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What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

fivethirtyeight.com

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Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#121

Post by magic_beans »

giarc wrote: post #104
wycy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the crazy markup in the mattress industry might be in the non-returnability of them. Manufacturers need to price in the fact that some % of them will be returned (read: given away for free) because no one wants a used mattress that might have bed bugs or other unknown substances.

But I wonder how many people buy a mattress, never open it, "return it for refund" then just resell a "unused, unopened mattress"?

I bought a casper mattress. I now wish I had started "return proceedings" and gotten a refund, because it sounds like they just tell you to donate it.

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#122

Post by gbronner »

svieira wrote: post #100
PopeDotNinja wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once had a loveseat that I couldn't get out of a studio apartment without moving almost everything. Since I was a bit bored at the time, I slowly carved up the entire thing with a Swiss Army knife w/ the saw & scissors extensions. Was actually kind of fun.

I once tore up a recliner sofa with a crowbar and tossed the pieces out of a third story window (I didn't get it in, and there was no way it was going out the door in its then-present configuration).

I had a tenant who did this to a batch of furniture. Wound up in the front yard where it got nice and wet in the rain and then froze.

Made it even harder to get rid of it.

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#123

Post by ghaff »

Johnny555 wrote: post #115
simonsarris wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Testing cars you can't afford is awesome. Knowing the full range of experience in a good can be very enlightening. How much better is a $10,000 camera from a $1,000 camera, or $400 wine from $4? I used to run a tasting group which is basically a way to pool money and try liquors that are vastly out of our individual price range and I highly recommend it. You can try expensive cars and mattresses for free, that's e…

Testing cars you can't afford is awesome I can see the value in test driving a car a class above your level so you can see what you're missing. When I was looking for a car, I tried out a low-end Acura in addition to a high-end Honda, but those are $35K and $45K cars. I could probably justify the $10K jump in price if the Acura was spectacular, but no matter how much I love an $80K car, I could never justify buying o…

I was speaking at a company event at the BMW facility in SC. We did some driving on their track. My takeaway was:

1. I do get the attraction of some of these cars.

2. Nope. Not worth it to me even though I could afford them if I wanted to.

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#124

Post by magic_beans »

sauwan wrote: post #50
fwip wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's risky for the charity. For instance, if the mattress has bedbugs, it stands a good chance of contaminating everything they've got in storage, requiring them to purge their entire inventory, sanitize, and build up from scratch again.

Can't they set up an offsite hotbox to get rid of the bedbugs before it gets onsite? Surely someone could set up a mobile truck that can come, park, and heat up 15 mattresses for the few hours it takes to kill or drive off the bedbugs, no?

Do you really thing a charity can afford that? And mattress companies have exactly zero incentive to fund this.

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#125

Post by acd »

Online shopping is not that sustainable. Current concerns are returns. First you have the carbon emissions of the first package delivery then the return package carbon emissions plus the waste. The waste comes that is more expensive to handle return products than to simply throw them.

What I mean it’s more eco friendly to have big batch shipments to stores than individual small packages sent by post.

A normal physical store is usually more environmentally friendly than online shopping.

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#126

Post by megablast »

simonsarris wrote: post #95
Johnny555 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I purchased a Purple 3, thinking that if I loved it, I'd just stick with it. I did love it, but I couldn't justify spending $2k on a twin I don't understand this -- you loved the mattress and you knew the price when you ordered, so what other outcome did you expect if you couldn't justify the price to yourself even if you loved it? It seems that you'd have been better off going with a more affordably priced mattress…

1. Testing cars you can't afford is awesome. Knowing the full range of experience in a good can be very enlightening. How much better is a $10,000 camera from a $1,000 camera, or $400 wine from $4? I used to run a tasting group which is basically a way to pool money and try liquors that are vastly out of our individual price range and I highly recommend it. You can try expensive cars and mattresses for free, that's e…

> Testing cars you can't afford is awesome.

How much does testing cars cost the dealer? Compare it to the mattress.

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#127

Post by Zimahl »

egdod wrote: post #117
135792468 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t read the article but I’ve worked for one of these companies that was a startup and have a local mattress company as a client. So a little perspective. These companies are all marketing companies. There is no “science” they literally get rolls of foam from foam makers, throw them on in layers and try to find the right combo. I was there, I’ve done it myself. The companies that end up winning have fantastic ma…

Any thoughts on why markup stays so high if the industry is actually cutthroat? Competition should be driving margin way down.

I'm not OP, but I'd guess its because there is a really limited market for mattresses. People of course need and want them, but the turnover is (or can be) a very long time. I have a mattress in our guest bedroom that I used in college, over 20 years ago. It could probably be replaced, but will probably only get replaced with our main mattress when we replace it. It's fine for the minimal guests we have or when my wife or I sleep in it when we are sick (and don't want to keep the other awake).

So for mattresses you really can't afford low margins if you want to stay in business. I can't imagine mattress stores sell more than several mattresses a month. As for why Casper and Purple mattresses are so much when you are supposedly removing the middle-man (the physical stores), I'm not sure. Because they can? I don't really understand why someone would buy one of their mattresses that you can't test out at a store, when you can pay the same price at a store and test out all your options.

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#128

Post by megablast »

blackearl wrote: post #76
ghaff wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was doing some research because I'm going to have to buy one for a vacation house later this year. On the one hand, I don't want to just randomly choose an expensive purchase. On the other hand, truth be told, I spend a quarter to a third of nights in various hotel rooms and they're mostly "fine." And I've personally had everything from a waterbed to a (high-end) futon in my own house. So I know I don't want someth…

Well according to some of the other comments you can shop around for a "free" mattress because it's not worth returning. Just make you destroy it by leaving it somewhere, maybe like a vacation home.

You can also get free stuff from the shop by putting it in your pocket and leaving.

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#129

Post by megablast »

sauwan wrote: post #50
fwip wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's risky for the charity. For instance, if the mattress has bedbugs, it stands a good chance of contaminating everything they've got in storage, requiring them to purge their entire inventory, sanitize, and build up from scratch again.

Can't they set up an offsite hotbox to get rid of the bedbugs before it gets onsite? Surely someone could set up a mobile truck that can come, park, and heat up 15 mattresses for the few hours it takes to kill or drive off the bedbugs, no?

> Can't they set up an offsite hotbox to get rid of the bedbugs before it gets onsite? I am not sure if you are serious or not, maybe you think charities have huge amounts of money to throw at all problems like Google does?

Re: What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it

#130

Post by Animats »

acd wrote: post #125

Online shopping is not that sustainable. Current concerns are returns. First you have the carbon emissions of the first package delivery then the return package carbon emissions plus the waste. The waste comes that is more expensive to handle return products than to simply throw them. What I mean it’s more eco friendly to have big batch shipments to stores than individual small packages sent by post. A normal physica…

No, driving the SUV to the store usually uses more fuel than the entire supply chain to get to the store.
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