Sears getting desperate??

[Bill West]

Anyone has a right to offer any kind of deal as long as it is legit and not a scam.
The Sears flyer was in our local papers, all three, yet my deal never stopped rolling.
Since October my business has been booming and it wasn't bad to start with.
I will be glad to share it with you if you want privately.
I'm selling my business tomorrow so maybe some of you could use this idea.
Best deal anywhere And VERY PROFITABLE.
Bill :D

[jediron1]

Anyone has a right to offer any kind of deal as long as it is legit and not a scam.
The Sears flyer was in our local papers, all three, yet my deal never stopped rolling.
Since October my business has been booming and it wasn't bad to start with.
I will be glad to share it with you if you want privately.
I'm selling my business tomorrow so maybe some of you could use this idea.
Best deal anywhere And VERY PROFITABLE.
Bill :D

Now I have some swamp land in Georgia I would like to sell you. Come on Bill you know what they say " if it sounds to good to be true then it probable is not true" I can also get you a rate of 12% just send me your money and I will start getting you the 12% NOT

[va_optikal]

I'm here in the Midwest and I have had folks come in telling me about Sears great new sale. I'm quite a bit cheaper then most places around here. I tell them, well, if you can get a good deal WITH a 'good' pair of eyeglasses to boot, then go for it, but if you find that you're not happy, then, well you know where I'am. :)

[Chris Ryser]

I have a friend who manages a Sears Optical and she told me that her regional wants her to go out in the Sears store and stand in the middle of the isle and ask people "when was the last time you had your eyes examined" and get them to come into the optical. If that is not desperate I don't know what is.

I would have invited people to come for a free clean and adjust, and then try to talk to them while they were waiting.
\:idea:

[Crazy-bout-Optics]

I have a friend who manages a Sears Optical and she told me that her regional wants her to go out in the Sears store and stand in the middle of the isle and ask people "when was the last time you had your eyes examined" and get them to come into the optical. If that is not desperate I don't know what is.

I *Think* they tried this concept when Lux was running Macy's Optical under the Macy's name. They turned a small area in Macy's at the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall into a small optical with a Dr's lane. It was very sad. It was tucked back next to hosiery and was not visible at all. They were happy to have 3 sales a week. I think hey finally caved in and changed the name to LC Optical or Optique @ Macy's, and they've been doing much better.

I bet you anything if they changed the Sears Optical name to "Lenscrafters Bargain Bin" their sales would shoot up. I say this in jest, and as a LC employee, so please do not start hating. LOL. But in all honesty, the Macy's name couldn't even get people to buy eye wear at the Macy's Optical, so they changed it.

But to force Opticians to go out into a Sears store and peddle for business, tops even their coupon in desperation!!

As my Nana Says "Aye Gavault!"

[Paul E. Carbonate]

So now I'm a troll again...Listen people, I'm ABO certified and hope to get advanced and then masters. I work with 20+-year vets who really don't know crap about optics and yet are loved and requested by all of our customers.
I'm personally not afraid of Sears, or Pearle, or LC...but I'm honest enough to say that in 99% of the cases we encounter, a barely-trained idiot can provide a pair of glasses someone can see reasonably well out of, given an accurate rx.
That's not devaluing us or our industry. I'm proud of what I do, because I'm there when the "McLens" stuff doesn't work. Having said that, I make money in this job because I know how the money is made.
I didn't invent the Sears, LC, WalMart approach...I just admit that they have been and will continue to be successful, with or without top-notch opticians.
Your goal, and mine, should be to figure out how being a top-notch optician produces more money--rather than whining because I pointed out the truth that thousands of untrained idiots sell glasses every day with no problems.

[jediron1]

[quote=Paul E. Carbonate;236004]So now I'm a troll again...Listen people, I'm ABO certified and hope to get advanced and then masters. I work with 20+-year vets who really don't know crap about optics and yet are loved and requested by all of our customers.



