If you are an employee of a doctor's office or shop what do you pay for glasses?

[Happylady]

I wonder how other places do it. I worked one place years ago where I never paid a dime for glasses. Course, this was before I wore progressives. Another place gave each employee one free pair a year. Another place glasses at cost for you and your family.

Place I work now gives employees glasses at "cost" plus a small %. But the cost is full wholesale and I know we get lenses for over 30% less the wholesale with our discount. Not a big deal for single vision but for nice progressives the difference can be $100 or more for a a complete pair.

Seems to me it should be the real cost not the inflated cost.

How is it done where you work?

[Crazy-bout-Optics]

So we get 2 "Free" pair per year. The optical shop will pay for any two frames and lenses. Of course, they consider the "Free" pair that the lab comps us as being part of this. There are no exclusions, as long as it is a line we carry and any lens(es) that are available from the lab to order.

If we purchase additional pairs of glasses it is done at cost. If we want a discount on the frame we just call the rep up who gives us a % off of wholesale. Same applies to lenses from the lab. For family they get at cost or cost + 20%. Depends on the mood the boss is in ;-) .

I know there are certain labs , say lab H that invoices at cost, and at the end of the month takes a certain % off our total. So for family and the like, we will use lab C that takes the % off right on the invoice to keep costs down for those that are actually paying.

At times a rep will comp some one a frame for free, and give vouchers for lenses. Our boss once tried to get a co worker to pay for a frame that was given by a rep for free, as she had already "Used her 2 free pair". Drives us nuts sometimes. In our office we aren't really petty over one person getting something free. We have a "thats awesome for them" and "Wow, that was really nice of the Rep to do that" attitude, versus "Why didn't I get one too?". Funny enough half of our staff don't wear/need vision correction.

I never expect anything for free anyways, so this arrangement works for me. To date I have ordered in 4 pairs of glasses where my out of pocket cost if about the average price of a frame on the board.

~CBO

[anthonyf1509]

The doctors we employ get whatever we want them to have. (Usually 2-3 clear 1 sun).

Employees get 1 clear and 1 sun annually.
Also anything they negotiate outside of those 2 with any reps they can purchase.

Our office: 1 FT OD
1 PT OD
1 Office Secretary
5 Opticians
Outside the "free" eyewear, they can purchase anything else they'd like at wholesale, not after extra discount on wholesale...as Ownership puts it - you get 2 free and infinity at wholesale, don't gripe about it just because I get a 20% frame discount or whatever, it's my business ' discount which had to be earned.
Immediate family get 50% off all retail. Extended family get 50% too (but it's up to the optician - maybe they don't like crazy uncle Ned)
Fair? I'm curious what everyone else does too.

[Judy Canty]

Seems fair to me.

[fjpod]

I know you asked for employees to state their situation, but as an employer, I can tell you where I come from.

The larger the practice, the more problems with freebies. It's probably not a good idea to tell all employees what your COGs is, so telling every Tom, Dick, and Harry that works for you, "You can have it at my cost" is a big mistake. And COGs is not really what you pay from the lab. There is a tremendous amount of overhead to be considered....staff time, fabrication, machinery, consumables, rent, etc. When you give it away at lab cost, and you have 30 or so employees, you'd be surprised how many pair of glasses people "need" per year.

It's also not a good idea to let staff negotiate free stuff for themselves with reps. We had one once who thought it was ok to negotiate free stuff then supply it to her family and friends.

We allow one pair per employee, per year at 60% off. Same for spouse and children. After the first pair, 50% off.

[Craig]

We are in the retail business so I decide what frames and lenses we want our staff to wear, then buy them for them! My goal is to have me and the staff wearing what we want to promote; we are all wearing Maybach frames now with Xtractive non-glare lenses in a drill. We also all have Maui Jim RX sunglasses, Lindberg's and others in every new lens we want to try.
The glasses we all wear are more important than the one's on display boards! I am so glad to read that others hinder the process that we promote. We also have employee's wear black slacks and shirts, so we purchase them for them to ensure they are consistent. It is all part of the cost of goods and it works for us.

