Mattress Prices

The BBQ Pit
1

What the hell is up with mattress prices?! I went shopping for a new mattress this weekend. I’ve never had to purchase a mattress, so this was a new experience for me. I went to two large mattress chain-stores, two local mattress stores, a furniture store that also sold mattresses, and Craigslist. Between all of that, prices for mattresses ranged from $50 to $3500. I’m fine with that. There’s $10,000 cars and $100,000 cars. The problem is, when I put a cheap car next to an expensive car and look at the invoice sheet, I can see why there’s a difference. The same could not be said for mattresses.

Excluding the used, sub-$100 mattresses from Craigslist, I was completely unable to tell the difference between any of the mattresses I tested. I didn’t really expect to be able to see a difference between then, but I did expect mattress salesmen to be able to tell me the difference. They could not! Not one of them!!! Here’s a sample of an actual conversation that I had several times with several sales people who supposedly sell mattresses for a living:

Me: Why is this mattreess $500 more than that mattress?
Them: This one has a pillow top and that one doesn’t.
Me: But that one over there also has a pillow top and it’s $1500 less than this one that doesn’t.
Them: It’s made with different materials, so it’s more expensive.
Me: How are they different? Does this one have gold springs or something?
Them: I think this one is made with a softer material than that one.
Me: How does that matter?! They’ll both be covered with a sheet when I’m sleeping, right?
Them: You should really just lay on them for a few minutes and see which one is more comfortable to you.
Me: But that $400 mattress in the corner is just as comfortable to me as this $2500 one here. If I buy this one, what’s my extra $2100 getting me?
Them: You should really just pick the one in your price range that’s most comfortable to you.

No one seemed to be able to give me any good reason why some mattresses were significantly more expensive than others. There were memory foam mattresses that were cheaper than innersprings, and pillow top innersprings that were cheaper than non-pillow top innersprings. I even found several mattresses that were the same price whether I bought a twin or a king, and several sets where the queen size was actually cheaper than the king size! For the same exact mattress!!!

The mantra of the salesman was, “Just lay on it and see how it feels.” When questioned about price differences, I was continually told, “Well we’ve got sale prices going on all the time.” One salesman actually told me that I was “too concerned” about price, and that he’d give me a great deal on whichever one felt best to me. At one point he offered me a mattress that was advertised at $2500 for $1500. When I asked why he could go so low, instead of answering he just went down another $100, as if he thought my question was just an attempt to haggle!

After this weekend, I’m convinced that all mattresses are basically the same and that mattress stores assign prices completely at random. Does anyone have any insight here? Can anyone explain to me why some mattresses are $300 and some are $3500? Any advice for the next time I decide to venture out and attempt to buy a mattress?

2

Lay down, get comfy and have a good read.

3

I bought a mattress recently. Pretty much everything ppl hate about used car dealers applies to mattress salesman, however, all mattresses are not the same. I’m fairly tall and pretty heavy, so when I laid down on the different mattresses, I could feel which ones didn’t handle me very well, and which ones did. Not surprisingly, the cheapest ones didn’t hold up well under my weight. If you and your SO aren’t big folks, this probably won’t be a big deal to you. Find one that feels good to you, and one that doesn’t seem to mind your weight too much.

4

I hope you hopped up on it and began cackling like a hen, because that would have been hilarious. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to lie down.

5

The time before the last time I bought a mattress I spent about $350. I checked it out, lay* down on it, turned over, etc. My husband also went to the store and checked it out.

Seemed fine to both of us.

The problem here was that, due to our work schedules, we never lay* on it together. A bad mistake.

He’s approximately one foot taller and outweighs me by about 80 pounds. The whole time we had this mattress, if he was on it, then I was either rolling downhill onto him or clinging to the edge of my side of the mattress in order to avoid rolling downhill on top of him. It was easier for me to just sleep on the couch. Or the floor. Or my desk at work, since I wasn’t sleeping all that well at home.

We immediately went mattress shopping together, as we should have done the first time, and ended up spending somewhat more, because there are actually mattresses that don’t do what that one did, but they cost more. Yet when either of us was on the bed alone, it felt fine. Also, some of them wear better than others, and last longer. And some of them will even throw in disposing of your old mattress.

We did not get a pillowtop, but we got a pillowtop mattress pad, because it looked to me like any mattress pad we used would just mash down the pillowtop. That may not be the case, but the pillowtops were generally more expensive.

*laid? layed? lied?

6

I can feel the difference between mattresses very finely. I pretty much exclusively buy tempurpedic mattresses now, and there are many copies. Each brand (and model within a brand) feels different. Maybe you can’t feel the difference?

There’s more than price to consider, as some people have pointed out above. In my case, the tempurpedic cured my back and neck problems. It was worth it at any price. We recently replaced a mattress (my wife and I sleep on two separate mattresses pushed together) that had a valley in the middle, raised edges, and flat springs after about 8 years of use. My tempurpedic is about 5 years old now, and it still feels the same as the new store models. After we got my wife’s new tempurpedic home, we were unable to tell the difference when lying on them.

7

I would expect a queen to be less than a king, queens are smaller.

