Comment by droithomme | Hacker News Reader

Comment by droithomme | Hacker News Reader

Some glasses are expensive because it's what people are willing to pay.

I get high quality glasses with contemporary styled frames at WalMart for next to nothing. Not only that but the WalMart optometrist is more competent and does a better job getting my prescription right than the private optometrist I used to see.

It's not as if WalMart is some exclusive club only available to the elite.

Anyone who wishes to do so may shop there and purchase their glasses.

They also have a very nice warranty. One pair got run over by a lawnmower, which was entirely my fault. Free replacement.

It is a choice to pay $400 or more for the same glasses you can get for $60. And as long as people are willing to pay $400, why not charge them that. Good for the price gougers. They only exist because people prefer to go to price gougers, since there is definitely not a quality improvement. Customers are simply paying more because that's what they want to do.

WalMart seems to be often cited as the biggest competitor in this market, but I don't find it very compelling as an alternative. I know many people who do not shop at WalMart for numerous reasons, e.g. their labor practices[1]. The fact that giant, monopolistic corporations like Luxottica and WalMart seem to be the most viable option for something essential to many people is not particularly comforting.

[1]http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/11/18/walmart-sto...

>Some glasses are expensive because it's what people are willing to pay.

That's a truism. The question is why are people willing to pay that much? Why hasn't cheaper competition gained a bigger market share?

It's health.

People are willing to pay half a million for tiger bones in order to cure "diseases". You can't go around selling tiger bones for $2, they would obliviously not work.

Same thing for glasses. Same thing for walking canes.

Point taken, though the effectiveness of glasses is (I would hope) a little less likely to be the product of placebo effect. The high prices of glasses feels more like a matter of branding and style, in the same way a t-shirt with a swoosh on it costs $30, and one without costs $10 (USD).

Yes, but the effectiveness of expensive glasses is little more than placebo effect.

Look at Gunnar Glasses selling for very a expensive price while the tech is something you could buy relatively inexpensively for ages.

Not all decisions (yes, including "rational" economic decisions) are solely about price. A rational consumer (and much more so a not-quite-totally-rational everyday person) frequently makes choices that don't optimize for price at the expense of all other considerations.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com