I guess I m one of your 20+ vets but I do know a little about crap and you sure like to throw a lot of it around. Your ABO and want to get to Advanced and so forth. Do you have any idea of what you speak? Were you around when only glass lenses were the fashion or when a DOC over refracted and you had to compute the rx using their present rx ? Have you ever used a ribbon seg or an Ultex or do you even know what they are? So here you are sitting on your high and mighty perch setting the pecking order as YOU see it throwing the crap around like you've seen all, heard all and done all when
in all actuality you don't know anything at all. Those 20+ vets must have something or all those requests would be falling on deaf ears. :hammer:

just my take

[HarryChiling]

Those 20+ vets must have something or all those requests would be falling on deaf ears.

Not in my office they don't, 20 years of doing nothing but selling horrible eyewear and people still ask for them. It happens, not everyone is great at what they do because they have been doing it for 20+ years. I would be on the fence on this issue here, on one hand you gotta give it to them they're making money, on the other hand at what cost. Poorly fit eyewear and comprimised accuracy. It's not the model I would emulate, but it works for them.

[jediron1]

Not in my office they don't, 20 years of doing nothing but selling horrible eyewear and people still ask for them. It happens, not everyone is great at what they do because they have been doing it for 20+ years. I would be on the fence on this issue here, on one hand you gotta give it to them they're making money, on the other hand at what cost. Poorly fit eyewear and comprimised accuracy. It's not the model I would emulate, but it works for them.

When I first started we had 3 guys with at least 40 years each and everyday from about May 1st and until about Oct.1 when they would leave for Florida we had standing room only from 10:30 am until 4:00 pm and over 60% of them wanted to see those gentleman. Now these guys knew their craft. One of them could pick up a pair of glasses and hold them arms length away tell me sphere power cyl. power and what axis and be within a quarter for sphere and cyl. and within 5 degrees for axis. Now these were skilled opticians they knew there craft. ;)

[HarryChiling]

One of them could pick up a pair of glasses and hold them arms length away tell me sphere power cyl. power and what axis and be within a quarter for sphere and cyl. and within 5 degrees for axis. Now these were skilled opticians they knew there craft. ;)

Human Lensmeter, I would have loved to seen that. I work with a lady that's been in this business for 20+ years and she doesn't know how to properly take a seg height. (DEEPEST PART OF THE FRAME FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD ALREADY). She says she's been doing it that way since she came into this business and she'll be doin' it til she leaves. :angry:

[jediron1]

Human Lensmeter, I would have loved to seen that. I work with a lady that's been in this business for 20+ years and she doesn't know how to properly take a seg height. (DEEPEST PART OF THE FRAME FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD ALREADY). She says she's been doing it that way since she came into this business and she'll be doin' it til she leaves. :angry:

Harry I don't know if thats funny or sad or both. But I worked with a guy that would only use a pd stick for everything seg heights, pd's. So I said one day lets have a test. I will measure every one with auto pd and you use stick and we will compare. After a day we were within one mm of each other and I think he had the edge. :cheers:

[loratz]

I guess I m one of your 20+ vets but I do know a little about crap and you sure like to throw a lot of it around. Your ABO and want to get to Advanced and so forth. Do you have any idea of what you speak?




Good answer.I cant stop laughing.Paul would be a good corp.management candidate for wallyworld, seriously(If he's not already working their).:idea:

[jediron1]

I guess I m one of your 20+ vets but I do know a little about crap and you sure like to throw a lot of it around. Your ABO and want to get to Advanced and so forth. Do you have any idea of what you speak?




Good answer.I cant stop laughing.Paul would be a good corp.management candidate for wallyworld, seriously(If he's not already working their).:idea:

I had the same impression that he might work there. :D

[vprl]

My guess would be that the 20 year vets were being requested because they had great customer service, and the patients left feeling that they had got their money's worth. We have people request the same techs year after year because they liked the glasses that our sales people helped them with. They are not optical rocks but they only deal with dispensing, frame selection and minor trouble shooting. Our lab makes the glasses with the prescription that was given for the patient we measure them correctly and dispense with a thorough fitting, also explaining the lenses benefits and things the patient may experience initially. If the patient returns with problems we research with basic trouble shooting and adjustments to the frame that may help, if no success we go over our findings with the Doc and set them up for a re-check.

