Fogot to mention...

...that I got new glasses this week. Wanna know where?

 

I bought them online.

 

I've written before about my travails with Eyemasters,  but I don't think I mentioned that the spring in the other temple of my glasses broke, again while I was sitting at my desk. I called Eyemasters, but they had gotten rid of the frame they took the other temple from (which never did fit right, by the way, but I was welcome to come in, get a new eye exam, and buy new glasses from them.

 

Well, I can't get a new eye exam because my insurance only covers one every two years, even if the ophthamologist says it should be every year because there is a deep and profound history of eye disease in my family, and I have pretty bad vision.

 

Anyway, none of the brick and mortar stores would take a prescription that is over a year old. I know people who have had success buying glasses online, and I decided to give it a try.

 

I went to the place that has the best reputation, 39 Dollar Glasses. And yes, if you don't have a very strong prescription, or if you don't mind thick lenses if you do, you really can get glasses for $39. I however, have a very strong prescription, and I hate thick lenses. So I sprung for high-index lenses, which I never did before because they are always super expensive. I picked out a frame that is pretty simple, and the whole thing, incluing shipping cost me about $90.

 

The frames are a little bit heavier than I like, and a little bit darker than I was expecting. But other than that, they are perfect. The lenses are a much better quality than my old ones. I don't have to squint to see the numbers on the calendar across the room anymore (remember, this was the same prescription). Plus, the lenses are ultra thin, and they did a free edge polish, so a) they barely stick out from the frames, and b) where they do, you can't really see it.

 

All in all the experiment was a success. I plan to buy sunglasses from them soon, too, to replace the ones I bought at Eyemasters that never did seem right to me - something is off with the lenses and they wouldn't check them or fix them when I insisted the day I picked them up that something wasn't right.

 

Oh, and by the way, for the lenses and frames I bought, I would have paid at minimum about $200 in a brick-and-mortar store, and that is with a sale on.

 

I think I'm done with physical stores for my eyewear needs.