Some thoughts......................................

[Chris Ryser]

The consumer is never wrong.
The consumer deserves a pleasant experience.
The consumer deserves as much time as they need.
The consumer deserves custom-fitted prescription eyewear.


Factoid
"Of the over 67,000 opticians designing, manufacturing
and dispensing eyewear, less than half have any formal
certification or licensure." -- U.S. Department of Labor

"Many optical outlets are just 'ready-to-wear' stores where
staff is only trained to sell 'one-size-fits-all' merchandise."
"Large corporate optical retailers owe their allegiance to
stockholders, not consumers. The consumer is much better
served in most cases by independent Eye Care Professionals,
who tend to be more caring and experienced, are more flexible
with their policies, and are inclined to put service ahead of sales."

source: http://www.harisingh.com/OpticiansForChange.htm

[bhess25]

i agree completely!

[Judy Canty]

As do I. Who is this group?

[DragonLensmanWV]

http://positivesharing.com/2006/07/w...tomer-service/

[John@OWDC]

Having worked for the big LC and independents I would have to say that the really big difference between the two is choice.
Having the freedom to REALLY choose what is best for your patient and best meets their needs and wants over what corporate, or worse a narrow minded independent owner deems best for their income.

[Chris Ryser]

As do I. Who is this group?

Here it is: .........and it is all so well said.

"An Optician's first purpose is as a highly

skilled Health and Wellness Professional.

A Corporation's first purpose is to make money for
its stockholders, not to serve the needs of consumers.
As a result, the delivery of prescription eyewear today is more an
exercise in marketing things as opposed to Health Care Delivery."

"Opticianry is ultimately defined by how well the eyewear makes
contact with the Patient, not by the number of customers served.
Therefore, a conscious, precise, and personalized process of frame
selection, lens design, and in-place, hands-on fitting is required. In too
many cases obsessive and unrealistic sales goals override the Optician's
mission of providing good professional health care, whereby the personalized,
custom-fitting of eyewear is given only the most minor consideration, if any."
"The customized fitting of eyewear involves far more than just adjusting a
nose piece or bending a temple. It has to include reshaping, bending
stretching, twisting, aligning and sculpting of the frame components
in order to personalize the eyewear. Anything less will most likely
compromise the Patient's visual comfort and long term wear-ability.
The difference between adjusting and custom-fitting is what's different
between today's ECP-merchants and yesterday's skilled Opticians."
"Just as a dentist cannot practice dentistry without hands-on the patient,
an ECP cannot practice dispensing without direct contact with the patient.
Most of today's dispensers simply hand over a patient's prescription glasses
absent touch-and-feel, hands-on custom-fitting, and alignment of their eyewear." --
Hari S. Bird, LDO, Licensed Dispensing Optician

A Brief Personal History

I am a native of the Midwest. I am also a Sikh. My career as an Optician began following active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps in 1958. My Dispensing Optician licenses in Florida and Arizona are current. I have been certified by the American Board of Opticianry, and National Contact Lens Examiners. I am currently a Dispenser-training consultant. And I am a passionate advocate of a) the resurgence of the Optician as a genuinely skilled Health Care Provider as opposed to today's Dispensers who are trained mostly as eyeglass merchants, b) resurgence of the Full Discovery and Disclosure Life-style Interview and Design of prescription eyewear, c) conscientious Hands-on-the-Patient delivery of prescription eyewear, and d) more effective hands-on training for aspiring Opticians in the art of custom designed lenses and the custom-fitting of eyeglass frames.

A Special Note

As a senior Ophthalmic Health Care Provider and founder of OpticalCourse.com, I am interested in sharing my experience in the dispensing of prescription eyewear. If you are a practitioner who recognizes the decades-old decline in dispensing skills and wish to incorporate hands-on-the-patient dispensing into your practice, or you need guidance in order to improve your skills and profitability, please visit these sites, OpticianryReview.com and OpticianryToday.com for more details, then contact me here.

