Mattress Forum

Me, sell mattresses for a living?  Never.

4 mattresses tried, one kept.  First one cost me nothing.  From a local maker, got full refund.  2nd mattress, the Stearns and Foster cost nothing.  Third one, a mistake in policy ended up costing $1300 ouch.  4th mattress the SleepEZ cost a mere $66 to return.  5th one is a keeper.

Saying 2K for an 8" piece of foam is a rip off is totally arbitrary and counterproductive.  Not all foams are made equally.  How much of the 12" thick mattress you had did you even sink into?  An 8" thick natural rubber foam mattress with expensive wool/cotton covers would probably cost 4~6 times as much in materials costs as most 12" thick memory foam mattresses.  Perhaps Tempur-Pedic has a little bit of a premium because of their high advertising expenses...but the product is also denser.  I have compared the weight of 8" thick Tempur mattresses to 11"~12" thick ones made by Sleep Innovations...they weigh about the same...so the height difference is irrelevant, its roughly the same amount of actual material..and when it comes to polyfoams denser ones tend to perform better and are more costly to manufacture.  

Tempur may not be worth the premium 100% if you compare the materials cost...but if the mattress works really well for someone...then when do you say $2500 is too much for a good nights sleep...I totally agree with slpngoc...its whatever functions best for you.  People blow money on worse investments everyday.  You seem to know a lot about watches...would I be remiss to guess that you probably own a watch thats worth about as much as the Costco memory foam mattress you tried?  

Let me reprase the $2K cost factor...... NO companies piece of foam is worth anywhere near $2K, period. Do you really have any doubt that at the $2K price, ($2500 with box spring/foundatio) that TP mattress is at least 600-800% profit? And that is their lowest priced mattress (King). Do you not think that a $5K price tag on their best model is not the biggest rip off in the bedding industry? Seriously, think about it for a minute.

I understand the advertising costs and the heavier/denser foam costs, but again, it is not $2K worth of material and labor, no matter how you slice it.

I agree that whatever works for a person is just fine. But if TP really wanted to "help" their customer base, they would price their beds realistically and sell a whole lot more to boot.

Do I have watches that cost as much as the Costco mattress? Absolutely. In fact several times more, BUT, I can turn around any day of the week and get what I paid for said watches or even more. A high end watch is not only mechanical art, but an investment too. A mattress (at any price) is just like an every day vehicle. Depreciates the second you sign on the dotted line.

Sorry, I have you confused with another poster as far as the job details go.

As for your returned mattresses, over $1300 in return fees makes your Tempurpedic pretty pricey at well over $3K (for a twin?) That is not chicken scratch in anyone but a very well off persons view. You obviously also live in a large metro area where you have access to very large chain stores who have very liberal return policies. Many people do not. Plus, you live in a state that allows returns. If you did not, how much would that TP have cost by now, about $5K?

It's always fascinating to find somebody who would trade the bewildering array of choices in the marketplace for the certainty of having a government minder decide for them.  Your experience with the government must be entirely theoretical. 

When the state steps in there will be one mattress available in medium firm poly, queen size only because that's what's best for most people. Memory foam kulaks and latex fetishes will be dealt with severely by the Mattress Czar and his bureau of experts.

If you learn nothing else on this forum it should be that one size does not fit all.  The endless variety of products and materials designed for different body types, budgets and preferences can only be provided by a for profit market. 

When the Soviet Union collapsed of its own internal contradictions (from each according to his ability, to each according to their need) I thought this nonsense about greed was finally put to rest, but ignorance and the appeal to envy continues to seduce the ego.

The $1300 loss was due to this - I bought a Stearns and Foster set from Sears.  I used my one time exchange to get the iComfort from Sears which cost a net of $1500.  Didn't work.  I had to sell the iComfort on Craigslist, only got $175, so lost about $1300.

