The Cheap Mattress

You see them everywhere, online, in the paper, on TV, every place you look, the “Mattress Sale.”  The bait to get the average consumer in the store so the shark can have it’s feed (ok, that was a bit dramatic, but think about it a while).  It’s getting to be so that the entire sleep industry is getting tainted by the shyster retailers looking for a quick buck.  That’s why I am addressing them again this week.  Sleep Well will not be associated with this type of company, and we are making sure the people needing real service, and real sleep know this.

Let’s talk about the cheap mattress.  The lowest price of the lowest priced.  The bait that makes the frugal customer look twice and think about how they could use a new bed.  Is it fair to call out the frugal customer?  No, not really, and I am not calling them out, I am calling out the companies that advertise a $199 queen like it would be the mattress that anyone other than a child would be able to sleep on.  The queen priced so low that it couldn’t possibly be anything more than wire and foam.  I count myself as a frugal customer; I LOVE to save money, live for it really.  The difference is that I work in the industry and know the truth behind these mattresses, and now I am going to share the makeup of these “mattresses.”

Mattresses are a tool.  They are a tool to help us sleep.  Sleep helps us rejuvenate.  We need to rejuvenate because we work, play, and think a LOT.  Our bodies take a beating daily, and our brain burns through so many thoughts in one day that they need downtime to recover.  Mattresses are a super important tool for our well being.

Our want to save a buck is super important too.  We, as consumers love the thought of “beating the man” and finding a great deal.  We all love it, regardless of our social and economic status.  A sale price is a good price, and a sale price that we just negotiated even lower than the sale price is a victory that makes us smarter than the man. It will make our day!

BUT…there are some prices, some deals, that we just shouldn’t believe. , $199 Queen mattress is one of them.  Here’s why you really should pass on this deal.

The Bait

Many times the $199 mattress is a driver to get the customer into the store.  Once in the store, the customer is shown the $199 mattress, and upon seeing it, they discover that it is indeed a white piece of foam with very springy wires underneath.  Should that customer be brave enough to lay on it, they soon discover that the $199 mattress is truly uncomfortable.  The springs will be felt right through the foam; the foam will be at most 2 inches thick and feel like the foam your carpet has underneath it (at times it may actually be the foam under your carpet).

At this point, the customer will be shown an incredible $399 mattress which is just amazing (when compared to the springy brick they just tried). Then, just like that the customer has been sold on a mattress 2X more than they originally came in looking for.  Why? Because the $199 bait was there to drive them in.

What’s the Difference Between the $199 Mattress and the Higher Priced Ones?

I know this is the part where you expect to hear a lot of propaganda about how you should always spend the most you can to get “the best nights sleep.”  Well, let’s skip that part.  Let’s get to the part where I don’t write this blog to make money, but I write this because I care to educate YOU about the real importance of good sleep.  So let’s stay within that guideline and take a real look at a cheap mattress versus a mattress constructed for long-term use and support of a person’s posture.

All mattresses are white rectangles designed to hold a prostrate person while they sleep.  THAT is where the likeness ends.  A cheap mattress is springs, most likely a Bonnell spring which is a one-piece unit and is quite bouncy, and foam.  The foam used will be an egg crate foam or even cheap regular polyfoam like the kind you find in a chair.  That is your basic $199 design.  The truth is there really can’t be much more than those two things, cheap springs, and cheap foam because there is no profit in it.  Just the springs, foam, and labor to build it add up to the cost of the $199. Sometimes they add up to more than the $199!

A better-constructed mattress is meant to hold up longer.  It is also meant to hold your back straight, whether you sleep on your side, on your back, or on your stomach.  Science and engineering have been applied to the construction and design of a better-constructed mattress.  The springs are made to act individually so that motion is not transferred when your husband goes to the bathroom a million times a night.  They are also designed to adjust between your side sleeping profile and your back sleeping profile, making sure that whether side or back your posture is straight and your back is being held precisely as if you were standing.  The springs are made of thicker gauge wire, which is meant to last years, not months.

Another difference is the foams inside a better-constructed mattress.  Foam is not all the same.  Foam comes in all kinds of different make ups, from weight, to chemistry, to purposes.  Foam is key to support, comfort, and resilience of a mattress.  Foam can be Polyurethane, memory price, latex, and other types.  The right foam combination allows your shoulder to go into the body of the mattress without a pressure point.  The right foam dispells heat and allows you to sleep through the night without feeling like your baking.  The right foam can add a springiness to your mattress that will enable you to move from stomach sleeping to back position without pain in the morning.  The wrong foam can ruin your back, heat you up like a baked potato, and spit you out in the morning making you feel like you spent the night in a UFC fight.

Fight the Impulse

If you’ve read this far, you are someone who takes their health and their sleep seriously.  BUT, if you are like me, you still have the impulses to look at unbelievably low prices and want to believe that the magical deal is out there and you have to take a chance to save a buck.  I am asking you to see another side of these deals by writing this blog.  I am asking you to see that sleep is not something to be toyed with.  Sleep is essential; it needs to be taken seriously.  Because sleep is so important, careful research needs to be done on the tools we need to get the proper sleep.  We need to know that our backs will be pain-free in the morning when we wake.  We need to feel like we aren’t on fire when we lay for sleep.  We need to be supported correctly whether we start on our belly or start on our back.  That’s why Live Well is here.  Live Well doesn’t sell mattresses, we sell better sleep. Come see us.

Here are a few blogs that will help you on your search for the right mattress for your needs:

Does a “Name Brand” Make Better Mattresses?

Foam vs Springs and the Importance of Sex

Mattress Foundations and Bed Height

Finding the Right Mattress for Your Sore Back

What is Proper Back Support?

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