Points To Ponder

"What is it that Dentists, Manicurists, Hairstylists and Opticians
all have in common? They have to make personal, direct,
tactile contact with consumers while dispensing services.
When Opticians do not touch the consumer at the time
they dispense their eyewear, they're acting more as
unskilled eyeglass merchants than as an Opticians."

"When Opticians relate to consumers as customers,
it often has an adverse impact on the relationship.
When consumers order their prescription eyewear, they
should invariably be served as Patients, never customers.
Customers receive merchandise. Patients receive health care."

OpticiansForThePeople.com is devoted to the principle that the prescription eyewear consumer is best served only when they receive competent, 3-Dimesional dispensing services, i.e., in-depth Discovery, bias-free Design, and hands-on Delivery of eyewear from a skilled dispenser. In other words, consumers deserve a) a full discovery lifestyle interview, b) comprehensive design of lenses and frame, and c) hands-on, in place, on-the-face delivery of their eyewear including multi-dimensional handcrafted frame and lens adjustments. Anything less is unacceptable.

Consumers Tend To Get Better Service From Independent Opticians

Too many retail optical stores owe their allegiance to stockholders, not Consumers. Ophthalmic consumers are better served in most cases by Independent Optical Dispensaries, whose Opticians tend to be more caring and experienced, more flexible with their policies, and more inclined to put service ahead of sales, and prudence ahead of profit since they serve the consumer directly with more accountability for their actions. See Common Complaints and Causes.  See Find a skilled Optician in your area.

As senior, independent Ophthalmic Health Care Providers, we are interested in sharing our experience as dispensers of prescription eyewear. If you are a Consumer who recognizes the decades-old decline in dispensing skills and you need any assistance, please contact us here.

The Open Letter to the American consumer, which follows, presents a 'Bird's eye' view of a) the business model in use today by many Retail Optical Dispensaries; b) the conflicted relationship between experienced Opticians and many Retail Managers and Executives; c) the retailing practices, which have led to a steep and steady decline in the practical design and up-close-and-personal, and on-the-face delivery of custom-fitted, prescription eyewear; d) practical remedies.

The opinions and conclusions are based first, on our direct observation and experience, and second, on the first hand testimonials of Patients with whom we have had the opportunity of serving. And they are presented with the hope that consumers will resonate and be inspired and motivated to demand improvements in the training of Opticians. Note: An abbreviated version of the Open Letter appears in the November 2009 edition of Eye Care Professional Magazine.

Open Letter

To the American Consumer:

First, a brief personal history about Hari Singh Bird, Optician, the author of this narrative. Mr. Bird's career as an Optician began following active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps and his subsequent employment with an American Optical Company Branch Laboratory in 1958. He spent more than 2 years in all phases of Laboratory operations as a Lab Technician, which included hand surfacing, power generation, hand stone and automatic edging, bench work, finishing, final inspection and hands-on-the-Patient custom fitting.** (At that time AO and B&L, Bausch and Lomb, laboratories dispensed eyewear to the public at the request of eye care practitioners, i.e., MD's and OD's. See OpticianryToday.com for additional background.) Mr. Bird then became the Manager of an AO Branch Laboratory, and later a Sales Rep for American Optical lenses, frames, and ophthalmic instruments. He subsequently returned to Ophthalmic Dispensing with a joint MD-OD practice. He holds active Dispensing Optician licenses in Florida and Arizona. He is also ABO, American Board of Opticianry, and NCLE, National Contact Lens Examiners, certified. He is a current member of POF, Professional Opticians of Florida, and he has several years experience as the owner of an independent, privately operated Ophthalmic Dispensary, and more recently as a Licensed Optician for a retail optical chain. He is currently a Dispenser Training Consultant.

 Main Issues

1) Many Optical Retailers are well positioned in the marketplace, but few are ready to be America's 'Premier' Vision Care Provider. Many of them employ a business model that works well for marketing general merchandise. But an Optical Dispensary is different. Like a Pharmacy or Health Clinic, an Optical Dispensary is a Health Care Facility where prescription eyewear is designed, fitted and serviced. It is not a strictly mercantile sales facility. The comparison can be likened to the difference between a retail outlet where only stuff is sold to Customers versus a Health and Wellness Eye Care Dispensary where prescription visual devices are designed and custom-fitted on Patients. (The concept lost in today's retail optical market is that an Optician's mission is more for the purpose of Serving than for Selling. See To serve is to succeed.)

"Once today's Retail Optical paradigm is upgraded to that of serving
Vision Care Patients, as opposed to serving just Retail Customers, an
Optician becomes a Health Care Provider, as opposed to a Merchant."

