Why do twin-size mattresses seem so poorly made?

Factual Questions
1

Last year, I was in the market for new twin-size mattress & box spring. I went to nearly a dozen different general-furniture and bedding-only stores.

Strangely, I found there was not a great deal of difference, from store-to-store or manufacturer-to-mfr, in the quality of twin-size bedding.

I finally bought a new twin set, in January of 2005, for around $200. Now, it is ten months later, and I am finding my “new” mattress becoming very uncomfortable. I can feel the wires and springs inside when I simply run my hand over the top. Imagine how it feels to sleep on that all night long! Needless to say, there’s a fair amount of tossing and turning, as well as waking up. It’s difficult for me to get a good uninterrupted rest. FYI: Although this set was brand new and factory sealed, it did not come with a warranty.

I have been regularly flipping and rotating the mattress, but it has virtually no effect. I am trying to get a heavy-duty mattress topper, but even those are difficult to find in a twin-size. My local WalMart had the best ones I have seen, but they have been out of stock for over a month.

I have some personal speculations as to why there appears to be a twin-size predjudice, but I have no idea if there is any factuality to them.
(a) The bedding industry does this deliberately because they want consumers to buy the bigger, high-priced beds, so they can make more money.
(b) The industry assumes twin-sizes are for children or infrequent use, such as guest rooms.
© ???

I have no idea what’s really going on with this, but there must be some explanation.

Not everyone can accomodate the larger sizes. I have space issues in my home. Even a full or double is pushing the limit. A queen or king would take up 90% of the bedroom’s square footage.

So, Dopers, what is the story behind twin-size bedding difficulty?

2

That would be my guess. Hopefully someone will answer with a bit more authority. Other options such as daybeds and futons tend to be no more comfortable.

IME waterbeds are the most comfortable “small” beds.

3

Maybe you just got a poorly-made mattress? I slept on the same twin mattress for about 15 years and though it had problems near the end, had the slats in the bed not broken the mattress itself might have lasted even longer.

4

I have owned some of the more reputable brand names, but even they have all turned out virtually the same:
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[li]present mattress = store brand[/li][li]previous mattress = Serta[/li][li]second previous mattress = Simmons[/li][/ul]

I’d like to reiterate that when I was mattress shopping, I thoroughly examined and tested many of their floor-display models and found they all seemed to be of ho-hum quality. (BTW, I have taken into consideration the wear endured, in store, by display models, however, see below)

Countless models of the larger sizes of bedding had great thicknessness (2"- 3") of materials between the surface and the innards. The twin sizes all had very minimal thickness (less than 1") between the surface and the innards, despite the brand name, store, or cost.

For you hard-core scientific data types:
I am 6ft 1in, 190lbs, and prefer to sleep about 7-8½ hrs a night, in case you’re wondering about the kind of wear I inflict on a mattress.

5

When I sold mattresses, 10 years ago, you could order twin versions of the fancy, high-end mattresses. We jsut didn’t have floor models of those because, frankly, there wasn’t much demand. But you could buy them.

6

Manda JO, thanks for that valuable information. Your info only makes the issue more perplexing. My question to you is: Why do the salespeople NOT make this information known via signage or by simply telling you?

I told the salespeople, at all of the stores, exactly what I was looking for. Not a single ONE of them, in any store, offered that information! I browsed, at least, eight different stores, if not more.

There’s something fishy going on, IMHO.