8

We’ve only had our mattress for five years and already my boyfriend is starting to complain that it’s worn out. Of course, they only have the one-sided kind now, so you can’t flip it. Grr.

9

That’s one of the other things about buying a mattress; you buy for comfort now, of course, but you also pay for a mattress that will last longer, comfortably. We paid a pretty penny for our mattress six years ago, and it’s starting to wear out, but is still very comfortable. This really is one of those, “You get what you pay for” situations. We did get one you can flip and turn, though, and that helps even out the wear.

10

The problem is that you can’t actually know if you are getting what you are paying for. The only assurance I have that the mattress is going to last is the mattress salesman’s word, which I don’t trust. Since people buy mattresses so rarely and rating them is so subjective, it’s hard to get recommendations based on word-of-mouth.

11

So it seems there is a difference… I just wish I could see the difference somehow. Like a spec sheet for mattresses telling me why they’re different so I know my extra money isn’t just going to waste. I don’t want to spend $3000 if a $1000 mattress will do just fine. Good insight from everyone about weight distribution and durability. It’s just me and I’m of average build, so maybe I don’t need a really expensive one and I can get a mid-range one.

Oops, I meant the king was cheaper than the queen size.

Wow! Every single one of those things happened to me! My problem wasn’t so much with the pushy salesmen (they were certainly VERY pushy), but the fact that I couldn’t get any exact answers on the differences between mattresses. Still, next time I go I’ll be much more prepared. :slight_smile:

12

I would just say go online and find out what are the true differences worth paying for and what are the BS ones.

13

I took a look at the Tempurpedic stuff, since I really love my pillow from them, and damned if they’re any better - they have a “compare models” thing on their website that tells you absolutely nothing, and they have, like, twenty models. Thanks, guys.

14

It doesn’t seem like your beef is with mattress pricing. It’s with salespeople who don’t know their product.

For that, you should blame the store.

15

For extra fun, try comparison shopping at different retailers. You may soon find out that it’s impossible, because while the brand names exist across retailers, the specific models are retailer-specific. Mattresses are one of the biggest blind purchases we make, and laying down on them in a store for 5 minutes while a salesman is talking to you is hardly enough to know how it’s going to be once you’ve brought it home. Luckily, a lot of retailers around here allow you to pay for the anti-stain spray and try out the mattress for 30 days.

16

Lie down on the mattress. Lay yourself down. Lay an egg. The mattress salesman will lay you. Lay the mattress salesman. The mattress salesman will lie to you. The mattress salesman lies.

You are lying down on the mattress. You are laying yourself down. You are laying an egg. You are laying the mattress salesman. The salesman is lying.

Yesterday, you lay down on the mattress. You laid yourself down on the mattress. You laid an egg. You laid the mattress salesman. The mattress salesman lied.

The salesman said the mattress has many layers of padding, but he is a liar.

The salesman washes with lye soap and wears a lei around his neck while singing lays in the lea and studying the lay of the land.

17

gallan:
You are not alone in your frustration. A mattress salesperson should provide you with objective information differentiating one model from another, including the provision of the components of each model. If you aren’t provided that level of information and courtesy, find another retailer. You work too hard to be treated in such a manner.

If you have speific quetions, feel free to visit my blog at http://blog.matt-to-go.com or contact me - I’d be happy to help.

-Jeff

18

This reminds of the discussions we’ve had on this board before about audiophiles, and how once you get past a certain price point any differences are going to be negligible.

19

Agreed. I used to sell mattresses when I worked in the furniture dept. of a large retailer, and I made a point to understand the difference between product. Mattresses can be differentiated by anything from coil count to foam density to how many layers make up the padding. And believe it or not, the covering material makes a difference too - higher-thread-count covers in natural-synthetic blends tend to hold the shape of the quilted padding better than the cheapo nylon covers, which tend to stretch out and allow the padding to deform more easily.

One mattress with a single layer of low-density padding and a low-end coil count may look the same, and even feel the same if you lay on it for 5 minutes. But compared to a mattress with several different layers of padding of different densities and double the coil count, the cheaper mattress will break down a lot quicker than the more expensive one.

I understand how it could all seem like a scam to the layperson - things like mattresses all look the same once you get above the cheap $75 twins. I truly believe that a salesperson expecting someone to drop $1000+ on a single item has a responsibility to educate themselves about what they’re selling, to enable the customer to make an informed purchase.

This is a pet peeve of mine - after many years in sales, any time I hear a sales person give bad, or inconclusive information, I have to bite my tongue. I bite my tongue a lot.

20

I made the mistake of buying a cheap mattress earlier this year. It was great for about five months. Then the squeaking started. Then the center started sinking, which is odd since two people sleep on it. The center isn’t being pushed in more! The fabric is pilling, which doesn’t matter so much since we use sheets but it still looks dirty when it’s not really. I have a feeling in another year it will be like those awful bunk bed mattresses.

I paid $400 dollars for a queen set. Next time I’ll wait a little longer and do a little more research. The mattress really looked good and we were told it was less expensive because we bought directly from the factory instead of a showroom. Lies I say. LIES!