Jeremy, Kedra, Rebecca, and William Foote: The Connected Marketplace

I am amazed by the Internet. As someone who is old enough to have been taught to type on a typewriter instead of a computer, it is a source of constant awe to be able to communicate and do business with people around the country and around the world. Wikipedia and Google and Netflix are modern miracles.

As Kedra knows all too well, I have an almost religious faith in the Internet as the best place to buy almost anything. I'm sure that the motivations is partially because I hate spending money, but whenever we are about to buy something at a "real life" store, I will often try to convince Kedra that we should "at least check online" to see if we can get it for a better price.

Despite my proclivity for online purchasing, there are some things that you just don't buy online. Up until a few weeks ago, I would have considered eyeglasses to be firmly in that camp. However, after seeing the prices for glasses at a store in the area, I decided that there are some risks that are worth taking.

My family has a saying, courtesy of my grandmother, that reveals something about our attitude toward deals; a great deal is when, "For that price, you could take it home and stomp on it". Online eyeglasses are that cheap. Believe it or not, you can get glasses, with lenses, for under $10. The sites have tools like glasses recommendations for your face shape, and on some sites you can even upload a picture of yourself, and try on the glasses virtually. Despite all of that, I was still nervous when I ordered my glasses. In order to play it safe, we measured my old glasses, and tried to get glasses that looked about the same, and were about the same size.

We ended up buying them at coastalcontacts.com, using an online coupon, and ended up getting some pretty darned good glasses for $40, including lenses and shipping.

For that price, you could go home and stomp on them.