Free Training Courses

For Eye Care Professionals
by Opticians For Change

http://www.harisingh.com/aboutHSBOptical.htm


all information on Harry Bird at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/harisinghbird

[Barry Santini]

I really do NOT think of myself PRIMARILY as a eyecare health provider. I believe that thinking this way continues to pigeon-hole us into an out-moded and much more limited skill set than we both require and desire to do our best today.

[FVCCHRIS]

Deleted by Poster- I'm too cranky to be on here today.

[wmcdonald]

I really do NOT think of myself PRIMARILY as a eyecare health provider. I believe that thinking this way continues to pigeon-hole us into an out-moded and much more limited skill set than we both require and desire to do our best today.

So Barry, if you are not a health provider, what do you consider yourself? A salesman, a technician? What?

If vision is not a part of health care and Opticians are not health care providers, please share your vast knowledge as to exactly what we are. That license you display is there because you may cause some harm to the health and well-being of the patients/customers. widgets you see in your office every day. Until we get out of this retail mode we are in, we will continue to decline exponentially.

I always enjoy your responses, so let please share.

[leop776]

what do you consider you are?

[Chris Ryser]

what do you consider you are?

Just click on the name and you will find out.....................

[Barry Santini]

So Barry, if you are not a health provider, what do you consider yourself? A salesman, a technician? What?

If vision is not a part of health care and Opticians are not health care providers, please share your vast knowledge as to exactly what we are. That license you display is there because you may cause some harm to the health and well-being of the patients/customers. widgets you see in your office every day. Until we get out of this retail mode we are in, we will continue to decline exponentially.

I always enjoy your responses, so let please share.

The answer is right before your eyes, Dr. McDonald. Healthcare provider, salesman, technician, craftsman, advisor, guide, guarrantor and guru...all wrapped into one.

It's all....or none, IMHO.

No optician is going to go successfully forward into our brave new online optical world with just the traditional "healthcare" mindset/approach.

As far as harm goes, well, whether you wear Rx or not, the only real, sustainable harm is found from environmental causes. The overwhleming bulk of the rest is all about degrees of visual excellence...or adequateness.

I'm seeing this metric unfortunately being primarily defined by price at this time...on both sides of the dispensing table.

Shame.


B

[Barry Santini]

Geez.

A telltale of the problem we face with communicating value for eyewear is its lack of perceived fashion appeal.

Most men will spend more in one year on two new, fashionable ties...that are worn below the neckline, than they will on a frame that they'll wear on their face for three.

It's our challenge, and we have to rise up and meet it. Approaching it primarily through the healthcare door, is, IMHO, a dead end.

B

[finefocus]

Oh, Barry, please don't tell us that you've become (gasp!) a stylist!! You know that fashion sense, and the urge to cater to your customer's shallow desires to look good, undermine all of us good scientific opticians. So bone up on your formulas, slip in that pocket protector, and get out there and forget aesthetics before your brain freezes up and you lose your yearning to have gone to optometry school.

[Barry Santini]

Oh, Barry, please don't tell us that you've become (gasp!) a stylist!! .

If you saw the way I dress, you'd know better...

[DragonLensmanWV]

The consumer is frequently wrong. This is a fact we need to accept.

[Chris Ryser]

The consumer is frequently wrong. This is a fact we need to accept.

Yes, that is a good point................however you do not let him know that and you will not offend him.

If someone at ⁞your workplace offends a client or a customer, they’d probably get an earful from their colleagues or boss. If someone annoys a friend of yours, you’d probably have a go at them. This capacity to punish those who behave badly, even if they haven’t wronged us personally, pervades all aspects of human society. And we’re not the only ones – fish punish bad behaviour too.

The bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) operates an underwater health spa for larger fish. It advertises its services with bright colours and distinctive dances. When customers arrive, the cleaner eats parasites and dead tissue lurking in any hard-to-reach places. Males and females will sometimes operate a joint business, working together to clean their clients. The clients, in return, dutifully pay the cleaners by not eating them.

[rinselberg]

The bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) operates an underwater health spa for larger fish...

Wow, there's Chris Ryser talking a "bluestreak" again..

Wasn't there a famous radio commentator who was known for saying "And now for the wrasse of the story!"..?

