Opticians Talkback
R F Spooner (Opticians) Ltd Keynsham, Bristol have this to say:
April 16 2010 at 17:12
As a qualified dispensing optician who has worked in optics for 20 years I believe this is not a arguement about the pd but about buying spectacles online, anyone in the industry will tell you that it is just not that simple! yes maybe someone with a low prescription and no complications could buy online but it discourages people from proper regular eye care which accesses the health of there eye if someone can continue to buy specs online they may not have there regular check ups which can show glaucoma or macular degeration which maybe sight threatening for the patients. I as a dispensing optician do not want to give the measurements I take away for free they are personal to me and I may have adapted them for reasons know to myself based on patients frame fit and choice and there previous pair of spectacles. I am aware of what the patient is intending to use the spectacles for and may adapt it for distance. I am proud of my profession and do not want it to be cheapened by online sales of what is essentially a health appliance, not a toy or a book you can buy online. The decisions regarding someones eye sight or lack of it should be made with a health professionals advice and guidance. Your eyesight effects everything you do every day and if you are driving can effect other peoples lives too so should be taken extremely seriously and not just so online markets can make a quick buck.
Philip says he charges extra to measure your PD.
February 13 2010 at 17:02
The measurement of the PD does not form part of the ‘eye test’ but is considered to be part of the ‘dispensing process’ The two are different activities. I am more than happy to provide my patients with a copy of their prescription and their PD following an eye test. I will charge a fee for the eye test and a fee for the PD measurement. You will find that many practitioners also do the same.
Philip Banton, Sheffield.
Steve Cockburn says: “the might of Specsavers et al will come crushing down”
February 08 2010 at 17:02
Mmm very easy way for you to obtain patients PD’s 1. Qualify as an optician (disadvantage need to study) 2, Open your own retail sites where you can employ qualified staff to take relevant measurements (might be a touch expensive and er push up your prices.)
Your argument about Paying for you eye examination is extremely disingenuous as you well know that it costs far more to conduct an eye test that the goverment pays , especially in England, it was always stated that eye test fees were so low because the NHS expected the patient to buy from the practioner, if you wish this changed please campaign for far higher fees and we will gladly include PD’s , just thought of another advantage to customers, we could reduce our prices for eyewear , now wouldn’t that be better for your customers, not for you though as I guess you know, but have forgotten to tell your adoring public.
Want to sell specs ethically go away and study to be a qualified optometrist/optician (requires work and brains)
Your prices aren’t even that cheap considering above points
Stop whinging and do it the proper but more difficult route
PS
who does your customer aftercare ie adjustments etc
think your methods are the ones that should be investigated, I feel a campaign starting , think you might lose, be careful about starting something that may end in the real truth being told, I’m sure the might of Specsavers et al will come crushing down .
Tho older I get the more disillusioned I become by opportunists, sorry philanthropists.
Steve Cockburn
Brendan of Peacock and Murphy Opticians says:
February 08 2010 at 4:19pm
would you buy a tv online & then expect your local electrical shop to give you instructions on how to set it up or tune it when you found that the picture was not as clear as you had expected oh! and by the way I do not expect to have to pay you. When will we ever learn pay cheap pay twice!
Brendan
NHS forces Opticians to cross-subsidise eye tests:
February 02, 2010 at 09:10 am
Please bear in mind that, although opticians are paid to do the eye examination, the fee that is paid by the NHS is an enforced significant loss making fee.
Opticians are forced to cross-subsidise this loss from the sale of specs.
Online sellers and non-qualified spec sellers do not have to suffer this loss and cream off the profit at your expense.
Steve
Chris an optometrist of 31 years service says:
January 30, 2010 at 09:10 pm
As an optometrist with 31 years service I have absolutely no problem with issuing the PD; until recently no-one ever asked for it. I have started to include it routinely on my prescriptions.
