Stock lenses on hand

**gatorbait** · 02-11-2011, 10:28 AM

I have recently decided to keep stock lenses on hand since I am trying to cut and edge all of my work except wrap lenses and VSP jobs. Whats a good range of SV lenses to keep and should I have some w/ AR?

Also I order them from ODG 3 days a week for all of my SV patients. Is there a better place to buy in bulk?

I have only been cutting and edging for 2 weeks, but truly enjoy it and my office is slow enough to not stress over all the work. Not to mention having a brand new Briot doesn't hurt either.

Any recommendations would be great. Thanks.

Matthew

**Angie Siebrecht** · 02-11-2011, 03:43 PM

I'm sure I can help you get a better price on a bulk order through our lab. I have an easy form to order your ranges on and I can get you each material you are wanting to stock in house. Feel free to mesage me for details.

**WFruit** · 02-11-2011, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by gatorbait

I have recently decided to keep stock lenses on hand since I am trying to cut and edge all of my work except wrap lenses and VSP jobs. Whats a good range of SV lenses to keep and should I have some w/ AR? That will depend on how much of what you are selling (and how much A/R you're selling). If you decide to order from us, I'd be happy to review what you're selling and put together a recommendation specific to your needs.

Also I order them from ODG 3 days a week for all of my SV patients. Is there a better place to buy in bulk? Yes, PM me for details.

I have only been cutting and edging for 2 weeks, but truly enjoy it and my office is slow enough to not stress over all the work. Not to mention having a brand new Briot doesn't hurt either. It's always good to enjoy your work.

Any recommendations would be great. Thanks. You're welcome.

Matthew

See answers above. And again, it's always good to enjoy your work.

**HarryChiling** · 02-11-2011, 04:26 PM

Generally the saying goes that you sell what you have on hand. This is a pretty good rule of thumb so if you believe in a certan product then you should stock that particular product. I would recommend stocking only lenses with AR. Naked lenses can wait, however this is also going to be dependent on your particular clientele and demographics. Most offices stock between +2.00 and -4.00 sphere out to a cyl of -2.00, however you'll find that the plus powers won't get as much use and the fringes won't get as much use so the best way to determine your stock I have found is by creating a budget first once you know how much money you have to invest in stock you can determine what power range you should stock and what materials. Any lab can send you a standard stock recommendation. Of course the initial buy in is going to entitle you to a bulk discount or a bunch of free lenses so call and negotiate the pricing or the number of lenses they can comp if they won't budge on price. Definately carry the spheres out to a -4.00 you can get away with cyls to about -1.50 and you can avoid the plus powers as well. If you decide to go plus powers make sure you get aspheric and if you are going poly as stock avoid the lower powers since in some cases they will be to thin to groove and require thicker lenses like 2.0 poly or surfaced stock. If you need more details I'll get more info to you tonight. Check with your current surfaceing lab, if you already do business with them the costs can be reduced due to volume and a reduction in shipping costs. Plus one bill every month makes the accounting a bit easier to deal with.

**David_Garza** · 02-11-2011, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by HarryChiling

If you decide to go plus powers make sure you get aspheric .

Why Asperic plus only? Wouldn't stock aspheric also depend on saled to clients?

**uncut** · 02-13-2011, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by David_Garza

Why Asperic plus only? Wouldn't stock aspheric also depend on saled to clients?

I think that Harry means that the most likely use for a stock aspheric would fall into lower powers in plus vs minus. You are less likely to use aspherics in low minus powers, therefore the stock would be less useful.

**jefe** · 02-15-2011, 12:05 PM

Thickness becomes a major issue when stocking plus powers. A 70mm +4.00 in CR-39 is going to look very bad in most frames except for relatively big ones. Aspheric lenses in poly are usually going to be 65mm, and because of the slimmer profile thickness isn't going to be as much of an issue.

I keep a smaller collection of plus lenses on hand than minus ones. It's still less expensive to pay shipping on a small stock lens order consisting of, say, a 60mm +5.00 sph. than get it surfaced. Minimizing your plus lens inventory for higher powers means you won't look into your lens drawers six years down the road and see a bunch of yellowed CR-39 lenses.

**David_Garza** · 02-15-2011, 02:01 PM

I get the asthetics of Plus Aspherics, but when you are talking about stock lenses why would you buy upgraded materials to keep on hand unless your patient base is always going to pay for the upgrades? Aspheric vs nonAspheric lenses.

**HarryChiling** · 02-15-2011, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by David_Garza

I get the asthetics of Plus Aspherics, but when you are talking about stock lenses why would you buy upgraded materials to keep on hand unless your patient base is always going to pay for the upgrades? Aspheric vs nonAspheric lenses.

