Should You Buy A Floor Model Mattress?

This is the time of the year that many manufacturers and retailers change out mattress models. In preparation for the Summer selling season, they will update the line and/or lose slow moving mattresses. It is also the perfect time to pick up a quality mattress at a bargain price.

Floor models typically have a much lower cost from the manufacturer. That means when its time to sell, the retailer can sell that pillowtop that was sold all year at $1000 for only $500. Depending on how desperate the Manager is for space, you might get some incredible deals.

Tempur-Pedic® Releases the Tempur-Simplicity™ Line of Mattresses!

Long before I entered the world of marketing and advertising, I had an experience with a brand extension that would stay with me throughout my career. I was a young kid working at a mega grocery store in the produce section. But when things got busy up front, I had to help bag and carry out groceries.

I remember one instance where I carried a basket full of stuff out for a sweet senior citizen who was talking about her brand new Cadillac. Now, I was not a big car person, but at that time Cadillac was the luxury brand to have. It was a status symbol, but also a well built vehicle.

I recently encountered a customer that had bought an S-brand mattress. After a couple of days of “research” on the Internet, she became convinced that her mattress was lethal. First it was the Fire Retardant process (a Federal mandate), then it was memory foam and finally it was all foams. Within a week, and convinced by the online wizards of smart, she had to return her mattress before it killed her.

Nothing irritates me more than companies or salespeople attempting to make a sale by employing fear. In the case above, the sites she was visiting were created by companies that manufacture “green” mattresses, and they were sowing fear to sell their brand.

Stearns & Foster was the original luxury mattress, with its origins dating back to 1846. It was not uncommon to see people sleep on their Stearns for 20 years and pass it on to their children. For most of their history, they were the one of the very best mattresses on the market. Joining forces with Sealy gave them national distribution, a marketing boost and teamed two of the best brands in the business.

I loved the S&F product line and sold them successfully for many years. But it was obvious that the quality was slipping and the attention to detail that made them famous was declining. This allowed other brands to step up their game and compete for the luxury mattress dollars.

I like to share incidents immediately because they present a wonderful learning opportunity. I just observed a woman enter a mattress store. She was needing two twin mattresses for her sons (3 & 12). After some initial qualifying questions the salesperson determined that this was largely a price driven decision. He took the woman to the less expensive options and began to discuss the merits of each. In the case of this chain, the least expensive mattress that you would want any human being to sleep on is around $150 for the mattress only – by no means is this an outrageous price for a usable twin mattress.

A gentleman walks into the mattress store and is promptly greeted by the salesperson. After exchanging names and pleasantries, they begin to discuss his mattress needs. It turns out he is looking for a California King set, good quality of course, for himself. His budget…. $500.

Let me be really frank for a moment. NOTHING exists of any quality in a California King for $500. There may actually be a product available at that price, but I would suspect it would be of horrendous quality, re-manufactured or used/clearance. And even that would be doubtful since Cal King sizes are usually a special order product and often cannot be returned.

You go to a small chain of mattress stores and the salesperson gives you the hard sell on the brand new Purple Hippo 9000. This mattress boasts Platinum, 5 in 1 coils wrapped in 100% silk. It has both memory and amnesia foam, latex and a hundred other foam layers that have really sexy names. You try it out and it does feel awesome. The salesman has the hook in you, now its reeling time. It comes with a lifetime warranty and we are the only chain that carries this exclusive product.

In fact, he is SO confident that he WANTS you to go down to his competitors and have you ASK them if they carry the Purple Hippo 9000. He may even warn you that they will try and talk you OUT of such an awesome product.

What a wonderful 2011 in the mattress biz. We recently saw the introduction of “flavored” memory foam, double and now triple coils and even an air conditioned mattress. What will 2012 offer? Only the mattress gurus know for sure.

Here are a few tips as we wind down the last week of 2011:

1. Remember, even if your mattress includes fabric made from virgin llamas raised by blind, Tibetan monks, a solid gold innerspring and fur taken, with much toil and effort, from honey badgers that just don’t care; if the mattress is not comfortable, don’t buy it. I have watched people drive themselves nuts trying to figure out specs for a given mattress. It means nothing if the mattress does not fit you. Lie down and try the mattress. Only refer to specs when it becomes time to compare to similar models in other retailers.

If you find yourself needing a mattress, this may be a very good time to shop. The week leading up to and through Thanksgiving, retailers are spending gobs on advertising and promoting all sorts of mattress specials. Per earlier blogs, the savings may not change that much from the rest of the year, but there is something else in play.