An aspiring 'Premier' Vision Care Provider must focus on a) ongoing practical training of Staff, b) highest standards of care for Patients, c) inclusion of qualified Opticians in upper management positions, d) sensitivity to Patients' eye care needs, and e) realistic sales goals.

Consumers expect Opticians to be more Health Care Professionals than Merchants.
What kind of professional health care delivery would you expect to find at this online store?

"When's the last time you saw or heard a retail optical
store promote the custom fitting of eyewear? Could this
be because they don't know how to custom-fit eyewear?
Could it be that the staff only knows how to sell glasses?"

2) There is an acute need for many Optical Dispensaries, including those associated with US government agencies, to acquire 1) adequate workspace and staffing, and 2) the expanded and ongoing training of staff that includes practical, i.e., Hands-on-the-Patient training, which includes a) the Full Discovery Lifestyle Interview; b) Customized Frame Fitting and Adjustment Techniques; c) familiarity with both the lensometer and a wider range of dispensing hand tools; d) working knowledge of optical laboratory operations, e.g., Layout, Surfacing, Finishing and Final Inspection practices; e) working knowledge of the Ophthalmic Refraction, and f) adequate training in contact lens care and Patient compliance.

"Many Retail Optical Executives and Managers have no
experience in Opticianry or Ophthalmic Dispensing. In one
organization, only 1 of 43 Regional Managers is an Optician.
In contrast, the CEO of Walgreens Drugs is a Pharmacist."

3) Some corporate Executives and Managers within the retail optical industry, some with MBA's as their only prior experience, tend to make decisions that adversely impact an acceptable standard of vision care. Some are focused too exclusively on their career advancement as Managers, while promoting unrealistically excessive sales goals and requiring interminable amounts of paperwork and reports from subordinates. This in turn interferes with the practice of Opticianry, and the delivery of quality health care. See 1Plus1Equals11.com.

"The conflicted relationship between Professional Opticians
and Retail Management can be likened to the current relationship
between Medical Practitioners and Insurance Industry HMO's."

Retail Managers who are absent Opticianry skills need sufficient training, possibly even in-house certification, in subjects such as the Lifestyle Interview, Optics and Lens Design, and Custom Fitting and Delivery of prescription eyewear, including contact lenses, BEFORE they assume any policy-making or supervisory roles. Currently, most get on-the-job training only, and their actions and decisions reflect their inexperience to the detriment of acceptable service. Again, providing professional vision care, i.e., designing, measuring, and custom-fitting prescription eyewear ON PATIENTS requires much more technical expertise and people skills than what is required to service mercantile CUSTOMERS.

"The customized fitting of eyewear involves far more than just adjusting
a nose piece or bending a temple. It has to include reshaping, bending
stretching, twisting, aligning and sculpting of the frame components
in order to personalize the eyewear. Anything less will most likely
compromise the Patient's visual comfort and long term wear-ability.
The difference between simply adjusting and customizing is what's
different between today's Dispensers and yesterday's Opticians."

        
"Patients deserve custom-fitted prescription eyewear."

Contact lens fitting and Patient
compliance requires attention to details.

"The most perfect prescription can be compromised if the
eyewear does not provide comfort and long-term wear-ability."

Example: Newly purchased eyewear, including contact lenses, is routinely and casually handed over to Patients without any custom fitting of the frame directly ON the Patient, or without sufficient instructions regarding contact lens wear and Patient compliance.

The number-one Patient complaint

"Nobody adjusted my glasses. They just handed them to me."

Testimonial

"Having you fit my glasses to my face, ears, nose and turban with exquisite care and attention to detail, making minute but essential adjustments was the best experience I have ever had of having glasses fitted to my face, during my lifetime of wearing glasses. The first time you did my glasses and your wife suggested to me that I also have my lenses tinted to gently soften the lines around my eyes was a very memorable experience. I have shared the story of the day in your Optician Shop very often whenever I try to get ‘new’ glasses. Most opticians are surprised to hear the story and also amazed that having that care and attention to detail as a part of having glasses fit properly made such a difference in my life. Having my glasses not hurt and having them fit properly was an incredible blessing. Having my glasses fit gracefully and painlessly under my turban was nothing short of a Godsend. I can honestly say that no other optician ever did such an impeccable job as you did.

I once tried to get new lenses in the glasses that you had adjusted for me. I came back to pick up the glasses and someone said to me that the optician had straightened out the bent side pieces! I was so upset! I made the optician come out and I explained what you had done for me, why you had done it and what a terrible disservice he had done by ‘straightening’ my side pieces and that he had to re-bend the side pieces back to where they had been. Needless to say, those glasses never fit the same again! After that I never changed lenses without speaking directly to the person making the lenses and making sure they knew not to change or adjust the side pieces. If you lived where I could get my glasses adjusted properly that is where I would go..."

