From: siegman@stanford.edu   
      
   Just been in to see my friendly local optician (actually, a relatively   
   modest local shop, favorably reviewed by local online users), after   
   getting an updated glasses prescription from my similarly well   
   reviewed HMO.  We're talking fairly near-sighted with some prism, and   
   a recommendation to use high-index glass so lenses aren't too thick.   
      
   So, the numbers I'm getting _just for the lenses_ are like $495/pair   
   for progressive bifocal, $395/pair for plain bifocal, $295/pair for   
   single vision lenses . .  . PLUS $120/pair for AR or polarized   
   coatings . . . PLUS $200 and up for the frames.   
      
   Am I naive in supposing that all these lenses are produced by just   
   punching the prescription numbers into a keyboard connected to some   
   monster automated machine? -- with the manufacturing cost for the   
   finished lenses being maybe 30 bucks a pair, packed and ready for   
   shipping, independent of the surface complexity? -- and the   
   manufacturing cost for the frames being a similar number?   
      
   Should I be venturing over to the local Costco or WalMart?  Or   
   entering my prescription into the website for Glasses-R-Us?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)