How To Avoid Getting Scammed By Cable TV And Overpriced Glasses

Two hacks to save $2,000 per year or more.

Photo by Mark Attree on Unsplash

Don’t Pay For Cable If You Don’t Need Cable

I was recently looking at basic cable TV prices and don’t know whether to be amused or shocked. I have the average cost of cable TV pegged around $83 per month plus tax, or about ~$1,100 per year. Over a 50-year period, if you keep your cable plan as is, you’re looking at around $55,000 in wealth surrendered to your cable company. Many older people know this, but I don't think it's common knowledge among my fellow millennials that you can get broadcast TV for free, simply by buying an OTA antenna.

I know this will sound to some of you like a stupid personal finance “quit drinking lattes” argument–and that’s not really what I’m about. The difference in my mind between useful advice and “stop drinking lattes” is when you can get the same benefit for less money, or more money for the same effort. 4 years ago, I solved my cable problem forever for less than $70. I went to Best Buy and bought a decently high-end indoor antenna (i.e. not the cheapest piece of shit I could find), and I set it up with my living room TV. To the untrained eye, it looks like a speaker. After a few minutes of setup, I got CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and about 100 other channels. Does this make me a cheapo? Maybe? But so far I’ve calculated that I’ve saved about $4,300 and counting from dropping cable. And quitting cable encouraged me to be more social, active, and healthy.

I think this particular example is instructive because so many people don’t fight for the money they deserve. Whether it’s asking their employer for a raise or reimbursed expenses, negotiating a lease renewal with your landlord, putting your money where it earns interest, or getting multiple bids on work to be done, there is plenty of extra money to be had by negotiating properly and cutting out middlemen. If cable is worth it to you, then by all means pay for it, but certainly don’t view it as a default if you can watch the same three NFL games each week for free with an antenna.

Eyeglasses Shouldn’t Be $800!

I don’t have exact figures, but my best estimate is that designer glasses (and sunglasses) cost about $20 to manufacture in China. Then they’re shipped to the US and marked up hundreds of dollars. Here’s what a former industry executive had to say about this:

When hearing that some glasses sell for $800 in the US, he laughed. “I know. It’s ridiculous. It’s a complete rip-off.”

The fundamental reason for these crazy markups is the same in the cable TV industry as it is in the ophthalmic industry, and it’s that the markets are monopolies in one form or another. For TV, sports leagues demand huge payouts from cable companies, and historically cable companies themselves have held geographic monopolies over their customers. For eyeglasses, the main issue is that one company– EssilorLuxottica–controls enough of the market to affect the supply and demand of the entire industry. Therefore, they can manufacture glasses for $20 and sell them for $400-800. Because eyesight issues are genetic, these numbers start to really spiral if your whole family is nearsighted or has other eyesight issues.

The solution to this– I recommend using Warby Parker or a similar provider. Their glasses cost around $95 to $120, and I always have several pairs. They’re still healthily marked up from the $20 or so that it costs to manufacture them, but I like the style and the margins aren’t nearly as egregious. Keep going to your normal eye doc but don’t buy your glasses there, as eye doctors make a big chunk of their profit from selling glasses, not from selling $120 checkups.

Bottom Line

This article is somewhat of a test–I have about 10-15 more things like this that I’ve figured out over the years. If you found this beneficial, drop me a comment below. And if you know all of this already, chances are that you’re much smarter than the average bear.