Every Patient deserves a fully personalized design and fitting of their eyewear. The fact that the frame lies on a flat surface squarely should never preclude fitting the frame directly on the Patient. This becomes obvious when after fitting a Patient with facial anomalies, the frame no longer fits squarely on a flat surface. Facial structure, the positioning of each eye and ear, the mastoid-contour (see example) behind each ear, all of these differ with each person. See Common Complaints and Causes. See also The Final Fitting.

"For many Consumers, the personalized fitting of eyewear
by a skilled, hands-on Optician is an unfamiliar experience."

Example: Experienced Opticians are required by inexperienced Managers to reduce or even by-pass the time necessary to conduct life-style interviews, design appropriate lenses, and custom-fit prescription eyewear directly on the Patient. See How To Manage An Optical Dispensary.

"Just as a Dentist cannot practice dentistry without direct Patient contact, the
Optician cannot effectively dispense without tactile contact with the Patient.
An unskilled eyewear merchant routinely hands over prescription glasses
with no hands-on assessment, nor the appropriate ‘touch-and-feel’ required
to custom fit the eyewear. Hands-on-the-Patient Opticians however, determine
for themselves by sense of touch how the frame feels in lieu of asking the Patient."

Again, fitting a vision appliance on a Patient involves a different level of technical knowledge and people skills. Dispensing prescription eyewear includes many elements of craftsmanship, artistry, and Patient-Dispenser interaction along with significant technical skill and finesse in their application. All of these are key to the success of any Vision Health Care Facility.

A well-known optical chain's list of expectations for
the purpose of recruiting dispensing staff members.

1) Greet Customers in a friendly manner and
ensure high quality Customer service.  
2) Maintain a continuous effort to obtain            
company objectives.                                              
3) Create and maintain a retail environment   
    that is fun, educational, and professional.
4) Ensure all visual merchandising is                   
implemented and maintained.                       
5) Ensure all Customer service complaints      
are handled effectively and efficiently.     
 6) Show and recommend frames and explain
             product features and benefits to Customers. 
                      7) Take optical measurements for Customer eyewear.
                 8) Meet and-or exceed pre-established sales goals.

From another well-known optical chain.

1) Drive profitable store sales by fostering a retail selling culture
by practicing and role-playing effective retail sales skills.    
2) Develop professional business relationship with other Staff.   
3) Fill ophthalmic eyeglass prescriptions and fit and adapt          
lenses and frames, utilizing optical prescription.                            

Notice that these Merchandisers rank Retail Sales over Skill whereby 'Customers' are the focus. In contrast, a Vision Health Care Facility emphasizes Skill over Merchandising whereby 'Patients' are the focus, which produces higher levels of Patient satisfaction, fewer remakes and refunds, and subsequent profitability due to increased referrals.

And here's a personal profile submitted
online by a latter day Licensed Optician.

"Licensed Optician focused on converting patients
with malfunctioning (structural integrity) and outdated
eyeglasses (quality of vision) into a sales opportunity.
Specialties: Sales, sales reports, sales goals, quality
control, insurance filing, insurance analysis, training, word
processing, building professional relationships with clients."

Again, the focus here is on a selling opportunity not a serving opportunity. Of course, merchandising is an important and necessary service, but all too often the health care delivery component of the Optician-Patient equation becomes secondary to the act of selling, i.e., in too many cases unrealistically excessive sales goals override the mission of providing professional health care, whereby personalized, custom fitting of eyewear is given only minor consideration, if any. The reality of this issue is clearly demonstrated by a steady albeit unfortunate number of unhappy Patients and the subsequent loss of revenue by way of return visits, remakes, refunds and fewer Patient referrals. See testimonials. See Common Complaints and Causes.

"Serve people well, and more will follow."

Well trained, hands-on Health Care Professionals
make for satisfied and happy Patients.

Closing Words

"Of the over 67,000 Opticians designing, manufacturing and
dispensing eyewear - less than half have any formal
certification or licensure." -- U.S. Department of Labor

Several well-known Retailers have a history of financially supporting all kinds of community activities and philanthropic gifts. Their investment in the ongoing training and advancement of their Opticians is a gift that will keep on giving.

"Due to their market share, the largest Optical Retailers are
in a unique position to lead the industry in the direction
of re-humanizing the delivery of prescription eyewear."

The Legacy