Brown Bananas

I was talking to a buddy of mine about the economics of retirement. Since neither one of us really has a clue about economics, it was pretty odd.

We talked of private pensions, Canada pension, OAS, bridge supplements and the relative benefits of benefits. We both had a kind of general understanding since we are both recipients of pensions, but neither of us could call to mind any accurate figures or percentages. In the end, we knew that anything that was selling cheap or discounted was the best way to buy things. We were just happy to have pensions and wouldn’t it be nice to win the lottery.

There was a point in the conversation that our vision plan was discussed. Before we retired, I think we had $400 coverage every two years. Now that I am retired, the coverage is $350 every four years. It turns out that the Post Office wanted us to see well while we were delivering mail, but now we are retired, they don’t care if we walk blindly in front of a bus. I am pretty sure they would prefer that, it would save them pension money.

When I got home, I was still thinking about glasses. Mine are all right, but it would be nice to have another pair for when I lose this pair or sit on them. They are getting pretty scratched and either my head is getting wider or the arms of the glasses are bending. Time for a new pair, but I don’t qualify for another two years or so. What to do? What to do?

 

I checked out Clearly Contacts which is an online vision care company. The glasses that they sell are in the range of $50 to $100. Of course that is for single vision lenses and the price will go up for bi-focal and even more for coke bottle lenses. There is a relatively large variety of frames, and they are different prices. The up shot is that a pair of glasses from Clearly Contacts would be a third to half the price you would pay at a brick and mortar optical store. That’s pretty good, but I think I can do better.

 

I found the Zenni Optical site on the internet. Zenni Optical is based in China and their glasses start at $6.95 a pair. For that price, you could toss your glasses at the referee or umpire when they make a bad call. You could give them to your buddy when he looks at an ugly girl and says she is “hot”. Now, I will admit that for $6.95 there is a very good chance that I would look like even more of an idiot than I normally do. But $6.95! I have bifocal lenses, so that would bump them up to $15 or $20, but I’m good with that.

I have talked about this before, but this time I am going to order the glasses. Well, maybe I will. If and when I get these glasses, I will post a picture on the blog and you can laugh at the old, bearded geek with the funny glasses. There is a chance, however small, that I’ll look great and you will wonder what that web site was for the Chinese optical place. I know you won’t remember Zenni Optical, so I’ll make it easy for you and call this blog “Brown Bananas”.