Why Are Glasses So Expensive?

I just ordered a new pair of glasses. They cost me almost $700. As part of the deal, I got a second pair free, so I ordered new reading glasses as the second pair.

My glasses are nothing out of the ordinary. Since having cataract surgery more than a decade ago, my prescription went from ridiculous (-19) to slightly strong. They're standard bi-focals, not even progressive. There's nothing special about the reading glasses either; I've been using off-the-shelf glasses from Costco and Walmart for a while. The frames for both contain maybe two ounces of metal, made with some precision, but nothing that can't be mass produced cheaply.

So why are they so damned expensive? I could understand it when my classes had coke-bottle lenses made from high-refraction glass, but the ones I have now are plastic lenses that are moulded, not ground.

The LA Times explains why in a long article. It turns out that pretty much the entire industry is owned by one company. So there's no competition and no incentive to drive prices down. Not only do they own the companies that make the glasses–they own the companies that sell them to you. It's a nice and very profitable racket.

What the Vision Council probably didn’t want to get into is the fact that for years a single company, Luxottica, has controlled much of the eyewear market. If you wear designer glasses, there’s a very good chance you’re wearing Luxottica frames.

Its owned and licensed brands include Armani, Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Chanel, Coach, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Oakley, Oliver Peoples, Persol, Polo Ralph Lauren, Ray-Ban, Tiffany, Valentino, Vogue and Versace.

Italy’s Luxottica also runs EyeMed Vision Care, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Sunglass Hut and Target Optical.

Just pause to appreciate the lengthy shadow this one company casts over the vision care market. You go into a LensCrafters retail outlet, where the salesperson shows you Luxottica frames under various names, and then the company pays itself when you use your EyeMed insurance.

A very sweet deal.

Time for some anti-trust regulation, me thinks.