my $0.02... I worked for about a year during college making eyeglasses at Pearle vision. When the lab was slow I'd go out and sell glasses for the commision. Eyeglasses may be the most marked up item that I know of other than jewelry. I had access through the computer to what Pearle paid for the frame. It wasn't uncommon to sell a $100+ frame that Pearle would pay about $3 for. The exception to this was the Armani frames which were only marked up about 50%. That's why all the employees would get the Armanis with their 50% discount. They were good quality too, I've had that pair for about 15 years and they're n great shape - outta style though.

As far as lens go... the blanks were about $4-5 each with a mrsp of about $50-75 on average. The add ons were money makers too. For example, polycarbonate is already UV resistant when it comes from the factory but they'll charge you the extra $30 for it anyway. If I remember. the commision on that was $2. The flip side is that if it was a wierd prescription and we had to gring the lens in the store the cost was about the same for a lot more work on my part. Many stores can't grind lenses though, they have to send them out as most techs don't know how to use the machines.

So, as a result I hate buying eyeglasses. For the most part I know how much I'm being ripped off. That's why the last time I bought glasses I used optical4less.com out of Hong Kong. Takes forever to get your glasses (about a month+) but they are as good a quality as the cheapies in the chain stores that cost around $100. Just be careful about lens thickness; there's no reason that the Hong Kong guys have to follow the US rules on minimum lens thickness, which is about 1.2 mm if I remember right.

__________________
-livin' in the terminally flippant zone