Quote:
Originally Posted by Spexxvet
Here's the issue in my profession. When you buy glasses, some of what you pay for is the Optician's expertise. A good Optician will determine your needs and recommend the best products to meet those needs. S/He will take appropriate, accurate measurements, and when the glasses are made, s/he will ensure their accuracy. Then the Optician will custom fit the eywear to you, and will adjust your glasses if they ever come out of adjustment.
Historically, we have adjusted anyone's glasses, whether they purchased the glasses from us, or not. An Optician somewhere sold those glasses and at some point may adjust glasses that were purchased from me.
Now, people are buying their glasses on line, and we Opticians are being asked to give away our skills, expertise, and our time. If it's just fitting glasses to someone, it's not a big thing, but when we're asked for measurement, for which we can be liable, or to troubleshoot a problem with the glasses, then it becomes costly to us. The worst is when our paying customers have to wait while we try to figure out why an on line purchaser can't see out of their glasses.
For young people like you and Pie, it's not so much of an issue, especially if you don't have a strong prescription. But when you get into multifocals (and you will), you may want to consult with a licensed Optician.  |
Spexx, the party's over. I wonder why photographers didn't do the same thing that doctors did a long time ago: create a guild that prevented others from practicing without a special license. Do you know how many times I hear from people who ought to be using a professional photographer that their nephew or son or whoever is going to take the pictures for them for free? Just because you can buy a hammer, that doesn't make you a carpenter. Same goes for just about every profession and trade. Being in a consumer society we pay the price by having our expertise discounted in order for someone to be able to sell out from under us. Our national values respect consumerism more than expertise.
There was a local paper near here that was always going on an on about "shopping locally" and supporting local businesses. But what does that mean? From my point of view it means:
Don't buy a camera, if you need photos, go to your local photographer and let him make a living (not a killing)
Don't buy a computer for desktop publishing, go to a graphic designer and hire them to make your poster.
Don't run to home depot and buy and arsenal of tools, hire your local carpenter to fix your screen door.
don't buy pepperidge farm cookies or budweiser beer or produce from across the continent. Why don't you have a local bakery or brewery? because they were edged out by economy of scale.
So I say the party's over, because it is just a matter of time before your business is a self serve procedure. Pharmaceutical companies are already marketing directly to consumers.