CHRISTMAS

For those commissioned salespeople who get paid monthly, what they sell in November directly impacts their paycheck just before Christmas. In other words, they are hungry. November is a very depressing month until the final week. There is a whole lot of pressure to hit the monthly goal, earn bonuses and sell enough so the little ones at home will have a happy holiday.

I have been waiting for the day that foam beds take up the majority of floor space for mattress retailers. That day is at hand. Visit any major mattress retailer and you will see a variety of non-innerspring options from latex to air to memory foam to hybrids. I would suspect in the coming decade, you will see innerspring mattresses playing only a supporting role in the mattress sales/selection process.

While Tempur-Pedic is still by far the very best on the market, the me-toos are catching up. All the S-brands have launched and/or relaunched products in hopes of grabbing a piece of this growing market. Sealy has the Embody, Serta the iComfort and Simmons has the ComforPedic. Each has its merits. You should sample a few before making a decision.

To all my readers who have served in the Armed Forces I say thank you for your service to our country. And a special thank you to the families of wounded veterans and those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. America is eternally grateful for your sacrifice.

Friday is of course Veteran’s Day and probably the biggest mattress sales weekend of the fall. If time permits, do some shopping around before committing the dollars. There will be a whole lot of hype surrounding the sales event, but don’t fall for it. Find the right mattress that fits YOUR body and THEN seek out the best value for your money.

Dirty tricks used to be a staple of some of the sleazier folks in the mattress industry. Fortunately, most of the purveyors of this activity have either left the business or closed down.

Caveat emptor – Let the buyer beware.

New or Used Mattress – If you are buying “clearance, discontinued or floor models” there is a really good chance that you are buying used mattresses. Some states require inspections and some sort of sanitation process. This can be as simple as spraying on a disinfectant.

It has become a common practice to allow consumers to spend some time on the mattress and return it if they do not like it. I applaud the industry for this practice. You absolutely need a minimum of 30 days on a mattress to truly decide if it is the correct sleeping solution for your body.

All mattresses, just like shoes, need to be conditioned for your body shape and size. This process may only take a day or two on a fluffy soft pillowtop, or as long as a month on a premium memory foam mattress.

While the mattress is changing to fit your needs, your body must adjust to a different level of support and conformance. If you have spent the last 25 years on a substandard mattress with inadequate support, there may be a very long process of adjusting to a new mattress.

Columbus Day is the holiday we celebrate Europeans first landing in the Americas. What this has to do with mattresses and sleep is anyone’s guess. But it is for some a three day weekend, so why not have a mattress sale?

A quick review of the sales events at various mattress retailers reveals a smorgasbord of options.

“Free” Box Springs Sale – Make sure you ask what the price is for just the mattress. There is nothing free in this world.

“Mismatch” Sale – I have never understood how any company, unless it is grossly mismanaged, could end up with a surplus of boxes. Always verify that the mismatched box is the identical quality of the regualr box. Often it is inferior, which could cause problems down the road.

Blitzkrieg PT

1200 individually wrapped coils
13 Gauge Steel
3″ Visco
2″ Latex
4″ Really Soft Super Foam

If you saw these specs on a mattress, would you know if it was the right mattress for you? Probably not. You must lie down on the mattress for ten or fifteen minutes to begin to evaluate the support and comfort of any mattress. Always try a mattress on your back, then on your side and finally in your natural sleeping position. At each position, check your spinal alignment. Any bowing of the spine should be a red flag. On your side, if you feel any pain or pressure in your hips, it is too hard.

I was always amused by the folks that visited the large membership clubs and then would come to my store. Do you really think a full service mattress retailer is going to compete with a membership warehouse that operates, in some cases, on single digit margins?

Look, if all you care about is price, buy from a membership club. They will always be the cheapest. What you will compromise is the opportunity to test the mattresses and also any expertise that a seasoned mattress professional could offer to fit you and your spouse on the right mattress.

A brand new European luxury sedan pulls up and a very well dressed lady emerges with her son. She is dressed in designer fashions head-to-toe and is using a $200 phone. Her teenager is sporting an outfit along with name brand shoes that is easily $250+ at retail, even on sale. The mobile service for her phone and her son’s matching phone (and I would assume husband and other siblings) could easily be a couple of hundred. That 60″ HD TV they just bought probably cost them $2,000 and of course another couple of hundred a month for satellite and Internet services for their home.

