Why Glasses Are So Expensive 

What other products costs should we dig deeper into?

That's nothing. Wait until they put _Supreme_ on it.

Is it me, or is CNBC making fire content lately?

That Luxxotica spokesperson is the most spineless person I've ever heard.

Tesco will do you free eye exam if you buy one of their glasses that are around £40 to £80

It's simple: you paying 10% for the glasses and 90% for the brand

I worked at Lenscrafters. This is 100% ALL FACTS. Please get your glasses from other sources if your insurance won't cover their exorbitant prices.

Next question: Why healthcare in USA is so expensive? One night in hospital and you're broke for the rest of your life.

I’m an employee at an Oakley retail store and I see first hand how Luxottica dominates the eyewear industry.

Luxottica is a great example of a monopoly

In Pakistan you can get glasses with frames, lenses and eye test for under ~$25 And I would assume it's the same if not cheaper in rest of the subcontinent, including India and Bangladesh.

Wow the US sucks bad for just about anything health related when it comes to price huh?

$200 for an eye exam? They're literally free (in Australia)

Worked there 8 years. Started at $9.00 quit at $10.80. Highest sale in 2017 was $13,000 in one day, my commission that day was $25. They didn't wanna give me a raise so i left.

Wish you talked more about lens markup. $140 lenses cost 0.50 cents to make

Worked in the industry for 7 years in the independent space. The most expensive wholesale glasses I've seen was $48. Retailed for $450. Single vision lenses are around $2 - $8 per lens. Retails around $120

I remember watching a Joe Oliver segment on this, and how the owner of luxottica was stating how they 'helped' competitors to fold and agree to their deals. It was quite interesting. The CEO of luxottica closely resembled a cartoon villain.

Can you do a piece like this on dentistry!?!?

I am employed by a Chinese eyewear manufacturer. That's true, and I didn't know anything about the windfall of eyeglasses until I joined this company. Frame materials, even the best acetate and titanium frames, sell for only $10-15. However, after our customers bought it back, the price was as high as $60, incredible.

Total mark up. I get my prescription glasses from asia when i vacation. Costs me $15 for frames and prescription glasses. Even have designer for cheap. What a scam.

Luxottica is all about monopolization

60 Minutes had covered this story years back

You don't have a free eye exam when buying glasses in US? Damn

This is why I don’t buy my glasses with my eye doctor, I take his Prescription and use it at Costco lol

It cost nothing in Saudi Arabia its around 50$ to 80$ maximum n that's for both the glass and frame

Mine cost 5$. It even has Rayban written on the frame for the feels..

Luxottica was my first Corporate job in IT, Del Vecchio used to wave at me all the times while working. I thought it was some old fool working in some manufacture department. I found out later that was the owner of the company when I had to install some software on his computer. Never underestimate really short people !

In India you literally get offers such as buy 1 pair (around 700 Rs ≈ $10) and get 1 more pair FOR FREE.

For the most recent few years, I had worked at an online eye glasses store in logistic, customer services and business decision team. The company is owned by couple of American eye doctors from FL, they contract out their lab work to a few licensed Chinese factories. Their glasses were all imported to the US with drop ball test cert and cost usually around $3-15. Then the glasses are sold either online or in their physical stores, depends on the design of the frame. When sold in the store, each pair priced $100 and up, if online, their price range $15-100. So you know sometimes when you order a pair of a glass from the eye doctor why it takes around 2 weeks. Your prediction was sent to China (which take a couple of days )and air ship back(take a week). The cheapest way to order prescription glasses nowadays is to get eye exam from your eye doctor and then order the glasses online. Coz anyhow you are most likely going to received the glasses from Chinese made glasses anyway.

America’s Best is $79.00 for exam, and two frames with lenses.

Good job on you CNBC for bringing to light these monopolies. Thanks to this video I will now be more weary of these prices and seek out more affordable eyewear.

CNBC has been making great content every day! truly impressed!

And that's why I got LASEK -- I calculated breaking even within a decade after adding up all the yearly vision insurance, eye exams, and contacts/glasses purchases. Plus I no longer have to worry about losing these or following strict advise not to wear them in certain situations (swimming, skydiving, field ops, etc). I had mine done in Korea last year. $1300 for both eyes + recovery meds from a top Gangnam clinic. Consultations, measurements, and operation done same day; was still able to tour around the city like normal (LASEK/PRK/ASA is the older flapless one with more pain and recovery time but best results). Best money ever spent bang for buck. I hear Taiwan and South Africa are just as effective and inexpensive.

