I thought LensCrafters, and places like Costco, (Walmart?) had easy cheap access...

argonaut · on Nov 28, 2019

Those places all require a prescription in the USA. Which means you still have to pay for an eye exam.

The fact that it's easy in Japan is the whole point of the article. It's easy in most countries outside the USA!

(Costco, at least, charges a membership fee, so that can hardly be called a cheap option. And 99$ is also hardly cheap considering that glasses cost less than 5$ to make: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/6/18253555/eyeglasses-c...)

usefulcat · on Nov 28, 2019

I've bought frames and lenses from LensCrafters multiple times in my life (though admittedly not in the past 5-7ish years) and I would never have thought they could be described as "cheap".

astura · on Nov 28, 2019

LensCrafters has very expensive frames and they try to upsell you on coatings, etc.

herf · on Nov 28, 2019

Luxottica bought LensCrafters.

adventured · on Nov 28, 2019

No, nothing has changed, places like Costco still provide cheap access to glasses. There is a lot of incorrect information floating around. I don't know how to explain the article seemingly intentionally ignoring the various options for getting inexpensive eye glasses.

Benjammer · on Nov 28, 2019

Well they are writing a scathing expose of “the great American eye exam scam.” If they acknowledged existing options their story wouldn’t be as “hard hitting.”