If this business ain't gone to hell. it's gettin close.Comments!

[Bill West]

I just finished my 55th year as an Optician and boy has it changed. I'm just sticking around trying to learn something from JOHNS. Who knows, I may open my 15th store yet.

[Chris Ryser]

I may open my 15th store yet...................

I just finished my 55th year as an Optician and boy has it changed. I'm just sticking around trying to learn something from JOHNS. Who knows, I may open my 15th store yet.

Nice to see you post once in a while.

Could you elaborate a little more ? The title of the post and the last sentence do seem to hit it other head on.

[newguyaroundhere]

Depends on one's perspective on whether this business is going to hell or not.

[Chris Ryser]

The business is not really going to hell as it can not and never will

Depends on one's perspective on whether this business is going to hell or not.

The business is not really going to hell as it can not and never will because there is an eternal need for it................however it is shifting the supplies and purchasing as well as sales, from manufacturing to retail.

It seems that the trend is to cut out all the middle men and make sales direct to the consumer.

Do you still see the odd shoe maker and shoe repair shop ? I have not seen one in years. The new shoes today cost a lot less than 50 years ago and the quality is not halve a s good as when we were young.

Optical frames where made in many sizes from bridge to lens sizes , today there is a limited choice in that but large one in colors and shapes.

Furthermore:

Nearly 102 million working-age Americans jobless

Although the US unemployment rate has declined, more and more Americans are choosing to opt out of the labor market altogether and no longer even figure in the employment data.
Efforts by the Obama administration to dress up the employment picture are a bit like attempting to stuff a circus elephant into a ballerina costume. As Washington trumpets last month’s drop in the unemployment rate (6.3 percent), it has quietly moved more than 988,000 Americans into the “not participating in the labor force” column.
If you add the current number of Americans without a job (9.75 million) to the number of US citizens not in the labor force (92.02), you come up with 101.77 million working age Americans who do not have work, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Now compare that figure to April 2000, when 5.48 million Americans were unemployed and 69.27 million Americans were not participating in the labor market. The number of Americans 14 years ago without work was 74.75 million. That means that the number of working age Americans without a job has risen by 27 million since the year 2000. However Washington wishes to fudge data that is bad news for the Obama administration.
In January 2005, the month that Barack Obama was sworn in as president, the United States was struggling with its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Just 60.6 percent of all working age Americans enjoyed employment of some kind.
Since just 58.9 percent of all working age Americans presently have employment, the US job picture remains in worse condition than it was when Barack Obama entered office.
Michael Snyder, who contributes to The Economic Collapse blog, suggested that the United States“just define every American that is not working as ‘not in the labor force’ and then we can have ‘0.0 percent unemployment.’”
“Then we can all have a giant party and celebrate how wonderful the US economy is.”
The unemployment data comes on the heels of another report, released last week, that 20 percent of all American families in 2013 do not have a single member that is working, according to BLS.
The BLS defines a family as “a group of two or more people who live together and who are related by birth, adoption or marriage.”
In 2013, of the estimated 80,445,000 families in the United States, in 20 percent – or 16,127,000— of them none of the members was employed.

source: http://rt.com/usa/156800-americans-e...employed-work/

[idispense]

Business is about marketing and positioning.

Where is your market and what is your position in that market ?

Most opticians know little about optical, next to nothing about their market, and even less about their position.

Millions of people still buy glasses every day, but where do they buy their vision products ?

[Tallboy]

As a tall guy with big feet who destroys his shoes, I would pay a small fortune for a shoe cobbler who fit, adjusted and maintain shoes for me at the price I do wo with glasses for others.

[Chris Ryser]

Millions of people still buy glasses every day ........................

Business is about marketing and positioning.

Where is your market and what is your position in that market ?

Most opticians no little about optical, next to nothing about their market, and even less about their position.

Millions of people still buy glasses every day, but where do they buy their vision products ?

top grade post by "idispense" as usual ........................

There was a time in many European countries when an optician was discounting his sales, he would be cut off by the major suppliers of higher quality brands, and selling cheap was to become cheap, in price as well as in quality.

These days opticians a brainwashed into selling the best and most expensive items by the manufacturers, which then turn around and sell through their own direct outlets at rock bottom prices.