I get my sons and my eye exam from an actual eyecare place, but buy our glasses from an online retailer and have not had had any issues as of yet. We have used Zenni for about 3 years now.

What I hate more than the frames is the extra you have to pay for add-ons like polycarbonate lenses and anti-reflective coatings.

I wish Zenni glasses were sold in physical retail stores like Wal-Mart, Costco, & maybe even their own retail stores or even in stores that are currently partnered with Sunglass Hut/ Luxxottica so that there would be more affordable stylish options for more people

My eyewear is from Tom ford and my sunglasses are massada. I got Zeiss lenses. To avoid luxortica

I went to Target Optical paid $110 for the exam. The frames cost me $130 and the lenses were $365. But I need the glasses to drive. They have a gun to my head. Noticed they didn't tell you which online eyeglasses site gave inferior lenses. Now your forced to doubt both. I bet Luxottica was behind the study.

The first pair of glasses I purchased when I became an adult were from Zenni Optical. I went to America's Best Eyewear for my exam and it cost $60, then took the prescription online. My glasses, with one of my lenses needing to be much stronger than the other, cost about $70. I now have vision insurance and plan to do the same thing again but I'm going to look at that other company they mentioned here as well. Even places that accept my insurance to buy online are very pricey so it's better to just choose places that don't take vision insurance in most cases. Usually places that accept it anyways are within the Luxottica brand.

CNBC, thank you for the great content, but please turn down that background music. It is way too loud.

Why are they so expensive in America? 'MURICA

When I last replaced my glasses it cost me £40 for my eye test from my local opticians and about the same again for the glasses - frames, lenses & anti-glare protection - from an online company. Looking from the outside in it seems like in America any time there's insurance heavily involved in an industry the costs sky rocket because the direct cost to the consumer is obfuscated and the companies can get away with charging ridiculous prices as long as everybody else plays the game.

They don’t even let retailers compete. Ray-ban’s wayfarers are retailed at $153 Amazon, Macy’s, Dillard’s, and target sells them for the exact same price.

A starting price of $95 is still kinda expensive

I bought polarized prescription sunglasses from zenni for $100. There were options that were less expensive but the pair I liked was a bit pricier. My other prescription glasses were over $400...

That Grime beat from 2:20 though!!! Fiyyaaa

Just get a prescription from an optometrist and then order your glasses from an online retailer. SIMPLE !!!

I'm glad I discovered contacts, the single greatest quality of life improvement I've experienced.

Luxottica my foot.... I own a Polarized eyewear Rectangular Frame from IDEE and that costed me 30$. Three years and It's still scratchless working absolutely fine 😎

What’s annoying is that people complain about the cost. Yes they are expensive but you don’t NEED to buy the branded item. You can get a pair of frames for $120 and then have lenses put in them. The complainers just want expensive items for nothing. You have 100% choice

I remember learning about this from Adam ruins everything awhile ago lol. Good to see more coverage of it.

Take a weekend trip to Iceland - *Essentially to buy spectacles*

In Europe the lenses are VERY expensive and I don't know why? Standard plastic-lens (glass) is cheap, but if you want to get "extras" they are very expensive! But it is also plastic, only variance of plastic and with coating. .

Good reporting. What I found interesting is that Warby Parker wasn't just working the same hustle. My optometrist with my insurance, a pair of glasses is still $500. At Costco $250 w/o insurance. Several years ago I shopped around, Lenscrafters bait and switch, $99? quickly turns into $450. Online about 20 years ago I bought $125 designer frames for $15.That option seems gone. So when I started seeing Warby Parker ads, I snorted and ignored them. I could never have imagined the level of corruption that exists now. I started rereading 1984. Every creepy oppressive thing in the first chapter exists now.

And this is why i always get my glasses from Korea whenever im over there.. my prescription is so bad that it always costs me a fortune here in the states to get the lenses to a reasonably thin size that won’t weigh down on my nose. It cost me $150 for total for my frames and lenses that were thinned 12x. Oh, and they were done in 3 hours in the same day. Lovely.

No way. I've worn and bought glasses for over 15 years. Yes, they monopolized the market for a long time, but there are more affordable options online. At Warby Parker, I paid $225 for two prescription glasses, one were regular seeing glasses, the other were shades and both were really stylish. And before I bought them, Warby let me try out 5 pairs at home so I could see how they looked on me without any pressure to buy. Compare that to glasses I bought in 2005 for $250 for only one pair at Site For Sore Eyes. There are other online options that are even more affordable than Warby Parker. And they're becoming more prevalent. The only people who don't know about online are older folks.

