Why there are so many online mattress-in-a-box companies

Post by ericb » Mon, Apr 02, 2018, 3:55 PM UTC

dalbasal wrote: post #158

The margins in this industry and its structure are almost an economic paradox. The dynamic is basically (1) markups are very high (2) manufacturing is a solved problem and (3) there is lots of competition. This should resolve to a very competitive market with costs trending to marginal manufacturing cost. Instead, you have high prices for consumers and competition for the tremendous sales margins driving a marketing…

Post by astura » Mon, Apr 02, 2018, 4:04 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #196

colechristensen wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Lemons" is not so much of the problem in healthcare because of the (over)prevalence of litigation as a remedy for failures. I can't sue anybody for a year's salary if I don't like my mattress (I don't). Instead the market is dominated with inflated prices and mostly harmless procedures and tests. Sometimes the information isn't asymmetric, it's just difficult or sometimes just not a habit to try to find the best pri…

Regions that spend more money on healthcare have little if any benefit from that investment. http://nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Report%20File... ~50% of all medicine prescribed in the US is useless to harmful. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/allen-frances/many-commonly-u... So, no US healthcare is very much dominated by Lemons. PS: Modern medicine delivers most of it's benefit from fairly inexpensive treat…

Post by rmcpherson » Mon, Apr 02, 2018, 4:21 PM UTC

the_gastropod wrote: post #195

skibble wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly off-topic, but if you genuinely think that there's no such thing as high-end wine, I feel a little sorry for you. Surely you can tell the difference between the Budweiser/Calsberg-type beer and beer from an independent brewery? If so, then surely you can imagine the same might be true of wine? I get that the fact that some bottles cost thousands may offend some people's sensibilities, but this hardly covers…

Beer is somewhat different here, in that it is not just one ingredient. One reason Budweiser/Carlsberg are not "high-end" is they use ingredients that make production cheap. For example, both of these beers use rice, which is a much cheaper source of sugar than barley. But when you get to comparing full-barley beers from Anheuser-Busch vs a micrcobrewery, you'll find just as much pretense as in the wine world.

Post by verylittlemeat » Mon, Apr 02, 2018, 4:32 PM UTC

antisthenes wrote: post #224

verylittlemeat wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought the wrong size $250 Zinus mattress from amazon and tried to return it. They refunded my money and told me to just keep the mattress.

Serious question - how were you planning to ship it back? If it's a foam mattress, it doesn't exactly go back in the original box, because it's vacuum packed and expands after opening.

Post by astura » Mon, Apr 02, 2018, 4:44 PM UTC

alister wrote: post #101

verelo wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m pretty sure the answer is simple: TVs are hard to make, mattresses are very simple. Foam latex, it’s pretty much the simplest product you can fit in a box, and damage is probably not a concern as the product itself is what we use to protect most other products!

Sure, TVs are much harder to make than mattresses. I agree completely. But that doesn't explain why mattresses are so expensive and why we have 500 mattress manufacturers and obfuscated models and prices. In fact, your line of reasoning would lead to the opposite conclusion: Mattresses should be cheap, a commodity product dominated by 2 or 3 manufacturers who eke out a few percent margin, selling at a standard price.…