All kidding aside, that's one of the most scholarly references that I have ever seen in the countless number of OptiBoard posts that I have read as a (now) long-time member here. And I dare say that I am not one for offering gratuitous observations about the posts that I read. That deserves a double "thumbs up".

Well done, Chris Ryser!

[chip anderson]

Now that Chris has brought up cleaner fish I feel obligated to ruin Tillapia for all of you. *80% of all tillapia served in resturants in the US are raised in pools. These pools are to raise stripped bass and some other fish, I forget just what.
Tillapia and Catfish are kept in these pools to clean up the Bass and other fish droppings. When they reach marketable size they are shipped out to resturants accross the U.S.

Kind makes you want to order something else don't it.

Chip

[Chris Ryser]

Thanks for the compliment rinselberg, if you would have given me 3 thumbs up I might just have made the OptiBoard Pulitzer price.

Now that we have hashed the consumer to fish skin and Talapia in the frying pan we could go back to the 2nd subject at the start of this thread, which has not been mentioned yet.

Factoid
"Of the over 67,000 opticians designing, manufacturing
and dispensing eyewear, less than half have any formal
certification or licensure." -- U.S. Department of Labor

"Many optical outlets are just 'ready-to-wear' stores where
staff is only trained to sell 'one-size-fits-all' merchandise."
"Large corporate optical retailers owe their allegiance to
stockholders, not consumers. The consumer is much better
served in most cases by independent Eye Care Professionals,
who tend to be more caring and experienced, are more flexible
with their policies, and are inclined to put service ahead of sales."

Any thoughts?

[chip anderson]

If I could just make them look worse or restrict them legally or enact the fairness doctrine so the advertising would be equal, then I would look better.
Ain't nuthin gonna happen and if it does physician and optometric employees will be exempt so it will just be further restricting ourselves. If we restrict and "qualify and educate" ourselves enough then we will have to increase our prices cause we so edumacated and the exempt outlets will be able to price themselves lower that us.


Chip

I don't like it but that's the way it is.

[Chris Ryser]

If we restrict and "qualify and educate" ourselves enough then we will have to increase our prices cause we so edumacated and the exempt outlets will be able to price themselves lower that us.

I don't like it but that's the way it is.

A perfect example of what 50 years in the optical business can do to you!

Actually with more "educamation" you could lower your prices drastically to a level of "non profit" if you wish, and start charging for your grade of knowdlege and expierience.

You then would be charging less for the goods you sell, but add a charge, or several charges, for your "savoir faire" and what 50 years of optical business have done to you.

Now, you suddenly have arrived at competitive sales compared to the on line opticals...............with the added benefit of selling knowdledge and expierience................which the onliners can can not do, because they are at long distance and have no hands on.

[Chris Ryser]

IHME'S !! I HATE MY EYEGLASSES !!

by Amy M. Arcand

As of 2005 over 177 million people were expected to need vision correction. (Jobson Publishing LLC)
Of the over 67,000 opticians designing, manufacturing and dispensing eyewear - less than half have any formal certification or licensure. (U.S. Dept. of Labor)

Despite this, there is only one complete consumer guide available to the public. IHME's... !! I HATE MY EYEGLASSES !! offers everything the consumer needs to know about Eye Doctors, Prescriptions............................................... ......

http://www.publiclibraries.com/autho...ok1/index.html

[John@OWDC]

"Despite this, there is only one complete consumer guide available to the public. IHME's... !! I HATE MY EYEGLASSES !! offers everything the consumer needs to know about Eye Doctors, Prescriptions............................................... ......"


But that is just not true.

My site provides all that and includes a Consumer Information lesson as well!

[Ginster]

It all comes down to listening to the Pt. and telling them there options. The personal touch they really like I hear it all the time from my Patients that stray. I wish I never went there Ginny, they don"t do what you do, they didn't spend any time with me when I picked up my glasses, they just handed them to me. I fit and adjust those new big box glasses and win them back by doing it. We offer a monthy special that really comes close to matching the big box prices at least to what they are willing to spend for the Personal Touch.