In recent years, there has been a new trend emerging among online contact lens retailers: contact lens subscriptions services.
Some websites offer a discounted price if you purchase a contact lens subscription. Other websites operate solely on the subscription model.
It would seem that offering contact lens subscriptions are gaining popularity, but are they really better than just purchasing them on your own when it’s time?
In this article I will discuss the pros and cons of getting buying a contact lens subscription, and where you can do so if you so choose to.
What is a Contact Lens Subscription?
A contact lens subscription is when you tell a company to send you contact lenses on a regular basis. How often you are sent contact lenses depends on the type of contact lenses you use, and what’s most convenient for you.
Whether you wear daily or monthly contact lenses, your contact lens subscription will have your receiving a new batch of contact lenses precisely when you are due to run out.
Depending on the service, sometimes you are even given the option to delay or skip a shipment if you haven’t used up all your contact lenses yet.
Contact Lens Subscription Pros
Never Run Out
Have you ever thrown out your contact lenses only to realize that it was your last pair!? Does this happen to you every time? If so, then contact lens subscriptions were made for you.
Contact lens subscriptions are great for people who tend to always run out of contact lenses. It allows you to set, forget and never run out of contact lenses again.
Change On Time
It’s a money-saving habit for a lot of people to wear their contact lenses just a little longer than they’re suppose to in order to delay having to spend to re-order more.
When you know that your next supply of contact lenses in coming in a set amount of time, it removes the incentive to stretch out the life of your contact lenses. With a subscription, if you don’t change your contact lenses on time you’ll just be pointlessly accumulating extra contact lenses that you may never up using (like if your prescription changes for example).
FYI: It is important to replace your contact lenses on time for the health of your eyes!
Save Some Money*
*Maybe.
This depends on the company with whom you get your contact lens subscription, but most companies that offer contact lens subscriptions will do so at a slightly discounted price.
They do this to entice you to sign up for their subscription, which they love because it locks you in with them and guarantees that you won’t get your contact lenses somewhere else next time.
In the long run, contact lens retailers make a lot more money with contact lens subscriptions, which is why they don’t mind trading modest discounts for them.
Contact Lens Subscription Cons
Less Control
When you sign up for a contact lens subscription, you are giving a company permission to charge your credit card at certain intervals. You can rest assured that they will take every opportunity to retain this permission, including possibly making it difficult for you to cancel or change the frequency of your payments.
I don’t like saying that all companies do this intentionally, but it is in their best interest not to lose their subscriptions and there have been plenty of negative online reviews from angry customers who tried to cancel but continued to be charged.
All I’m trying to say here is that when you sign up for a contact lens subscription, you are giving up a certain amount of control of your situation and you may have to jump over some hurdles to get it back.
Locked in Pricing
When you sign up for a contact lens subscription you are ‘stuck’ getting your contact lenses from the same place every time. This can result in you missing out on some serious savings if your brand goes on sale on a competing website.
Depending on how long you stay subscribed, you maybe wasting a lot of money if prices are lower elsewhere. So before you get a contact lens subscription with a website, make sure that they have the lowest prices around.
It would also be wise to get in touch with a representative from any contact lens retailer offering subscriptions to make sure that they won’t increase the price of your contact lenses down the road without your knowledge.
Does it Makes Sense For Daily Disposable Wearers?
How many days per week do you wear contact lenses? If your answer is ‘it depends’, then a contact lens subscription may not make sense for you.
If you don’t wear contact lenses regularly, during periods of time when you wear them very frequently you may find yourself running out before the next batch arrives. On the flip side, during times when you don’t wear them very often, you’ll get your new batch before you run out and start stockpiling tons of contacts.
Are Contact Lens Subscriptions Worth It?
If you are someone who thinks that they could benefit from the automated shipments, then perhaps it is worth it for you. Only you can gauge how much that extra convenience is worth to you.
However, if you are looking at it from a purely price perspective, despite the 5-10% discounts that are offered, lower prices can still be found elsewhere.
Here is just one example to prove the point:
Say you use Air Optix Aqua and you’re considering getting a contact lens subscription.
Let’s compare the price from ACLens.com and Lens.com
Regular Price
Subscription Price
ACLens.com
$46.99/box $42.3/box Lens.com
$14.74/box N/A
You can see from the chart that even with the 10% subscription discount, it still doesn’t come anywhere close to the price that you would get from Lens.com.
This is not only true for Air Optix Aqua, and Lens.com is not always the site that has the best price. This is just one example.
The only way to be sure you’re paying the best price for your contact lenses is to consult the results of Contacts Advice’s monthly price research.
Where to Get a Contact Lens Subscription?
The following websites allow you to get a contact lens subscription:
ACLens.com
Features:
- Flexible intervals
- 10% discount on purchases after the first order
- Free shipping
- Email reminders 10 days and 2 days before you are charged
- Subscription settings can be adjust online or by phone
DiscountContactLenses.com
Features:
- Flexible intervals
- 10% discount on purchases after the first order
- Free shipping
- Email reminders 10 days and 2 days before you are charged
- Subscription settings can be adjust online or by phone
*ACLens.com and DiscountContactLenses.com are essentially the same company.*
LensDirect.com
Features:
- Flexible intervals & able to skip shipments
- 5$ off first order and 5% off every subsequent order
- Free shipping
- Email reminders before shipping
- Dedicated account representatives
1800contacts.com
Features:
- Choose between 3, 6 or 12 month intervals
- 5% discount on purchases after the first order
- Free shipping
- Email reminders before shipping
ContactsCart.com
Features:
- Default shipment intervals based on your brand. Must be changed manually if you desire a different interval.
- Free shipping
- Shipping confirmation emails
- Subscription settings can be adjust online or by phone
HubbleContacts.com
Features:
- Only sell Hubble daily disposable contact lenses
- Default shipment intervals based on your brand. Must be changed manually if you desire a different interval.
- Free shipping
- Shipping confirmation emails
- Subscription settings can be adjust online or by phone
*ContactsCart.com and HubbleContacts.com are essentially the same company.
Bottom Line
Contact lens subscriptions can simplify the lives of some contact lens wearers, but at the cost of paying more of your contact lenses. The people who really benefit from contact lens subscriptions are the ones selling them to you.
Have you had a contact lens subscription? Did you like it? Why or why not? Please let me know in the comments!
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