Retail Optometrists

[PublicHealth]

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I'm just curious, what kind of salary do optometrists working in retail make? I see "Dr. So and So" at pretty much every WalMart and Costco eyeglass place.

 

[JennyW]

I'm just curious, what kind of salary do optometrists working in retail make? I see "Dr. So and So" at pretty much every WalMart and Costco eyeglass place.

In general, if you are the lease holder, you can make over $100000. If you are an associate of the lease holder, less.

In the short run, commercial practice pays well, but in the long run, you should try to have your own practice. Whether it's in optometry or any other part of life, to do really well, you should own your own business.

Jenny

 

[lemonhead43]

that is true but it also depends where you are from and the area you want to open a practice. for instance, i live in orange county california and theres saturation of everything from like pharmacists to hot dog vendors. however if you find a prime location where you think you can get people, do it. or what you can do is work for a lease holder and get to know ur patients and when you open ur practice, try and direct them to your practice

 

[stompy]

How do you try to direct them to your practice? By word of moutH?

 

[lemonhead43]

yea.. well tell them that ur leaving where ever you were working at and that now since you have your own place, chances are that ur old patients will follow you.

 

[rpames]

Most contracts will have a line in it that says you can not open a practice with in "X" miles of your place of employment for "X" years. So getting your patients to follow you outside of that radius may be difficult. Also, if you work for a "leaser," odds are your patients will never actually learn your name. In order to get patient loyalty, it takes years, I'm talking about more than 1 or 2. Whenever a patients comes in and fills out who performed their last eye exam and that last person was a corporate OD, they write down "LensCrafters" or "Wal-mart." They never know the doctors name.

In short, I don't the above plan would work very well.

 

[JennyW]

Most contracts will have a line in it that says you can not open a practice with in "X" miles of your place of employment for "X" years. So getting your patients to follow you outside of that radius may be difficult. Also, if you work for a "leaser," odds are your patients will never actually learn your name. In order to get patient loyalty, it takes years, I'm talking about more than 1 or 2. Whenever a patients comes in and fills out who performed their last eye exam and that last person was a corporate OD, they write down "LensCrafters" or "Wal-mart." They never know the doctors name.

In short, I don't the above plan would work very well.

This is a problem that is not confined to optometry, and/or retail optometry in particular.

I have a private practice, and many of my new patients say that they went to "the doctor on main street" or the "guy in the medical building" or "accross the street from the Dunkin Donunts."

And for some reason, it spans the spectrum of medical problems.

I can not tell you how often I have conversations with patients that go something like this:

Me: Have you had any surgery?
Them: Yes. I had quadruple bypass 4 years ago
Me: Who did it??
Them: I don't remember
Me: What hospital was it at?
Them: Ummmmmm, in New York City. ON the upper east side.
Me: *sigh*

So what your saying then is some guy put you to sleep, cut open your chest, messed around with your heart, saving your life in the process, and you can't remember the guys name or where it was done???? WOW!

Jenny

 

[drbizzaro]

This is a problem that is not confined to optometry, and/or retail optometry in particular.

I have a private practice, and many of my new patients say that they went to "the doctor on main street" or the "guy in the medical building" or "accross the street from the Dunkin Donunts."

And for some reason, it spans the spectrum of medical problems.

I can not tell you how often I have conversations with patients that go something like this:

Me: Have you had any surgery?
Them: Yes. I had quadruple bypass 4 years ago
Me: Who did it??
Them: I don't remember
Me: What hospital was it at?
Them: Ummmmmm, in New York City. ON the upper east side.
Me: *sigh*

So what your saying then is some guy put you to sleep, cut open your chest, messed around with your heart, saving your life in the process, and you can't remember the guys name or where it was done???? WOW!

Jenny

many times these individuals are very elderly, and having been allowed to live for a few more years, they are happy to live, and do not really care about the details of their operation.... most of the time, they just want to live one day at a time, without a thought of the complications from their past