I paid for mine around 300$ here in Europe And while on holidays to Pakistan I found out for 10$ i can buy exact same lookin replica frames with same glass quality

Great update to the CBC story on the same subject.

Cnbc videos are always well done

THATS WHY i buy chinese frames with good quality which costs 21$

Was priced out of the USA glasses market, so was forced to get them from Zenni Optical.

America is such a rip off and the service is such a bothersome. I went traveling in the Philippines and decided to get a new prescription glasses for just 50USD, all done in 1.5 hrs from walk in check up to picking my frame and getting my glasses. While in America I have to make appointment and wait couple days to weeks for the appointment and spend hundreds of dollars for a decent glasses and have to wait a week or two just to get my glasses.

Although Luxottica dominates the industry, in NZ their branch OPSM are one of many optical stores; all of which I see fairly equal in terms of who consumers prefer overall. I would say OPSM (basically the same as Laubman & Pank and Lenscrafters) are approximately middle of the range when it comes to the cost of eyewear - the company Specsavers definitely striking as a more prominent go to. I'd attribute that to their low prices, what you might call 'cheap and cheerful'. But honestly when it comes down to it, at most Luxottica owned Optometrists, I always find they are more focused on the experience they provide - which is always genuinely with the patients/customers best interests in mind. There are other private optometrists that a good portion of people go to who's cheapest frame is the same as OPSM's most expensive. I've been to both Specsavers (also exists in UK) and OPSM, speccys being far cheaper - and STILL went back to OPSM because the quality really is there.

When I went to get my glasses from a optometrist who was part of the network I found the whole business strange. I had to keep demanding the sale floor person after my eye exam I just wanted my prescription but I was pushed to use the insurance.I told them I wanted only the glasses which were 100% covered by my insurance. Sadly not everyone else in the office was aware they had to say that. A woman was going to be charged $1500 on glasses (with insurance) and when she heard that she walked out of that office. I found out that I can buy a cheaper price pair of frames online and my insurance would be covered after I show evidence of purchase. I always tell my optometrist I will have laser eye surgery when I’m 21 so I don’t have to deal with this and they have a look of fear over loser a customer. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I have worked in the industry for a long time and yes I agree that frames are over priced and the industry hasn't really evolved. People seem to forget the power of brands, just the fact that our store carries Chanel is enough to bring people in to buy glasses. Luxottica would not be able to charge these prices if consumers did not pay the price to have a Chanel frame. Luxottica has to pay quite a bit of money to license these brands, the more prestigous brands have higher licensing fees, which leads to a higher cost of frames. People also assume all glasses are made of the same materials, which is not true. Some plastics like acetates are more expensive and are a better quality. Frames made of titanium are also more expensive compared to stainless steel. The lens industry is always trying to find a way to improve the quality of your vision. Whether it be with new lens materials or different types of coatings. When buying a lens, the material it is made of is very important, especially if you have a higher rx or need astigmatism corrected. Most of these online shops are selling poor quality lens materials like polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is a very cheap material, it is a soft plastic that is lightweight and will scratch easily. Polycarbonate also offers a poor abberation value, which means you will not see as good through it compared to other lens materials. Another thing that drives lens pricing up is the research and development companies like Nikon,Zeiss, and Essilor need to do to keep improving the lens products they offer. The last thing people forget are the professionals that make sure you pick out the right style of frames, the correct lenses, and also the fit of the glasses. Those people need to get paid to keep the office open. The optical industry is no different than any other industry, if you want quality you have to pay for it.

I paid $99 in the Netherlands, one day return from the German factory. Same in New Zealand, $799

We put high prices on these $4 glasses 2500% mark up because people are willing to pay for them was the answer of the CEO of lux in 60 minutes. Check it out. It is outrageous!

I live in Peru, I bought my glasses (lenses included) for 120 soles (about 40 dollars). The eye exam is free

"Most consumers can't spend several thousand dollars on a Prada handbag. But for $300, they can own a pair of Prada sunglasses." Such a marketing BS.

I just came back from the optometrist and bought my first pair of glasses ever and was randomly recommend this video when I got home .... kinda cool

This is why I've been using the same pair of glasses in the past 9 years, saw the truth early. It's amazing that this is still not a widespread knowledge and people seem to think that a few hundreds dollar is normal when it should be around $20.