While in our industry we need brilliant opticians like Harry, Daryl and a lot of other people I see posting on this board, it does not mean you can't be successful in the business if you do not have an optical genius in your office. Having one will also not guarantee that you business will be a success.

[jediron1]

desperate doesnt even scrape the surface, 50%,60%,70%,80%
$89 eyeglasses with frames up to $120 including lenses
$129 glasses w/ vision ease "smart tint" that was recalled for delamination
and every other combination of sales you can think of. Because meeting a "patients" needs is based upon how many pairs of glasses you sell them. :hammer:

From what my friends over there tell me this so called "smart tint" is the lens of choice. They tell me they are being pressured to sell this "smart tint"
instead of the real transitions. From what they said morale is really low because RM's are pressuring them to make plan and if they don't they have to cut hours.
I guess they are feeling a pinch.

[Paul E. Carbonate]

Man, some of you must have really blown the reading comprehension portion of any standardized tests you've taken.
I said there are 20-year vets I work with who, despite a lack of technical optical knowledge, do a great job both for us and our customers.
The "sound out the big words" crowd were unable to understand that and assumed I meant I have no respect for time in the industry.
Add to that a random "I'm an expert in glass" comment, and you can see what's wrong with our field.
Being an expert in glass is like being an expert in smooth-bore muskets and owning a gun shop. At some point, the technology you're experienced with has changed so much that your experience becomes irrelevant.
In the computer field, some old guy saying he learned BASIC in 1981 is laughable, as it should be. The question is what can said old guy do now.
Call it trolling, but these knee-jerk reactions continue to amuse me and I guess I'll keep soliciting them, if only to find out who wants to advance our profession and who wants to get a pat on the back for being able to drill glass.

[Chris Ryser]

Being an expert in glass is like being an expert in smooth-bore muskets and owning a gun shop.

........................The question is what can said old guy do now.
Call it trolling, but these knee-jerk reactions continue to amuse me and I guess I'll keep soliciting them, if only to find out who wants to advance our profession and who wants to get a pat on the back for being able to drill glass.

Polycab...................besides being rude I believe your technical horizon must be somewhat limited and your even proud of it.

When the old guy can drill glass he for sure can drill plastic.

However if the young guy can drill plastic most certainly he can NOT drill glass.

Having said so, the optical world has not changed like computers did. The optical is still the same with some new materials and processing equipment added so that you can train somebody coming off the street in 30 minutes to grind lenses and mount them without knowing what it is all about.

Like in any other profession experience in the field is still ahead of inexpirience................and try to dispute Thai one.

[Paul E. Carbonate]

.

Polycab...................besides being rude I believe your technical horizon must be somewhat limited and your even proud of it.

When the old guy can drill glass he for sure can drill plastic.

However if the young guy can drill plastic most certainly he can NOT drill glass.

Having said so, the optical world has not changed like computers did. The optical is still the same with some new materials and processing equipment added so that you can train somebody coming off the street in 30 minutes to grind lenses and mount them without knowing what it is all about.

Like in any other profession experience in the field is still ahead of inexpirience................and try to dispute Thai one.

And no one drills glass anymore so your point is moot. We hired (briefly) an "old guy who can drill glass" and he was too slow to be useful in a modern lab.
I have no doubt you're the better optician, however that's irrelevant to the discussion at hand. The question was about discount opticals and how we stand in competition with them.
Sometimes, a field of endeavor undergoes a change that negates previous experience--as optical has undergone regarding glass work and making your own patterns.
I neither welcomed this nor made it happen, it just is. I said nothing "rude," I simply stated the facts as I see them.
Specialize in glass and vintage frames, or quit whining. And quit whining about an economy you don't understand while you're at it. You're a frightened old man and you sicken me to an extent that a weak person like you can never understand. You are a dying parasite, trying desperately to suck the last bit of life out of this American industry.
The industry will continue to thrive, old man. It is you who must come to grips with a final end to things. Getting cold yet?

[jediron1]

Polycab...................besides being rude I believe your technical horizon must be somewhat limited and your even proud of it.

When the old guy can drill glass he for sure can drill plastic.

