Shopping for Contact Lenses

How do you get the best deal on contact lenses?

My supply of contact lenses is running out, and my prescription ends in a couple of weeks. Time to go back to the optometrist?

Ha! My vision hasn't changed in years, and my eyes feel fine. I don't have any vision insurance right now, so I would be footing the bill for another eye exam. No, I'm going to stock up on contacts while my prescription is valid, then go in next year for an eye exam.

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU DO THE SAME AND YOUR EYES FALL OUT, IT'S YOUR FAULT. CONSULT YOUR OPTOMETRIST AND FOLLOW HIS/HER ADVICE REGARDING YOUR PRESCRIPTION!

Now that I got that out of the way...

If your optometrist sells glasses and contacts, you may simply buy from him/her after your exam. I know I used to buy my contacts that way. Some people think such arrangements (optometrists selling glasses/contacts) are a conflict of interest. And I agree.

Since I'm trying to cut expenses, I figured I would shop around for contact lenses. Lately I've been picking them up at Walmart, since that is where I got my latest prescription, and I just pick them up at the store when I need them.

But my local Walmart Vision Center seems to never have my particular prescription in stock, and the optician acts surprised every time, scratching his head, and furrowing his brow. I have to special order them, pay up front, then come back 1-2 weeks later when they are in the store. If I have to special order every time anyway, why not just do it from the convenience of my home? These are the places I searched for Acuvue 2 contact lenses:

1) Walmart: Let's start with Walmart. At $22/box, this is our baseline.

2) Ebay: Apparently you can't buy them on Ebay, or I searched incorrectly. All I see is contact lens accessories, and surgical/diagnostic equipment. If it's there, it's buried. Nicely done, Ebay. Cross that off the list.

3) Amazon: There are several vendors on Amazon, but the lost cost was about $21/box when you add in shipping.

4) 1800Contacts: If you buy a year's supply, they lower the price to $19.75/box, with free shipping.

5) Walgreens: With a coupon, the price was $17.24/box, with free shipping. Looking good...

6) WebEyeCare.com: Never heard of them, but $11.15/box?!?! That is cheap! When I tried to load up with 8 boxes (1 year supply), I could not. That is a teaser price for 1 box per eye (2 total), and it doesn't include processing charges.

When I added the other 6 boxes to the order, the average price per box (including processing) jumped to $18.29/box. The teaser price is a lie of sorts, to get you in the door. I walk away from these types of business relationships. No thank you!

And when I went to check out, boom! Another $12.95 in shipping and handling charges separate from processing charges? These guys are taking deceptive marketing practices to new lows. Shipping AND handling does not include processing? My head is about to explode! Now the price per box is $19.91, and I've wasted a lot of time.

Plus, the web site is not very professional. For example, I originally typed in a fake email address (just to get the final price), but then thought better of it, and chose "guest" instead.

The web site validated the email address anyway and stated there were invalid characters in it. If I selected "guest," why validate the email address?

A second rate web site and deceptive business practices? Goodbye.

7) Opticontacts.com: Also listed at $11.15/box. Is there a catch?

After proceeding to checkout, a mysterious "processing" charge of $23.64. And the cheapest shipping option is $9.95. Still, the price per box comes to just $15.35, which is a very good price, although not as good as their deceptive come on price would suggest.

Unfortunately, I had already placed my order with Walgreens based on my bad experience with webeyecare.com. Walgreens was straightforward and easy. They even had a database to look up my optometrist. They verified my prescription and shipped my order the same day. Seamless.

Maybe next time I will order from opticontacts.com. I despise their bait-and-switch sales tactics, although they are not as bad as webeyecare.com.

Or maybe I will finally opt for vision correction and be done with this chaos.

Walmart's Pricing Gimmicks

Pricing transparency is key to an efficient market. Walmart's pricing is transparent...yet subtly devious.

A couple of months ago, I was buying groceries at Walmart, and I stopped by the cereal aisle. I looked at a box of cereal, then noticed the same box on a higher shelf, both at the same price.

I was about the grab the more easily accessible box, when I noticed an anomaly: they were both the same price, but one had a different price/oz. I hesitated, and began to study the two boxes more carefully.

One box had a higher net weight than the other. Both boxes had the same exact length and height. So looking at the front of the box, both boxes appeared to be identical. However, turning the boxes sideways revealed one was thicker than the other.

And which box do you suppose was right at eye level, the easiest to see and grab? You guessed it, the 15.3 oz box priced at $2.98. The 18 oz box, also priced at $2.98 (the better value, obviously), was a little bit higher, and required more effort to notice and acquire.

I was so fascinated by this discovery, I began to pay more attention when shopping, and I noticed a pattern emerge. Gimmicky pricing and packaging used to trick consumers into spending more to get less. Spend more, live worse? Walmart may need a new slogan.