I'm glad CNBC exposes this monopoly, so we all can have a perspective when we need to buy a new pair of glasses. Informed consumers can change things.

Well I just replaced my glasses for a pair of Ray Ban and I found the quality to feel cheap af for the price they charged. It really makes me want to return them and just buy some more appropriate priced pairs from a flea market.

I had my own glasses retail start-up focused on the lower price market share very similar to WP. I communicated with many colleagues on the market all around the world and can can confirm that market is stagnating. My marketing a ND economy research shows that no traditional regulatory approach can help here. Luxottica/Essilor are not getting monopoly profits. This actually only allows them to survive. This problem comes down to the specifics of the human vision. My personal business experience, economics studies and engineering education helped me to develop a concept of a market solution which can help to resolve this dilemma -- how to lower the eyewear prices without dropping either the quality or profits. Would be happy to share some information in case of a serious interest.

Nobody has a problem with taking an eye exam. That's just a red herring. The problem is that when you go to an optometrist to get an eye exam and updated prescription, they have an eye glass store right in the office, and pressure you to buy there, while not releasing your prescription information and measurements. The two functions, eye exams and eye glass sales, NEED to be separated. People don't want to go to a doctor before buying glasses online, because it's become like going to buy a car: a massive hassle and you know you're getting ripped off before you walk out the door. Fortunately, in some places it is required by law that an optometrist provide your complete prescription, so you can take it and show for glasses anywhere.

IF theres anyone reading. I recommend sites like zenni. 20 dollar frames and prescription lenses that are comparable to big name brands. My 30 dollar eye exam costs more than the glasses.

Warby Parker glasses still cost damn near $400 if you need a prescription

Many years ago when RayBan brand belonged to Bausch and Lomb, they used glass lenses in sunglases and the quality was amazing. Now Luxottica only use plastic lenses ....

actually you can get prescription glasses (frames+lenses) for under $100 if you just shop at the right places online. I used to pay $600+ for a single pair until I started looking for alternatives online, like Zenni (sorry if it sounds like an infomercial) and now I can get multiple pairs for a fraction of the cost (also you get a much wider selection than a physical store). Stop buying your glasses at the same place that does your exam and you will save a huge amount.

I got a frame, lenses, 2 sets of magnetic snap on sunglasses (that blend seemlessly with the frame), with tax and shipping, for like $50-60 something bucks from Zenni optical. They are still going strong years later. Great glasses 👍

America is a messed up. In the UK you can get glasses and a eye examination for about £50.

I got my glasses at fetch eyewear online. They were $95 for frame and prescription. They also come with a lifetime warranty for the frames! They're honeslty just as good as a pair of chanel glasses I had

Here in the Ph you can have a glass around PHP2,000 or around USD40 Us is always been expensive

Come to India you will get brilliant eye check up and a good quality glasses for less than $100.

It actually costs less for me to fly back to China and return with a new pair of glasses.

I really like this online content.

People are getting scammed by large corporations who hold monopolies on several areas that are important to people, and not chosen by consumers. Nobody wants to have bad eyesight, often people are born with it! So it's a necessity, and there's not enough competition for these huge scammers.

Isn’t this old news? I feel like the Lux vids were trending like 5 years ago 😂

Where the hell do you people buy glasses? Exam at walmart: $75, Frames: $133, lenses $74. All without insurance.

In the Netherlands, we now have a disruption in the market from an online company. Selling glasses for less than 60 dollars. Sadly the company has now been bought by a competitor.

Costco or Maui Jim. Screw Luxottica and their monoply. I will never buy their overpriced glasses

Break those oligopolis/monopolies up already Gouverment Intervention is badly needed The consumer would profit

These prices that you're giving sounds like at the High and I got a great pair of lenses and frames and an eye exam and it was $310 that's for anti-reflective transition and no line bifocal at Costco in Virginia

Warby Parker also provides in-office eye examinations in some cities. I got one to see if I needed a new prescription, and the doctor found I had lattice degeneration in both eyes. Eye exams are very important!

I paid $15 for my glasses (lenses included). Shop around.

You know Adam Ruins everything already covered this

Wait...I paid HKD1000 (around USD125)for a pair of Rayban in HK, together with lens and a optometrist in the eyeglasses shop. I guess insurance has ruined the eyeglasses industry in US.

Yoo love the soundtrack that starts at 9:40 anyone know what the name of it is?

Its about how much consumers are willing to pay for fashion over functionality

this was on adam ruins everything....