Can you really blame the 102 million work less of which many need glasses to go where it is cheaper?

It has always been said that "bread and butter" is the foundation of food. And that type is the foundation of the on-line discount sellers.

I am watching the websites of on-line sellers in our field and see their ranking increasing continuously while others are stale or dropping. Find a way of good marketing for whatever you stand for. Warby Parker must now be at an all time high of any optical seller as far as I can see.

[Johns]

Bill, thanks for the shout-out, but I'm just one of MANY folks on Optiboard that still believe in this profession. I'm in the middle of opening my second new office of this year, and I can honestly say that the optical business is alive and THRIVING.

The business is not going to hell, but the knowledge base, and the work ethic of prospective optician/employees has plummeted in the last 5 years. I was supposed to open one of the offices in September of 2014, but had to delay it until January due to a lack of qualified candidates.

Are there quality opticians out there? Of course, but in this market, they are all employed by smart ECPs who are throwing a ton of money at them not to leave. Smart move, and I do the same. Those opticians aren't on Optiboard complaining about their wages, because they are too busy at work each day, going to battle, proving that there still are professionals in the optical world!

[Speed]

It's Costcos'! Get back to your own store. Betty can't help. The Boss can take a week off but not the Licensensed Opticians!

[braheem24]

I'm still waiting for the doom and gloom, maybe I'm on the wrong channel.

Ive opened 7 opticals in the past 13 years, They're getting easier everytime.

Its a tough hill to climb if there's no hope.

[Johns]

I'm still waiting for the doom and gloom, maybe I'm on the wrong channel.

Ive opened 7 opticals in the past 13 years, They're getting easier everytime.

Its a tough hill to climb if there's no hope.

Amen! The doom and gloom has come, and it's shaken the weak apples off the trees...

[COMEINPEACE]

[QUOTE=but the knowledge base, and the work ethic of prospective optician/employees has plummeted in the last 5 years...[/QUOTE]
johns you have said a mouthful..

[sharpstick777]

Damn, Johns nailed it again. There are challenges with any industry that goes through a high rate of change. Optical is no exception. After many many years of very little innovation, time and progress are catching up. For example, even though Tillyer proved in the 1920's that cyl was better on the back, not the front of the lens, it took almost 50 years for that to become an everyday reality. Now change happens in milliseconds. Some change is good, some change is bad, but its my personal belief that we have already hit bottom in many ways and are on the upswing again. I have great hope for the future of Opticianry, and smart people like Johns make my case.

Bill, thanks for the shout-out, but I'm just one of MANY folks on Optiboard that still believe in this profession. I'm in the middle of opening my second new office of this year, and I can honestly say that the optical business is alive and THRIVING.

The business is not going to hell, but the knowledge base, and the work ethic of prospective optician/employees has plummeted in the last 5 years. I was supposed to open one of the offices in September of 2014, but had to delay it until January due to a lack of qualified candidates.

Are there quality opticians out there? Of course, but in this market, they are all employed by smart ECPs who are throwing a ton of money at them not to leave. Smart move, and I do the same. Those opticians aren't on Optiboard complaining about their wages, because they are too busy at work each day, going to battle, proving that there still are professionals in the optical world!

[drk]

I think our exposure here is that we are a service industry. It's hard to get people that have social skills, character, work-ethic, etc.

If we were doing widgets, then we could have toothless, smoke-breathing, gut-hanging folks working and we'd not have to worry about social skills at least.

Have you been to a McDonald's recently? Man, that pay grade brings out the worst.

[Johns]

Have you been to a McDonald's recently? Man, that pay grade brings out the worst.

My 17 yr old son was just hired at McDonald's. (Pretty girls, time-clock, a schedule, uniforms...what's not to love for a high schooler!) If not the worst, the pay grade certainly brings out the youngest and least experienced. He was hired three weeks ago, and has worked a total of 4 days. When I asked why he had so few hours, he told me that at this store, there are 67 employees, and they're hiring more! What a model!

So, of course, he's reconsidering working for me, and has decided he might be able to bring himself to work at one of our urban stores that is close to where he goes to school. No pretty girls, no time clock, but we're negotiating on a suitable uniform.