A couple months ago I needed a new glasses prescription(I usually wear contacts but wear glasses maybe 1 day a week)....it had been about 3 years since I last got a prescription, so needed another one.
Driving home from work, a saw an ad.....basic eye exams for 39.99, or advanced eye exams for 59.99. At some commercial place in a large sorta run down shopping center. 39.99? What the heck can anyone get for 39.99 these days? Gotta be a catch right?
I walk in and ask a guy wearing a polo shirt too small and no undershirt how much it will cost to get a prescription for eyeglasses? He points at the sign and says "just like it says". Then I ask- "so it's not going to be one of those bait and switches where you hook me with a 39.99 offer and then add a lot of stuff at the end to make it 120 bucks or so? The guy says "nope, if anything else needs to be done we would tell you ahead of time"....then I ask about the 59.99, and what I can get for an extra 20 bucks....he doesn't really seem like he knows what he is talking about, but I go along with it anyways as I don't know that I have ever had an 'advanced' eye exam.
Well ok, let's rock and roll with this I'm thinking. The place is pretty empty, although off in a corner I see someone helping someone put on contacts(at least it looked like it).
They usher me back in a room where some guy in his late 20's/early 30s introduces himself as 'James'. I look on his nametag and it says he is the optometrist(had an OD on it). At this point I'm a little skeptical. Who the heck introduces themselves with first name only and no professional title in a supposedly clinical environment? To a complete stranger....weird I thought.
the guy, other than the name thing, was very professional. He gave me a little card to fill out about my past eye history while he fiddled with some of his eye equipment. Then after that he asked questions about my eye history and wrote some on his own paper. Then he explained tonometry to me and did that test....he said my pressures were normal. Then the usual- a bunch of letters starting coming up on the wall, and the endless dial turning and rote questions. That lasted awhile. But he seemed intent on getting it just right. Then came the eye drops, and dilation time. I've been dilated before of course, and I have to admit there is something I sorta enjoy about it. Then he looked in the back of my eye again, and I asked him what was the point of the drops and looking again in the eye and he gave way more detail on retina disease and renal vascular than I ever knew. Even brought out a book and showed me pictures identifying pathology he had seen in optometry school, then telling me mine was normal.
the whole thing took over thirty minutes. maybe closer to 40. I guess he was just taking his time because there didn't appear to be any other customers. And like advertised it was only 59.99 + tax.
My question is how the hell are they making any money? I didnt buy glasses there(I do that online). There didn't appear to be a steady stream of customers after me. And the gross revenue from that visit for them was only 60 bucks. And I have no idea what kind of setup they have(contractor or salaried), but think about all the cuts coming out of that 60 dollars.....the rent is not trivial, even though it wasn't in the most exclusive shopping center in town or anything. There were a couple of employees besides the OD who are being paid by the hour Im sure. There is that all the eye equipment in his office, which Im assuming isn't cheap. And then of course there are the business fees and taxes. And then of course paying the opto himself. It just seems like the worst economic model I have ever seen.....and I liked the guy after my encounter with him, but I can't believe he is happy or has any satisfaction doing that. What % of opto's do this kind of work? If I went to school for 4 years *after college* to do that in that environment and make whatever it is he makes(70K???) I would be miserable. I say this as someone who practices in the most looked down upon and least respected specialties in all of medicine(psychiatry), so I'm definately not trying to antagonize or anything....I just felt bad for the guy and hope he is just going through a rough spot in his career.
Driving home from work, a saw an ad.....basic eye exams for 39.99, or advanced eye exams for 59.99. At some commercial place in a large sorta run down shopping center. 39.99? What the heck can anyone get for 39.99 these days? Gotta be a catch right?
I walk in and ask a guy wearing a polo shirt too small and no undershirt how much it will cost to get a prescription for eyeglasses? He points at the sign and says "just like it says". Then I ask- "so it's not going to be one of those bait and switches where you hook me with a 39.99 offer and then add a lot of stuff at the end to make it 120 bucks or so? The guy says "nope, if anything else needs to be done we would tell you ahead of time"....then I ask about the 59.99, and what I can get for an extra 20 bucks....he doesn't really seem like he knows what he is talking about, but I go along with it anyways as I don't know that I have ever had an 'advanced' eye exam.
Well ok, let's rock and roll with this I'm thinking. The place is pretty empty, although off in a corner I see someone helping someone put on contacts(at least it looked like it).
They usher me back in a room where some guy in his late 20's/early 30s introduces himself as 'James'. I look on his nametag and it says he is the optometrist(had an OD on it). At this point I'm a little skeptical. Who the heck introduces themselves with first name only and no professional title in a supposedly clinical environment? To a complete stranger....weird I thought.
the guy, other than the name thing, was very professional. He gave me a little card to fill out about my past eye history while he fiddled with some of his eye equipment. Then after that he asked questions about my eye history and wrote some on his own paper. Then he explained tonometry to me and did that test....he said my pressures were normal. Then the usual- a bunch of letters starting coming up on the wall, and the endless dial turning and rote questions. That lasted awhile. But he seemed intent on getting it just right. Then came the eye drops, and dilation time. I've been dilated before of course, and I have to admit there is something I sorta enjoy about it. Then he looked in the back of my eye again, and I asked him what was the point of the drops and looking again in the eye and he gave way more detail on retina disease and renal vascular than I ever knew. Even brought out a book and showed me pictures identifying pathology he had seen in optometry school, then telling me mine was normal.
the whole thing took over thirty minutes. maybe closer to 40. I guess he was just taking his time because there didn't appear to be any other customers. And like advertised it was only 59.99 + tax.
My question is how the hell are they making any money? I didnt buy glasses there(I do that online). There didn't appear to be a steady stream of customers after me. And the gross revenue from that visit for them was only 60 bucks. And I have no idea what kind of setup they have(contractor or salaried), but think about all the cuts coming out of that 60 dollars.....the rent is not trivial, even though it wasn't in the most exclusive shopping center in town or anything. There were a couple of employees besides the OD who are being paid by the hour Im sure. There is that all the eye equipment in his office, which Im assuming isn't cheap. And then of course there are the business fees and taxes. And then of course paying the opto himself. It just seems like the worst economic model I have ever seen.....and I liked the guy after my encounter with him, but I can't believe he is happy or has any satisfaction doing that. What % of opto's do this kind of work? If I went to school for 4 years *after college* to do that in that environment and make whatever it is he makes(70K???) I would be miserable. I say this as someone who practices in the most looked down upon and least respected specialties in all of medicine(psychiatry), so I'm definately not trying to antagonize or anything....I just felt bad for the guy and hope he is just going through a rough spot in his career.