What happens to a mail-order mattress after you return it • Hacker News Board

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

#191

Post by forgotmypw16 » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:21 AM UTC

135792468 wrote: post #82

bsanr wrote: post #30

I'd thought I'd get around the madness of mattress shopping by using just the technique mentioned in the article here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22377160 At least, until I found something I liked. 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 returned it, and purchased from another company for ~$700. I didn't…

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…

Do you have any opinions on off-gassing?

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

#192

Post by nahtnam » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:30 AM UTC

mech1234 wrote: post #53

Get a firm or very firm innerspring mattress from IKEA. You can do this for less than $300 and it will fit in the back of a sedan in it's roll-up-package. Sleep on it for a bit. If you don't like the feel, which you probably won't, add a memory foam mattress topper for ~$50. Use a thicker or thinner topper to suit your needs. Congrats! Because your mattress is firm, its foam will not break down for a long, long time.…

I got a Zinus mattress (cool gel version) and it is absolutely amazing. Cost me like $220 for a queen size and I couldn't be happier

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

#193

Post by saalweachter » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:36 AM UTC

ip26 wrote: post #186

sjg007 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Furniture is the worst. You have to buy something high end to get any sort of quality, especially couches. This will sound crazy but I have a very expensive couch that was made in the 1970s and it is perfect. I also have a 1k sectional couch from Ashley's and it is absolutely terrible. Now I could probably fix the sectional with some diy hacks to firm it up but I don't have the skill. But that super expensive he…

Yeah, furniture is really frustrating. High end luxury or made-for-the-dumpster junk. As I like to call it, the vanishing middle market.

There's definitely a middle to the furniture market... it's just expensive enough most people assume it's the high end.

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

#194

Post by pengaru » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:45 AM UTC

sunsetMurk wrote: post #185

pengaru wrote: post #183

Presumably the return policies will change once there are no more brick and mortar local mattress stores to buy from. At that point, you'll only be able to buy online, and they won't need to offer returns. You have no choice but to have something delivered, or go without a mattress (my personal preference).

what's your sleeping situation like w/o a mattress? (I'm waiting for someone to invent & sell some sort of sleeping pod that provides a perfect environment, and keeps me in ideal position for the maximum sleep benefit)

I mostly just sleep on an area rug with a head pillow and blankets, sleeping on anything significantly more compliant just bothers my neck and back.

You can achieve very similar results with a more elaborate arrangement by going traditional Japanese style, check out tatami mats if curious.

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

#195

Post by skookum » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:49 AM UTC

I bought a Purple mattress a few years ago. It was debilitatingly uncomfortable. After three nights I gave up and called them for a return. Their customer service spent quite a long time trying to convince me to keep trying: their pitch/theory was that their mattress is so extremely comfortable and all other mattresses are so extremely uncomfortable that the body gets used to that discomfort and it will take a few weeks or more to switch over to accepting the comfort of Purple. After repeatedly saying no thank you and eventually having to explain to them quite bluntly that their theory was complete horseshit, they processed the return... the "return" was a Salvation Army truck, which, when it arrived, already had two brand new Casper mattresses in it. I asked the guys in the truck if this was normal and they said "yeah, we get at least 1-2 of these every day".

FWIW, I bought an IKEA foam mattress + memory foam topper for about 1/3rd of what the Purple cost and it's been very comfortable for a few years now.

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

#196

Post by Polylactic_acid » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:50 AM UTC

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.

Because its really hard to objectively rate a mattress. IKEA sells them at a fair price and they are great, but people in their minds see them as shit because they are cheap so they can't possibly be as good as the $2000 one.

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

#197

Post by Polylactic_acid » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:52 AM UTC

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 think it was covered either in the article or one of the comments here. But the companies don't really care because the mattress cost very little to make so they don't really make a loss if the customer was never going to buy it anyway.

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

#198

Post by Polylactic_acid » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:56 AM UTC

pengaru wrote: post #183

Presumably the return policies will change once there are no more brick and mortar local mattress stores to buy from. At that point, you'll only be able to buy online, and they won't need to offer returns. You have no choice but to have something delivered, or go without a mattress (my personal preference).

This will never happen because a decent chunk of people will never buy online. I like using computers as much as the rest of you but I would much rather just go in to a store and try a couple of them and pick one I like the first time rather than get random ones shipped to me and binning the ones I don't like.

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

#199

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 3:07 AM UTC

OJFord wrote: post #179

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason is surely bedbug infestations. It is just too risky to buy a mattress second hand, even from legitimate sources.

That's enough for many of us to avoid it, it hardly needs regulation. GP's point is that we gladly share hotel mattresses. Bed bugs are consequently occasionally an inconvenience.

The hotels check for bedbugs often and are aggressive in their cleaning habits. They know their reputation is shot once they have even one infestation. Now buy a used mattress from a source you don’t know whose hygiene is also unknown, you just don’t take that risk.

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

#200

Post by yourcssisbroke » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 3:12 AM UTC

megablast wrote: post #129

sauwan wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

lmfao