800 on higher end frames and lenses.

My pair of glasses cost over $800. The lens alone was approx $500.

I know a lot of people really like Costco for glasses, but I found their selection to be somewhat underwhelming (it seems to turnover fairly fast like a lot of things at Costco) and while the prices are pretty good (still cheaper online) the service was definitely lacking. They incorrectly measured my PD somehow by a fairly large margin and when asking about the coatings the guy was talking about how it would last like a year or two only (don't know if he was telling the truth or not). Which I guess would be fine I guess if your prescription kept changing or you like to swap out frequently to a new pair.

I ended up getting the right pair from my optometrist office (definitely paid more) that I use daily and then just got a cheaper secondary pair online.

Does insurance pay for them?

Pretty sure that when I was covered, $500 for 2 pair was good.

With no insurance coverage, cheap zenni ones do the job. I would say the materials on the Zenni are cheaper and I will have to replace more often. But the cost is a fraction of the ones I used to get.

I hate products/services in which prices have become inflated because insurance pays.

Same deal with dentists.

I don't mean to say it should be free. But because insurance pays, I think things are overly marked up ...

TempletonPeck wrote: ↑ I know a lot of people really like Costco for glasses, but I found their selection to be somewhat underwhelming (it seems to turnover fairly fast like a lot of things at Costco) and while the prices are pretty good (still cheaper online) the service was definitely lacking. They incorrectly measured my PD somehow by a fairly large margin and when asking about the coatings the guy was talking about how it would last like a year or two only (don't know if he was telling the truth or not). Which I guess would be fine I guess if your prescription kept changing or you like to swap out frequently to a new pair.

I ended up getting the right pair from my optometrist office (definitely paid more) that I use daily and then just got a cheaper secondary pair online.

I was told the same thing about the coating at an optical store.

Also, I bought glasses from Costco once and I didn't like the experience. One location offered awful service and priced me higher than another location. Plus the lens quality was much different than that at the optical store.

benlessard wrote: ↑ Ive never worn glasses and my parents have worn them for 40+ years, i have the feeling that every 2 years they purchases for 1000$ worth of glasses for the couple, maybe they get an extra reading pair. These progressive focal but are are not at all fancy glasses and look rather plasticky and dull. Are glasses taht expensive ? Is there a easy way to save money ? They have a costco card, how are the glasses at costco ? Not easy to convinced your parents to save money on stuff they think is too important and are used to go to same places all the time.

TIA

$1000 for 2 pairs of glasses is on the expensive side but I can see it being possible if your parents purchase name brand frames and purchase a lot of features on the lens along with trying to get it on the same day (ex: at a place like Lenscrafters)

I get my eyes checked once every ~2 years or so (costs ~$85 and my company insurance covers ~$60 of that amount) and my optometrist charges me ~$300 for the glasses including the frames and it is ready for me in approximately 1 week. This is a single lens (meaning not bifocals) with anti-scratch, anti-reflective, blue light protection, and photochromatic (ex: Transition) lenses in what I could classify as a "non-name brand" frame. The strength of my lenses aren't that "powerful" (they aren't thick lenses) and I can/often don't wear my glasses and can still function 100% including driving my car.

I find the price that I pay to be on the expensive side and know of less expensive places and some places (in Montreal) even offer 2 for 1 deals at certain opticians. I've felt somewhat bad about asking my optometrist for the prescription so I can go to an optician and it is also a convenience factor (one stop shop) for me purchasing my glasses from her after the eye exam since I don't believe that she makes that much money on the eye exam (although ~$85 does seem like a fair amount of money for seeing someone for ~20 minutes), the majority of the money that she makes to cover staff costs, rent, etc. comes from her selling glasses.

My friend gets his glasses online and pays a fraction of what I pay.

They can claim it as a medical expense on income tax. Also I don't think seniors have to pay for the eye examination.

I have progress lens. With frame, it's around 800

It's expensive is because a few companies monopoly the market and most people use benefits, so no one cares

My aunt wears progressive lens and since I generally buy them for her, I can tell you that a private place/small store generally is cheaper for progressive. In her case, Costco estimates are around $800 (and 3 weeks delivery), a private place (where she had her eye exam) cost about $500 all in (about 1 week delivery). Couldn’t go the online route because she is very picky with which frame... not sure if online would be cheaper.

My lenses were Essilor 1.67 with ~-6.0, cost was about $250. My wife's lenses were Essilor 1.74 with -11.0, cost was high $300. She used to wear Nikon lenses which costed high $400. I used to wear generic 1.67 lenses cost was ~$120-$160. I also had many pairs between designer brand frames and specialty brand frames. Designer brands were ranging $200-$400/pair while specialty brands costs upward $400 - $800 each pair.

Doesn't seem that much and depends on lens (no name can be $25 , essiilor with coating is like $180) for my weak (-2.5) lenses , frames range from $20-$500+. I have plastic Tom Ford's and they were like $320? Plus essiilor lens and it's 500

cheapmeister wrote: ↑ They can claim it as a medical expense on income tax. Also I don't think seniors have to pay for the eye examination.

Medical expenses can be claimed, but generally for seniors with only pension income, it doesn't give any benefit. As regards eye exam, at least in Ontario it's free for seniors and below 18.