$800 for a pair of glasses in Australia? That's nuts!

[Ronald Brak]

I got my eyes tested yesterday and I was told that to get a new pair of glassed similar to the ones I got in Japan for around $130 would cost about $800. I told them I'd rather fly to Japan and get a pair. That night I checked the internet and found that I could get glasses online with high index lenses, UV protection, anti-reflection, scratch, dust and water resistance for $20. Is Australia the only country where stores try to charge such nutty prices for glasses and how long can this situation last with $20 glasses available on the internet? Or are we stupid enough to allow this situation to continue indefinitely?

[Kaptain K]

I think that the old saying about how often suckers are born applies here!

[Sam5]

That reminds me of this:

http://www.fastexercise.com/

[Ronald Brak]

Please kill that link, Sam5. It is evil.

[mfumbesi]

Is this AUS$ or the real $ (the USA variety), either way it seem like a huge rip-off.
Locally I have a similar problem, for a decent Telescope (Meades or equivalent) locally you can expect to pay about 3 times the amount the USA supplier/store sell them for. What makes this even worse is that if you try a short cut and go to Amazon (or a USA store) they normally refuse to sell direct to you. The normal excuse is that there is a local agent in your country.

[Damien Evans]

Is this AUS$ or the real $ (the USA variety), either way it seem like a huge rip-off.
Locally I have a similar problem, for a decent Telescope (Meades or equivalent) locally you can expect to pay about 3 times the amount the USA supplier/store sell them for. What makes this even worse is that if you try a short cut and go to Amazon (or a USA store) they normally refuse to sell direct to you. The normal excuse is that there is a local agent in your country.

Does it really matter? They're worth almost the same now!

[captain swoop]

Don't you have a 'Specsavers' chain in Australia?

I always get Nikon plastic lenses and I pay about £100 for lenses and frames with a free pair of prescription sunglasses thrown in.

[mugaliens]

My last pair were $19, bought two years ago, and they're still going strong while driving, cycling, or flying.

Why pay more?

[Sam5]

Please kill that link, Sam5. It is evil.

Well, try to look at it this way: If we can cut down exercise time to 4 minutes with a $15,000 exercise machine, I figure we can cut it down to 2 minutes with a $30,000 machine. Then, the next step is to cut it down to 1 minute with a $60,000 machine, and then cut it down to 0 minutes with a $120,000 machine.

The theory here is that if a person can afford a $120,000 exercise machine, then he won’t have to exercise at all because he can afford to pay other people to do all his work for him, such as mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, lifting heavy boxes, etc.

[Ronald Brak]

The theory here is that if a person can afford a $120,000 exercise machine, then he won’t have to exercise at all because he can afford to pay other people to do all his work for him, such as mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, lifting heavy boxes, etc.

Good point. He could pay someone to suck the fat right out of him. And his increased heart rate each time he remembered that he blew $120,000 on an exercise machine he uses for zero minutes a day would probably be a good cardiovascular workout.

[mfumbesi]

Does it really matter? They're worth almost the same now!
Ay! My humour got lost in translation.
Okay lets explain: The part about the "real $" was meant to be a jab/joke.
In the second part of my sentence I said, "either way it seem like a huge rip-off".

[Heid the Ba']

I got my eyes tested yesterday and I was told that to get a new pair of glassed similar to the ones I got in Japan for around $130 would cost about $800. I told them I'd rather fly to Japan and get a pair. That night I checked the internet and found that I could get glasses online with high index lenses, UV protection, anti-reflection, scratch, dust and water resistance for $20. Is Australia the only country where stores try to charge such nutty prices for glasses and how long can this situation last with $20 glasses available on the internet? Or are we stupid enough to allow this situation to continue indefinitely?

Speculators are causing it. Specifically spectacle speculators stockpiling specs. If you understood the futures market you would understand this.

[Ronald Brak]

Speculators are causing it. Specifically spectacle speculators stockpiling specs. If you understood the futures market you would understand this.

Ah of course! Why didn't I see this before? Probably because I couldn't afford glasses! Of course speculators are speculating in spectacles. It's because the internet is causing a massive increase in demand for glasses by combining two things that make you go blind. By stockpiling spectacles speculators will be able to make spectacular profits once we hit peak blindness. It's all so clear now.