It's not news that China has been kicking America's a$$, at least in all things manufacturing. And while it should probably be a genuine concern; I give it pretty much no thought. After all I don't contribute to the problem. In general; I don't buy cheap crap, and a lot of what's made in China is cheap and crap. But recently I made a discovery... it is cheap, but it's not all crap.
I was in need of new eyeglasses. I had a perfectly nice pair but I had bought them on the cheap. I mostly wear my contacts daily and only use my glasses in the evening or if I don't leave the house. And since most corporate insurance gives you a choice of contacts or glasses. I always go with contacts. So though I didn't need a new pair of glasses; I really wanted them. I envisioned something more substantial and fashionable than my wire frames. My wire frames, lenses, and etc cost a little under $150. All the stylish pairs in my local optical stores were going to be at least $200. More than I wanted to pay since; I already had perfectly functioning, practically new glasses. That is when I discovered Zenni Optical. A neighbor of mine had some great glasses that I commented on and he claimed they only cost him twenty bucks."What?!" was my reaction. He then told me about this great Chinese website called, Zenni Optical, where you could order custom eyeglasses for super cheap. No up to date prescription needed. Obviously you are going to need your prescription if you want to see properly. But if you are like me and have a file of all your medical information this should be no problem. My prescription had actually just expired since here in the states eyeglass prescriptions are only valid for a year. My prescription has not changed in seven years so I was confident that using a prescription expired by a couple of months would not do any great harm to my peepers.
The customer service was outstanding. The eyeglass options were endless. Prices start at $6.95 and from what I noticed topped out at around $35.00. My total cost came to $14.90 and I received my package within two weeks. They are coming from China so don't expect them in 3-5 business days. There were a couple of other frames that I liked better but were in the thirty dollar range. As it was my first time buying from a Chinese website I was nervous so opted for the less expensive ones. Next time I will happily pay for the "pricier frames." (Will some one please tell me if the period goes inside or outside the quotation marks. I can never remember)
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| Don't laugh at me, all who know me know I don't take good pictures. |
Yes, after my very positive experience I would buy from China again. The fact that they can provide me with eyeglasses for $6.95, makes me feel like some poor twelve year old who should be in school, is instead at the Zenni factory being paid a half of penny an hour to make these frames. And while the idealist in me gets very sick thinking about it. The pragmatist and history buff in me knows that all countries as they come out of mass poverty goes through this cycle. That is how they pull themselves out of poverty. England and the U.S. went through it, and we shouldn't deny China the oppiortunity to go through their Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution this country had children working in factories, coal mines and goodness knows where else for slave wages. And as the country came to its senses, and when we could do better, laws were passed and child labor was halted. No doubt if there is a twelve year old working at Zenni to make my glasses she/he would prefer to eat rather than have herself or her family starve in the street. So I will not feel guilty about my $14.00 glasses and neither should you if you decide to purchase some. Visit their website below.
