Retail vs. Private Practice... "savings" vs. quality

On my last post I talked about why going to the doctor costs so much.  Today we're going to talk about retail stores vs. private practice.

You've all seen the ads in the Sunday circulars... "Two pairs of glasses for $99!"  WOW, what a deal!  But is it really?  Before you jump at the ad, I recommend you Google "(name of store) vision complaints".  You might be very surprised at what you find.

I've always seen private practice doctors, so I decided to take advantage of one of these ads just to see what it's like.  To protect the guilty store, I'll leave their name out of it and just call them XYZ Store.

The ad said, "Any pair of glasses $99 including no-line bifocals and frames up to $139 retail."  With my prescription in hand, I visited the store.  First problem was finding a pair of frames for $139; turns out the frames in the ad retailed for $169 and we had to hunt to stay in the limit.  Being in insider in the industry, I know you can find a darn good pair of frames at many private practices for $139, but they were dramatically more expensive at XYZ.

Once we found a pair of frames that were in the price range, we sat down to order the glasses.

• Did I want the extended guarantee?  That would be an extra $15.  Their included guarantee was only 90 days... from the date on the receipt and you pay for the glasses when you order them!
• Did I want expedited handling so I'd get the glasses in 4 days?  That would be an extra $15.  As it was, they arrived in about 7 days.  Well, at least the first attempt at making the glasses.
• Did I want this, did I want that... you guessed it, $15 for everything they suggested.  And they suggested a lot!

I held firm to the ad price and the glasses were ordered.  When I picked them up, the clerk simply handed them to me and didn't offer to fit them.  Hmmm.... interesting especially since I have one ear slightly higher than the other.

I couldn't wear the glasses so I took them to my private practice doctor... and the prescription was wrong!  Back to the store I went and met with a different clerk who checked them and sure enough, they'd gotten my prescription incorrect.  They hadn't been checked to verify it was right before having me pick them up (this takes all of 15 seconds to do).

Off they go back to the lab and about 10 days later the new glasses came in.  This time the clerk - yet a different one - fitted them on me.  When I asked why that hadn't been done the first time, she replied, "the clerk was probably filling in from a different department (shoes??) and didn't know how to do it."

So here's the upshot... 

• The no-line bifocal was a very inexpensive lens that creates distortion around the edges.  This distortion gave me incredible headaches and I can't wear the glasses.  If I wanted a better lens, I would have to pay a significantly higher amount.  
• Side note - I have a particular lens I've worn for years and I've never had a problem with it.  My private practice doctor sells it for about $250; at this retail store, they told me it would be anywhere from $600-$800!
• Between my schedule not allowing me to drop everything and rush back to the store, and having the glasses made a second time, I didn't actually get the glasses until 48 days after I'd ordered them... that's more than half-way through the 90 day guarantee.
• At a private practice doctor's office, you don't typically pay for the glasses until you've received them and they're RIGHT.
• Getting help from the clerks was a crap-shoot... I never knew if I would have someone qualified to work with me, or someone who had no optical training whatsoever.

Had I paid for all the extras and add-on's suggested, including decent lenses and frames, I would have paid MORE than at my private practice doctor... and most private practice doctors will guarantee their workmanship for a year or more!

Does everyone have a bad experience at retail stores?  No... otherwise they couldn't stay in business.  The moral of this story is ASK QUESTIONS and COMPARE PRICES.  Sometimes a deal simply isn't a deal.

Next post we'll talk about being a good consumer and how to save money on your glasses.

Vision Plan Economics 101

I monitor a number of consumer chat forums and frequently see posts complaining about the high cost of eye care and glasses.  Why does it cost so much to see the eye doctor?  Let's explore that topic today.

Pretend for a moment that you are a business owner selling widgets and you only have the capacity to produce 1,816 widgets a year with your current staffing and equipment.  Your cost to simply turn on the lights every day is $222,500... that's the amount you have to pay annually for utilities, equipment, and staffing and doesn't include any profit for you.  Dividing $222,500 by 1,816 widgets means your cost per widget is $122.50.  This means you must sell each widget for MORE than $122.50 or you don't get paid.

What happens if a company you've contracted with says they're going to sell an awful lot of those widgets for you but they'll only pay you $100 per widget?  You know you're going to lose money on each widget, but if you sell enough of them you'll be able to float paying the bills and your staff... and with luck, you can make it up on other clients that come along.

Believe it or not, but that's how the eye care industry works!  We surveyed many independent eye care doctors to come up with the numbers indicated above.  The average doctor can see 1,816 patients per year.  The average overhead for a doctor is $222,500.  One difference... the average vision plan reimburses the doctor about $50 for an eye exam.

The doctor has to make some decisions if they want to survive in business very long:

• Cut their overhead expenses.  This could mean reducing staff, finding less expensive materials, or forego investing in technology.
• Increase the number of eye exams they can do in an hour.  1,816 patients comes out to being just under one patient per hour based on working 50-weeks per year.  If the doctor cuts the amount of time they spend with you, they can see more patients... personally, I don't want the doctor cutting into my consultation time, but that's just me.
• Limit the number of appointments available for patients with vision plans that don't pay well.
• Increase the cost of lenses and frames to make up the loss.
• Sell more in the optical department.

Doctors accept low paying vision plans because they feel they have to, not because they want to.  Many patients will pressure their doctor to take the cheaply priced vision plan they just bought, and then complain about the high cost of the glasses they want... but hey, that's human nature.

I was raised to believe that "you get what you pay for" and that holds true with vision plans.  A cheaply priced vision plan means you're going to pay more at the doctor's office.  Why?  Because that cheaply priced vision plan cannot pay the doctor enough to sustain their overhead, so you may find yourself paying more in the optical department.

That leads to the question, "how can the local retail store sell 2 pairs for $99 and my doctor can't?"  Well, that's a whole different subject about QUALITY that we'll save for another time.

Let's get started!

It seems silly writing a blog where there are no followers yet...hey, maybe ever!  But, I've made a commitment to embrace social media, and setting up a blog seems as good a place to start as anywhere else.

What I sell is a fluffy little vision plan; at least that's what I call it.  I can't even take credit for coining the phrase as I borrowed it from the person who introduced me to my favorite vision plan.  So why do I call it a "fluffy little vision plan"?  Because not too many people take it seriously.

In the employee benefits world, both employers and their insurance agents are more concerned about the medical plan... and rightfully so.  After they get that squared away, then they focus on dental, life, disability and a whole host of other products.  Vision, as the lowest cost product offered, tends to be their last thought... and that's okay.

But it's not last in the minds of employees and consumers.  Why?  Because people have to see and getting affordable eye care is really important to most.  You hope you won't have to use the medical, you may postpone the dental, but you've got to see clearly.  Face it, would there really be so many big-box retailers in this business and ads in the Sunday paper if it wasn't a high priority for consumers?

So here's what I intend to do... I intend to get you to spend a little time thinking about the inexpensive, fluffy little vision plan because it is important to understand what you're buying.  I believe it's important to know that this is big business and those with the most dollars are doing their darnedest to give you only the education that will help their business... they really aren't out to help the consumer.  Glasses and contact lenses are medical devices and shouldn't be sold like fast food.

Take what I say and use it or ignore it.  Whatever you chose to do with this knowledge... well, at least I've done what I can to educate.