I don't know what your take is on the iComfort Serta brand, but consider this -

The Insight is iComfort's entry level mattress, like 8.75" thick.  It sells from Sears for $899 twin XL set + tax.  One trouble is the box spring is of terrible quality with that set.  I've seen the center bend in no time.  I don't know how good the mattress is or not, I didn't have that model at home.

so, the equivalent TP would be a Cloud which is usually $1450 for the twin XL set.  first off the foundation is a very sturdily constructed wood unit with reinforced top, and quite heavy to pick up.  The mattress has an air channel which is supposed to help with cooling.  So, it's $550 more and works for me.  Believe me, I'm not crying over the extra $550 cost of it over a Serta Insight.

I can't comment on states with no return policy.  That's pretty lousy considering one never knows how a mattress really is until they sleep on it for a few weeks.

I don't disagree...but consider where Costco's pricing on these beds comes in, they buy bulk sans advertising costs and sell them in a store that is already profitable without a mattress section.  Part of the reason so many Tempurs sell is because they are profitable and have a low return rate (to the retailers themselves).  Consider for a moment that Tempur-Pedic does not really sell many beds direct to the end user, most are sold through retailers...if they lowered their prices and cut down on the profit potential there would be less reasons for sales people to sell them for Tempur-Pedic and they would in all likelihood sell less of them, ultimately a cut in sales and profit for each bed also lowers the amount of advertising they would be able to do and less people interested in buying as well.  I am not saying the beds are worth their weight in materials and labour, I totally agree with you there, probably the highest mark up around.  But I understand why they do it from a business perspective.  

All I am saying is that if a bed ultimately works, when do you say any price for a bed is unreasonabl?  Or how much would you pay for a good nights sleep?...there is also a possibility that there is not a memory foam product that may work for you, Tempur-Pedic or otherwise.  

If all you are concerned about is the dollars figure, and you obviously can afford more than the costco price based on your hobby (which by the way I am not knocking, I like the finer things in life too, watches are like a functional piece of art in many cases) but a watch cannot improve your quality of life the way a good nights sleep can.  You may want to consider broadening your options if you try another Costco bed and it doesn't pan out.  They are not known for selling the highest quality, they sell average to good mattresses with better than average prices and value, great return policies. 

We wound up getting the RoseVille which is a plush instead of the RoseShore which is a plush Euro pillowtop.

They are carried instore and when I brought the other 2 sets back (not even a question why from the CS people) we picked it up. I am not using the box springs as not only are they 2 twins, but are much weaker than my custom platform. So far it is WAY better than the pure foam beds and my back does not hurt in the AM. It has foam over springs. I think the problem with the pure foam beds was the room temp. We keep the heat at 63 and even though it is fine for sleeping, it is too cold for the foam.

I bet you're not far off on those markup percentages vs. the budget versions at Sam's & Costco.  It's unfortunate that we're paying so much in part for TP's marketing campaign, but it's also true that TP's perform better & last much longer too.  I found this out first hand.  We have one of the cheaper ones from sams that you can already feel the beginnings of a body indention in, & it is only occassionally used in a guest bedroom.  Compared to my friend's bottom of the line TP that's over three times as old, is much thinner, & gets compressed by a 200+ pounder every night- with no performance degradation in the TP so far. Still sleeps better than our newer, thicker one from sams, to my back.  So advertising, markup %'s, & resale value aside, they're still "worth" whatever people are willing to pay, are satisfied with, & would buy again/recommend to a friend.  If you can't get past paying such a premium for a TP, then I'd say at least splurge on one of the higher end versions at the discount stores that publish specs for not only the MF comfort layer, but also the support core (eg 5lbs & 2lbs respectively).  Of course that can put even those into >$1k territory, but still a fraction the price of a TP, and might not result in serial returns & early indentions like the cheapest ones.  Would never do that again.

Really I'm with you on TP out of principle, & I too have since discovered there is no substitute for a spring component anyway (or use for MF), but I also wouldn't tell anyone they've been "ripped off" on a mattress that they paid thousands for & never looked back, then sleep well on it for years.  They don't care how much it cost to make, how much of their money went toward advertising, or what the resale value is.  THey just know it was worth the price to them for a good nights sleep.