Why the hell haven’t I been doing this all along?
Ever since I started buying books on Amazon years ago at heavily discounted prices from the comfort of my own home I’ve only once bought a book from a retail store and only because the savings weren’t as huge and I really wanted the book right away. You really can’t beat discounts of up to 37%, ordering from the comfort of your own home, free shipping (usually 2 days), and an excellent review system to help you pick your books.
I am a firm believer that most shopping will move online because it’s simply better. I can imagine in the not-so-distant future retail clothing “stores” that don’t carry any stock, where you can go in and try things on or feel the material, but have it shipped directly to your house.
So it is strange that I have never bought contact lenses online, given their high-markup nature. I have always considered it, but I suppose it has simply been habit that I go into an eye exam and at the end I order a set of contacts.
Today I broke that habit. I went with www.clearlycontacts.ca and it took me about 5 minutes to save $100. I started using daily contact lenses a few years ago. When I first started, I paid $130 for 2 90-packs (one for each eye, so 90 pairs) – $65 per box. That was the price I paid for a couple of years since I bought them at the same place back home in Belleville. Last year I ended up buying them in Waterloo where I had an eye exam and I paid $300 for 4 90-packs (180 pairs) – $75 per box.
At clearlycontacts.ca the unit price of the exact same (brand of) contacts was $59.89. They had a 4-box volume discount for $54.89 per box. They normally offer a 10% discount to new customers but I found a coupon for 15% off if you were a new customer and paid with VISA. Shipping was free. The only “catch” was that they threw in a “Handling & Insurance” fee of $10.98.
My grand total today was $197.61 for 4 90-packs – $49.40 per box. It was shipped by FedEx overnight so I should have them in a couple of days.
Seriously, WTF. I’m terribly embarrassed that I only started doing this now. Everyone else should do the same.
