Board Space Isn’t a Mood Board: The Hidden Cost of Buying What Doesn’t Sell

In private practice optometry, buying frames can sometimes feel like online shopping after hours. The rep opens the case. The colors pop. Someone says, "I would totally wear this.” Heads nod. The board gets fuller. It feels like progress. Everyone is having fun and excited, but here is the reality check. Your optical is not a vibe, it is a business.

When buying decisions are driven more by what we like than by what patients actually purchase, the consequences do not appear overnight. They quietly stack up. One slow seller at a time.

Frames are supposed to move. That is the whole game. Referring back to my last article on How to Make Your Frame Boards Make You Money, proper frame boards turn consistently. When they do not, cash gets stuck. Instead of reordering the shapes and colors that fly out the door, you are staring at the same frame month after month, silently rooting for it. Eventually someone says it: "Let’s just return it.”

It feels responsible. Clean. Efficient. It is not. Returns are expensive. They just hide it well.

First, that $150 frame tied up your cash for months. Even if you get a credit, that money was frozen instead of working for you. It could have been invested into proven best-sellers. It could have supported marketing. It could have boosted staff incentives. Instead, it sat there.

Next comes rebates. If you operate within vendor programs, returns reduce your net purchases. At a 10% rebate rate, that $150 frame quietly cost you $15 in lost rebate dollars. Not dramatic on it’s own — very dramatic across multiple returns. If there is a 15% restocking fee, another $22.50 is gone immediately. Add shipping and materials, and the hit gets bigger.

Now let’s talk about time. Before the frame ever made it to the board, someone spent 1 to 2 hours sitting with a sales consultant selecting product. That time is payroll. It is time not spent with patients.

Then the frame does not sell. Now someone has to find it, inspect it, process the return, update inventory, package it, and track the credit. If the total time between selecting and returning is about 1.5 hours and your average hourly rate is $28, that is $42 in labor invested in a frame that produced zero revenue.

And here is the big one: board space. That frame sat there for five months. If that space generated $75 in gross profit per month with a stronger seller, you potentially left $375 on the table.

Let’s do the quick math on that $150 frame:

• $150 tied up in inventory

• $15 lost in rebates

• $22.50 restocking fee

• $42 in labor

• $3.75 in lost opportunity

• Minus the $150 credit

• Total impact: $454.50

That is not a simple return. That is a $450 lesson.

The goal is not to remove the fun from buying. Optical should be creative. It should have personality. But passion without performance is expensive.

The most beautiful board in private practice is not the one filled with frames you would wear — it is the one filled with frames your patients cannot wait to buy.

Article written by Lindsay Romah