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As somebody having moved to the US a month ago : some of your industries like mattress sound a lot like gigantic scams. I did not want to pay 2k$ for a good ma

As somebody having moved to the US a month ago : some of your industries like mattress sound a lot like gigantic scams. I did not want to pay 2k$ for a good mattress because it is just a stupid rectangle of foam. Each time I read about how they have nasa engineers in their teams to help them innovate on 'mattress technology' I choke up a little. How can somebody write that with a straight face ? I ended up buying one on amazon (a Zinus if anybody is interested, heard about it in another HN thread)

wil421 9y ago
Memory foam was developed by NASA’s Ames Research Facilty in the 60s[1]. Great for marketing but not worth it IMHO. Not all mattresses are boxes of foam. Box spring mattresses are not like the foams ones you order online that expand when opened. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_foam https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_foam
rconti 9y ago
As a natural born American, some of our industries confuse the hell out of me. Why are used car dealerships so scummy? Why are there (overpriced) mattress stores on every corner? Why do we sell prescription drugs on TV? Mattresses truly are a weird one though. You can see how overpriced they are by the mere existence of these massive stores with allegedly-valuable inventory, that are always empty, because people don't need new mattresses that often! Of course, they're ridiculously overpriced so you can get great "deals" on them as they're always running tax-free sales, etc. Thankfully when my wife and I went to try out mattresses for our fancy new big wood bedframe, in the process of trying everything from $600 up to $3000+ (california king size pricing), she declared the cheapest one her favorite, and that was that!
- ggg9990 9y ago
  Used car dealerships are scummy because 1) the quality of the product is much better known to the seller than to the buyer, and 2) people make few enough purchases that repeat clientele is not that valuable.
- notfromhere 9y ago
  Mattresses have a crazy high profit margin (something like 60-80%) and salespeople in mattress stores work on commission-only fee structures. Basically, mattress stores are cheap to open and print money. This is also why there are so many nail salons

wil421 9y ago

Memory foam was developed by NASA’s Ames Research Facilty in the 60s[1]. Great for marketing but not worth it IMHO. Not all mattresses are boxes of foam. Box spring mattresses are not like the foams ones you order online that expand when opened. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_foam https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_foam

rconti 9y ago

As a natural born American, some of our industries confuse the hell out of me. Why are used car dealerships so scummy? Why are there (overpriced) mattress stores on every corner? Why do we sell prescription drugs on TV? Mattresses truly are a weird one though. You can see how overpriced they are by the mere existence of these massive stores with allegedly-valuable inventory, that are always empty, because people don't need new mattresses that often! Of course, they're ridiculously overpriced so you can get great "deals" on them as they're always running tax-free sales, etc. Thankfully when my wife and I went to try out mattresses for our fancy new big wood bedframe, in the process of trying everything from $600 up to $3000+ (california king size pricing), she declared the cheapest one her favorite, and that was that!

ggg9990 9y ago
Used car dealerships are scummy because 1) the quality of the product is much better known to the seller than to the buyer, and 2) people make few enough purchases that repeat clientele is not that valuable.
notfromhere 9y ago
Mattresses have a crazy high profit margin (something like 60-80%) and salespeople in mattress stores work on commission-only fee structures. Basically, mattress stores are cheap to open and print money. This is also why there are so many nail salons