The aspheric plus is going to cost you less than the surfaced plus spherical so your saviong money and passing an upgrade along to the patient. In the minus since the thickness is the same in the center regardless of the diameter of the lens you could go aspheric or you could go spherical depending upon what you sell. My suggestion was more along the lines of "IF" you are going to stock plus lenses stay lower powers and use only aspheric, it reduces hassles and actually saves money over comparable surfaced work.

In all honesty if you are carrying newer more stylish frames large A to B ratio you may even consider taking a spherical option off the table and going only aspheric, better lens/frame fit with aspheric lenses in todays flat frames. Another consideration is to just avoid plus powers all together and stock deeper for the myopes, depends again on your clientele and demographics.

When I was dispensing in many circumstances I would find that an upgraded product would cost me less than the product the patient actually ordered, for instance a poly polarized PAL I could get an Elemenet or Succeed for less than I could get the image which is a free form upgrade. So I ordered the free form PAL and explained to the patient that I just so happened to get the upgraded product for less than the product they ordered so they got an additional $150 value in their eyewear. I save money, the patient is happy, and next time they may just purchase the upgrade. Plus it actually saved me money to have the patient test drive the better product for a year or two and get used to it. I have run into opticians that would rather give them the more expensive non-upgraded product because that's what they paid for, but it's a lose/lose scenario rather than a win/win scenario which benefits no one.

**Jubilee** · 02-15-2011, 03:16 PM

When I was doing the set up for our in house lab, I could get Vision Ease plus Aspherics for the same or less than NON aspherics. Minus powers were a different story. Since we did a group of medicaid and thus reading glasses, kid's plus, etc.. I kept up to a +4 in stock aspheric with cyls to -1.50.

I agree with Harry as well, and make use of that inventory. I actually only carried poly lenses. It was cheaper and easier for me to do so. If a patient ordered only the basic CR39 that insurance covered.. or we were doing medicaid which only covers the basic material (though it did cover UV!) I would still put them in poly to use what I had on hand. Saved me time ordering, money in shipping, and kept things streamlined. For me, the added benefit was I bill insurance for UV to come out a bit farther ahead.. since poly was UV protective.. and using poly was cheaper than sending out, or applying UV In house.

**HarryChiling** · 02-15-2011, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by Jubilee

When I was doing the set up for our in house lab, I could get Vision Ease plus Aspherics for the same or less than NON aspherics. Minus powers were a different story. Since we did a group of medicaid and thus reading glasses, kid's plus, etc.. I kept up to a +4 in stock aspheric with cyls to -1.50.

I agree with Harry as well, and make use of that inventory. I actually only carried poly lenses. It was cheaper and easier for me to do so. If a patient ordered only the basic CR39 that insurance covered.. or we were doing medicaid which only covers the basic material (though it did cover UV!) I would still put them in poly to use what I had on hand. Saved me time ordering, money in shipping, and kept things streamlined. For me, the added benefit was I bill insurance for UV to come out a bit farther ahead.. since poly was UV protective.. and using poly was cheaper than sending out, or applying UV In house.

+1

**icmor** · 02-16-2011, 01:37 PM

I agree with Harry's lens range. It does depend on who your clientele is for what you stock. We see pediatric to older adullts in our office. We stock poly no A/R for the children, and plastic with A/R for everyone else. You can try lenstock.com for any sv option out there with two day turn around. You would need an account with one of the 16? independent labs associated with lenstock. If you are interested, I can PM the name of a lab we use. Prices at lenstock are very good.

**Don Gilman** · 02-16-2011, 03:21 PM

We have free software that shows what you have used and creates an order to send to your supplier. It also allows for calculating minimum blank size. We would hope you would use our lenses but not necessary. Send me an e-mail don@superoptical.com and I'll send it to you. You can visit our website www.superoptical.com and see what we have in finished single vision. I can offer a discount depending on the size of your initial order.

**Speed** · 02-16-2011, 04:48 PM

Do not stock any plus powers above 1.50. They will be hit and miss, mostly miss, on thickness. You will find yourself constantly weighing quality against lab bills.

**Jubilee** · 02-17-2011, 07:08 AM

Lenstock.com also features a "reporting" system that shows you what your orders have been over a period of time. From it you can create an ideal "inventory" and use it as a tool for ordering.

**eyechick1969** · 07-14-2011, 01:38 AM

We have 70 mm scratch coated cr-39 lenses for sale in bulk. 25 pairs to 10,000 pairs. Price depends on quanity.<prices removed>. optical.gal@comcast.net