On another occasion, I was buying some cheap shampoo at Walmart. I noticed the 15 oz bottle for $0.97, while the 22.5 oz bottle was $1.50. A quick calculation in my head and, whoa! The larger size actually cost more per ounce. Buy in bulk to save money? Maybe not.

I noticed the same quandary buying gum and toilet paper, where the largest packages were not the cheapest per unit/weight, etc.

Why does Walmart do this? They no doubt understand pricing psychology. They know that certain price points will maximize revenue.

Does this make Walmart evil? No, they are just trying to make money. Their prices are clearly posted, so it's not hard to figure it out. It just requires some remedial math skills, or the use of a calculator.

And Walmart does generally have reasonable prices when compared to other retailers. My point is not to start Walmart bashing, as I think the media has taken care of that task.

My point is that Walmart, like any other vendor, is not your friend. They are not looking out for your best interests. That is your job.

So do it.

Super Cheap Mistake Airline Fares!

Delta apparently posted some "mistake" fares that a few lucky people snatched up.

Delta is in the news today. Apparently, they posted some mistake fares. Some round trip fares that normally cost about $400 were as cheap as $25. But was it really a mistake?

I remembered another airline doing this, just a few months ago. I looked it up, and yeah, United did the very same thing back in September.

Both airlines have promised to honor the "mistake" fares that were offered. That sure is nice of them, isn't it? Or maybe it isn't. Color me skeptical, but I don't believe these fares were a mistake at all.

Airlines surely have a rigorous process for setting their prices. It would be incredibly easy to, at the very least, set reasonable limits for fares that could not be crossed. Maybe they could make a mistake by dropping a $400 fare to $300. But to $25? I doubt it.

More likely, they are simply offering this gimmick fare to get some free publicity. Well, it's not totally free, but you get the idea. Let a few people get a cheap ticket, and for a few thousand dollars, you get a headline on every newspaper and web site. Set a limit to the number of tickets that can be sold at the gimmick price, and your liability is very limited.

Plus, because they are honoring the fares, they come across as the good guy. 

And because word of mouth spreads so fast about the great deal, tens or even hundreds of thousands of consumers navigate to travel web sites in search of the deal (which they won't find). How much is all that web traffic worth? How many consumers, in search of the gimmick deal, will buy a ticket anyway?

Hmm...millions of eyeballs and some goodwill with the public. Seems like a bargain for Delta - but not consumers.

Marginal Existence

What is a marginal existence? And what does it mean to your financial well being?

I've been thinking about starting this blog for a while. A few years ago I started to get more organized with my finances. Although I've read many other blogs and articles regarding consumer finance, I felt like I was a passive observer, instead of an active contributor. 

Whether or not anybody will read my blog, or appreciate my "contributions" is another matter. But it will still be valuable to me to organize my thoughts and improve my finances. Hopefully, somebody else can benefit from my experiences, the same way I have benefited from others'. And so we begin...

As I was thinking of a name for my blog, the term "marginal existence" popped into my head. What exactly is a marginal existence? It can mean a few things.

A marginal existence could be a life that has little meaning or value. I think we can all identify with this feeling. I sometimes feel my life is meaningless and insignificant. What impact can I have on society? What will be my legacy? For the most part, I think we all feel like we fall short in this regard.

Another definition for marginal existence could be "just eking by." Financially we may just be surviving, not thriving. We may have a lot of obligations (debt) to service, and we may feel like we are running on a hamster wheel - expending a lot of energy but going nowhere.

Despite these common definitions, I would like to offer up another connotation for marginal existence. Let's start with the word "marginal" and go from there.

A margin is an edge or a border. It is a limit. In business, a margin is the difference between the cost of a good or service and the price at which it is sold. The margin is where businesses make their profits. When you have no margin, you are on an unsustainable path. You may sometimes hear that a business is a "marginal business," implying that there is fierce competition in that particular industry, and margins (and profits) are small. Throw the fixed costs in, and it's no wonder so many businesses fail.

And I find increasingly that this is true for my own life. My "business" is marginal. No, I don't actually own a business. What I mean is, my finances feel like a marginal business. 

There are a lot of fixed costs in life. For example, food has a certain fixed cost component. Yes, you could eat Ramen noodles for every meal, but that would not be part of a healthy lifestyle. Nor would it be enjoyable. If you are going to eat normal, healthy food, you will pay for it.

Another example would be housing. If you look around at available housing in your area, you will find that there is a market for housing (renting or buying), and you cannot escape that reality. If a 2 bedroom apartment typically goes for $1000/mo, you won't find one for much less than that. It is largely a fixed cost.

When you calculate all of your expenses, you realize that most of the money you earn is already spoken for. It's gone. Your fixed costs are high. Just like a business, you have to watch your variable costs closely if you want a healthy bottom line.

A marginal existence is the reality in which we all live. We are constrained by the margins in our own finances. We cannot escape this reality. We have to learn to live within the margins if we want to build wealth and become financially independent.

The focus of this blog will be how to navigate those margins, cutting costs and improving financial freedom.