I do take issue with your derogatory comments about high street opticians though. Have you ever calculated exactly what it costs to provide an eye exam? To summarise the annual overheads of a typical high street store: Rent £40K, business rates £20K, repayments on equipment loan £20K, staff (not including optometrist) £100K, utilities £4K, repairs £4K, insurances £5K, optometrist salary £38K (thats the going rate, much less than a plumber or a plasterer.) That works out at £92 per hour just to keep the doors open. The NHS pay about £20 for an eye exam which takes about 20 minutes so that brings in £60 per hour ie. you make a net loss of £32 per hour.
I strongly disagree with the claim that glasses bought on the net can be adjusted at “any optical store for a small fee.” Who do you think you are kidding? Would you work for nothing to subsidise a competitor?
We don’t adjust glasses bought elsewhere and I don’t know of anyone that does. If we did we’d have to charge £15 for a ten minute fitting session every time you came in – whereas when you buy glasses from us you can return an infinite number of times for them to be adjusted free of charge. I wish you all the best but lets have some reality here – if everyone bought their glasses on line there would be no high street opticians, so who would adjust and fit them then? Also eye exams would cost much more than they do at present, and before anyone says that they could be done at the eye hospital, each appointment there costs the NHS £130 – I should know, I used to be on the local health board.
If I sold glasses online I could beat your prices anyway – of course an online purchase of anything costs less than something bought from a bricks and mortar outfit.
Chris
As with all restrictive practices, omission of pupillary distance is justified by spurious “public good” arguments. For a long time this self-interested line of reasoning prevented us from buying reading glasses without a prescription.
Cheaper glasses mean more people with good vision, not fewer.
Here is the best way to dodge the anti-competitive obstacle:
When you order your first online specs, send an old pair of prescription glasses to your online supplier. They will measure your pupillary distance from those. Ask them to keep it on record, because it does not change from one prescription to the next.
Now you can order your new glasses from them each time you get a new prescription.
A bit of a hassle, but that’s what I did. All my online glasses are at least the equals of the ones I bought on the high street at a fraction of the cost. Now I can keep spares to hand, which was far too expensive before.
When I was a kid, newspaper print workers operated a closed shop and were hugely overpaid. One day, they woke up to find Fleet Street closed, new technology installed at Wapping with new workers and no jobs.
Airlines are experiencing the same phenomenon. This is the Age of the Web and we don’t have to put up with this kind of thing any more.
I have regular eye-tests and purchase my varifocal specs from our Optometrist. However, I am NEVER offered my prescription after the test, or when collecting my glasses. This year, it cost in excess of £1,000 for eyewear – no, not fancy big designer names, just comfortable lenses/frames, plus sunglasses. Yet STILL I apparently could not be trusted with my prescription, because it was not offered and I felt embarrassed to ask.
Other practitioners are equally shy about issuing a prescription and if asked, their demeanour seems to become decidedly chilly, hence my reluctance to ask.
So why do I want my script and PD..? Simple. I’ve paid for the services I receive, all the little add-ons and extras, I’m happy with the fit/lenses/etc., so if I’m unlucky enough to break my specs whilst I’m holidaying 200 miles from home, why the heck shouldn’t I be able to present a script to be filled at a local establishment? Your “little adjustments” (R F Spooner) would probably even assist your distant colleague – and your patient – to be comfortably “re-glazed!”
Oh, and if the excuse is that “the other optician can always give the regular optometrist a call…” they can’t if it happens to be a half-day, or whatever, back in one’s home-town.
This is simply an industry with far too much fat, clinging on to the last vestiges of practices that are being swept asisde in many other industries by progress. Change or die is the unfortunate truth. Medicine and the Law are the last two spheres where the barricades of self interest are being slowly beaten down. Rather than use excuses and sharp practices to hold custom, opticians must look at themselves and ask how best to continue maximising profit in the face of inevitable change. The capacious offices and large stock may need to go and new ways to subsidise the cost of equipment and eye tests found. The walls are coming down and only the smartest will move out of the way in time.