Let’s assume that you are constantly hot, or even constantly cold in bed. Are there any solutions for you?

Actually, there is.

Sleep Inc.™ and Amerigon® have teamed up to produce the YuMe™ Bed – A Climate Controlled Bed. Currently available exclusively through Mattress Firm®, this bed allows you to control the temperature of each side of the mattress from 60°F – 109°F.

It is an 11″ preconditioned foam mattress topped with 1″ of ventilated visco elastic foam infused with coconut oil. The climate control unit actually blows air, set to your desired preference up through the mattress.

No topic gets me more fired up than the rumor that Tempur-Pedic® mattresses make you sleep hot. There are seemingly hundreds of sites dedicated to this topic and when it gets time to offer a solution, you guessed it, its a visco elastic knock off.

First off, I sleep on a Tempur-Pedic and have for almost 6 months now. I live in a very warm climate where triple digits are the norm throughout the Summer. I am also extremely hot natured. I would start perspiring with a brisk walk through the house. I am actually cooler on my Tempur-Pedic than I was on the innerspring mattress I had before. The reason you ask? It makes perfect sense.

If you head out this weekend to buy the mattress of your dreams, DO NOT FORGET THE MATTRESS PROTECTOR!

Sorry for shouting, but I just had a friend that recently bought a new mattress. They forgot the protector and of course the grandchild had an accident on their new mattress. They hired a professional steamer, but it did little to correct the problem.

Please, please, please heed this one piece of advice. If you buy a new mattress ALWAYS buy a mattress protector. A traditional mattress pad helps, but all the comfort should come from the mattress. The pad needs to provide the protection. It needs to be waterproof, breathable and washable. Stay away from the cheap plastic ones that will turn your bed into a sauna, create condensation issues and all sorts of noise.

Its that time again, the mother of all mattress sales – Labor Day. There are some stores that will do as much business the week of Labor Day as they do in a single month. Why? Its a combination of things. End of Summer, back to school, 3-day weekend and everybody and their dog will be advertising a mattress sale. This is a perfect storm for posting big numbers. Here is some advice for the coming weekend.

Shop Early – I will not rule out the possibility of some additional savings on the weekend, but more than likely any price reductions have already been made. The stores do get crowded and if you are serious about getting the RIGHT mattress for your body, get to the store when it is not crowded. Wouldn’t it be better to enjoy the long weekend at the lake instead of the store?

A few folks have written wondering how to know when its time to change your mattress. So here are a few things to consider.

1. Crater Lake – If there is a giant hole in your mattress or two valleys on either side of a ridge in the middle, it may be time to change. Innerspring mattresses are notorious for developing body impressions where you sleep. If it is still under warranty (1.5″ for most manufacturers/10 years) measure from the natural mattress surface into the deepest valley. If it is greater than 1.5″ and still under warranty, file a claim. This may get you a new mattress set for very minimal cost.

I was forwarded several links that purportedly were from unbiased sites that discuss complaints about Tempur-Pedic® mattresses. They wanted me to take a look and provide some feedback.

Before I start the process of debunking the so-called complaints, the first thing you should look for on any site that purports to reveal “the facts” is to figure out their point of view. If the answer to every “problem” just happens to be another competitive product, that should pretty well locate the creator of the site. In fact, if the site was created primarily to push people towards a competitor, you must realize that the “reviews” and “advice” may be tainted. Let’s move on.

Let’s Make A Deal

I have heard many versions of the following story.

A customer heads out to the nearest furniture discounter or liquidator. They see a $4,000 handmade mattress on sale for $800. It is a massively thick super pillowtop that feels great.

“What a deal!” – they think to themselves and pull out their credit card to purchase the mattress.

A year or two later, the mattress of their dreams becomes their reoccurring nightmare. They are tossing and turning and waking up with back pain every morning. Their beautiful super pillowtop now looks like Crater Lake. Since they bought at the local furniture liquidator/discounter, there is no warranty and no exchange. They are out $800 and can’t sleep. But they got a really good deal!

Independence Day Mattress Sale!

The birth of our country (4th of July) is another good reason to have a massive mattress sale. I did a quick review of various chains to see what was being offered.

Two chains are featuring $1000 off a name-brand mattress. No telling what type of quality it may be. Another is offering free delivery over $599 and free memory foam pillows with a purchase. Some offer 50% or 70% off, they don’t say off of what, so who knows if this is any real savings. Another large chain is advertising two name brand queen sets in the high $300s. My expectation is that these are the bare minimum in comfort and quality at those price points.