Craig

[NCspecs]

When I took over my optical this fall I snagged free lens vouchers and discounted frames for all the techs/front desk girls. They are the first people to interact with potential eyeglass customers when people arrive in the office and are being worked up for their exams. If the girls up front are happy they will tell the patients as much. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

[anthonyf1509]

In a smaller practice it's easier to know all that happens, so it's ok for us to let them negotiate. But I can see how it couldn't work also.

Craig, you're right. The whole reason there are free pairs are so they can recommend from experience.

[obxeyeguy]

I tend to lean like Craig does. Our official policy is one pair per year, all employees, medical and optical. My policy for my optical staff is make what you like, within reason, granted I only have 5 direct employees, so it's pretty easy for me manage it. The girl that works with me doesn't need correction so I buy plano AR lenses and put them in new styles she likes, and she wears them off the rack to match her outfit that day. They also show better to the patients with the AR lenses in them. Family is done at 50% off retail.

[chip anderson]

Well now you know, some employers will furnish freebies for advertising purchases, some just so the help won't be seen wearing out-dated worn product, some are quite generous and some are cheap SOB's. If you were expecting some sort of national policy on this you are very young.

Chip

[kaypaula]

Official policy is: 2 pair glasses OR contact lenses per year at 50 percent off. No discounts for family other than the "20 percent insurance discount" we give our patients. I say "official' because the optical employees get vouchers from our outside lab once in awhile. And its always okay to ask the boss/Dr. if its okay to purchase glasses for my son at cost. If he says okay, then its okay. Taken on a case by case basis. But offical policy is 50 percent off.

[Jacqui]

When the high school kid was working for me the deal was 2 pr. clear, one sun and all needed safety. If she wanted more (almost monthly) she would need to buy the frame and I would supply lenses (stock CR39), she also had to do all the labour. Was kind of a win-win situation as she loved to tell everyone which retailer she had gotten the frames from and send people to them. Helped me get a few extra jobs too :))

[opty4062]

We get one pair clear and one pair sun per year, any lenses, any frame, any lens options. After that our purchases are at cost and immediate family get glasses or contacts at cost. Exams once per year for employees and immediate family are supplied at no charge, at off peak hours.
We have six employees in our office; two LDOs, two techs and two insurance clerk/receptionists, who are all cross trained to some extent.
Thanks for reminding me that it's time to frame shop for myself... :)

[cocoisland58]

One employer covered pair per year in whatever lens and frame you prefer and after that 50% off so we all just stick to the one pair per year. Last position was "cost" for however many pair you wanted. Both ways seem fair to me.

[Golfnorth]

My late Father ran an office which included a lab and dispensary. I knew that guys in the lab made up glasses for themselves on the sly which is not right. I currently have a very small staff (one other optician) and she can have as many pairs of glasses as they'd like as long as she asks me. It is not abused.

Regards,
Golfnorth

[Happylady]

My late Father ran an office which included a lab and dispensary. I knew that guys in the lab made up glasses for themselves on the sly which is not right.

That would be called stealing.

One place I worked had a guy(manager) who was doing that among other things. I didn't know about it at the time but found out later. He was figured out by another employee and when the other employee was going to tell the owner he got her fired.

[braheem24]

He was figured out by another employee and when the other employee was going to tell the owner he got her fired.

Proactive, the sign of a good manager.

[Java99]

I've worked places where you got a 25% discount off retail, others where you got one free per year and nothing else, and one where you got one free, anything else at cost + a small %. At the last place, 30+ person office, everyone got more than one a year, wore them, loved them, wore them around town and created interest. Seems the best way to go to me.

[Striderswife]

In our office, the staff all get one pair per year for free. Anything after that they can purchase at cost. Immediate family get materials at cost (employees and family get Dr. visits at no cost), and extended family get 20% off retail. We have around a dozen employees, and everyone's perfectly okay with this arrangement.