However if the young guy can drill plastic most certainly he can NOT drill glass.

Having said so, the optical world has not changed like computers did. The optical is still the same with some new materials and processing equipment added so that you can train somebody coming off the street in 30 minutes to grind lenses and mount them without knowing what it is all about.

Like in any other profession experience in the field is still ahead of inexpirience................and try to dispute Thai one.

Chris every thing you said is true. Poly probable is a newbie and also probable works at LC thats why he gets so worked up over comments about LC it's probable the only atmosphere he has ever worked in. That said he is rude and very inexperienced but he did say "I m just here for trolling" so I don't know whether he's here for fishing or singing but he sure likes to cause a little commotion.

[Chris Ryser]

.
.......................... And quit whining about an economy you don't understand while you're at it. You're a frightened old man and you sicken me to an extent that a weak person like you can never understand. You are a dying parasite, trying desperately to suck the last bit of life out of this American industry.

The industry will continue to thrive, old man. It is you who must come to grips with a final end to things. Getting cold yet?

Actually I am pleased at your outburst, because you show your true colors of doubtful intelligence and an attitude that would never fit into a circle of good friends.

I have done fairly well drilling holes in glass, being in the retail, distributing frames, inventing and manufacturing chemicals always under my own flag, except a short stint with Essilor head office.. I own some patents, a couple of homes, a factory building on a 38,000 sq f lot with no mortgages to pay.
Just sold my 50'Yacht and my deep sea fishing boat, but kept my 3 motorcycles which I am still riding.................no I am not getting cold yet.

I could have ignored your insulting post, but been thinking that you do need a lesson and got to learn that decent behavior can probably get you further in life. It is easy to rant behind a pseudonym and insult other in a forum. :finger:

[jediron1]

.



And no one drills glass anymore so your point is moot. We hired (briefly) an "old guy who can drill glass" and he was too slow to be useful in a modern lab.
I have no doubt you're the better optician, however that's irrelevant to the discussion at hand. The question was about discount opticals and how we stand in competition with them.
Sometimes, a field of endeavor undergoes a change that negates previous experience--as optical has undergone regarding glass work and making your own patterns.
I neither welcomed this nor made it happen, it just is. I said nothing "rude," I simply stated the facts as I see them.
Specialize in glass and vintage frames, or quit whining. And quit whining about an economy you don't understand while you're at it. You're a frightened old man and you sicken me to an extent that a weak person like you can never understand. You are a dying parasite, trying desperately to suck the last bit of life out of this American industry.
The industry will continue to thrive, old man. It is you who must come to grips with a final end to things. Getting cold yet?

Why respond to this senseless dribble. :finger:

[Happylady]

Poly, why are you so rude and unpleasant on this board? Are you like this in real life?

[Bill West]

Now I have some swamp land in Georgia I would like to sell you. Come on Bill you know what they say " if it sounds to good to be true then it probable is not true" I can also get you a rate of 12% just send me your money and I will start getting you the 12% NOT

That's the problem with most Opticians. I worked 3.5 days a week in Feb, this is all I ever work, and booked over 27k in sales, 26k in March. NO INSURANCE, NONE.With my cost the results are over 5 times better then your 12%. Maybe you need to LEARN HOW TO MARKET YOUR PRODUCT. DUH.;)
I can believe you really do have some swamp land, maybe you should buy some more.
Actually I started my "sale" before the other ads came out, if they cost me some business so what, I did o.k. I don't want it all. Hey' this is nothing new for me, I been doing it a long time.
Just got bought out by my nearest practice of OD's, four of them with an office 5 miles on either side of me. They just could not stand the heat any longer.
HO,Hum.:D

[cocoisland58]

Poly, why are you so rude and unpleasant on this board? Are you like this in real life?

I have been wondering for a while now. Does Chris have an alter ego named Paul? Perhaps not but if so I wish I'd thought of doing that.

[Crazy-bout-Optics]

I have been wondering for a while now. Does Chris have an alter ego named Paul? Perhaps not but if so I wish I'd thought of doing that.

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde . . . I knew it! ;-)