Numeracy on the Bus

This morning, on the bus ride up to Burnaby Mountain, as I stared mindlessly at the propaganda lining the bus walls, I happened upon the following claim:

“Glasses for Half the Price!”, followed by a website address.

As I am counting the days until my insurance coverage will kick in to pay for new glasses, this spoke to me. “Right on!” I thought, “I need new glasses, half price is a great deal! I’ll get my glasses from there and that way be sure that insurance will cover the whole amount!”

As I was on the bus halfway up the mountain, I couldn't immediately log on to the web and check it out, so I got to using my numeracy skill to think about the claim and if I really believed them.

Half of the Price….. hmm, what price are they referring to? What store’s pricing are they comparing themselves to? Lenscrafters? Cheap-O Optical? Who? In my experience, the price of frames and lenses vary greatly from place to place.

And when they speak of ‘glasses’ are they referring to just the frames? Or frames and lenses? Or maybe just the lenses?

Last year I did some comparison shopping and found significant differences in similar frames, and I found some deceptive advertising from a major eyeglass retailer when they offered free lenses. The ‘free’ lenses only went with certain frames, whose prices seemed to be inflated to compensate for the gift of the basic lenses. Also, the free lenses were the most basic style and they were kind enough to inform customers of how they deserved a much better quality of lenses with all the latest technology…which they again were pleased to offer at a price.

When they had finally priced out my ‘sale’ offer eyeglasses, I was presented with an estimate of over $500… My insurance covers up to $275 dollars, so a quick calculation told me I would have to cover the other (500-275) $225. No way.

I ended up buying a very similar frame with high quality lenses from Factory Optical, a locally owned, low-key operation and they cost me $178. Now, I realize the other store has more expenses: they are in a mall, their store is fancy, you get your glasses in an hour blah, blah, blah. I don’t care that the store was off the beaten path or that I had to wait a week for the glasses. My Utility factor was based on quality and price, not convenience.

And, as hoped, I got some nice glasses for a good price.

Anyways, back to the ad on the bus. Thinking about the bus ad brought the memory of last years glasses shopping into the forefront of my thoughts and I was skeptical.

Assuming the ad spoke of a complete pair of glasses, I still didn’t know what their baseline for ‘half-price’ was.

Half off of the big box store price of about $500 would be (500/2) 250, making the ad’s offer $250 for eyeglasses. That’s still (250-178) $72 more than what I paid last year and not really such a good deal for me.

ON the other hand, if they are referring to the Factory Optical price of $178 and taking half off of that, that would mean I could get my glasses for $89, which would be a great deal.

I decided to investigate their website: [www.clearlycontacts.ca] to price a pair of glasses similar to the pair I bought last year (using that as a type of scale for comparison)

This is what I came up with
[ www.clearlycontacts.ca/glasses/frames/hugo-boss-47-dark-tortoise/prod25079.html ]
A similar styled pair, similar designer brand, and lenses included for only $98! (plus taxes, I would assume)

If this pair is $98, I guess they are assuming you would usually pay (98 x2) $196 for these glasses, which makes their price point close to Factory optical’s pricing than the other store’s. I guess their claim of “Glasses for Half the Price” was pretty accurate.