6 ms·

As an American that moved to Europe before I was old enough to ever buy an expensive mattress, what Americans spend on mattresses is always incredibly baffling.

by wheels 9y ago

As an American that moved to Europe before I was old enough to ever buy an expensive mattress, what Americans spend on mattresses is always incredibly baffling. New, king sized (1.8 x 2.0 m), mattresses go for €200-1500 (about $250-1800) in Germany, with prices gravitating towards the lower end of the spectrum. Americans use much springier mattresses (box springs are unheard of here, and foam mattresses are standard), but I'm incredibly skeptical that quality of sleep is systemically worse. The whole thing has the feeling of a ginormous scam / rent-seeking.

dboreham 9y ago
If this is interesting look at how often Americans think they have to change the oil in their vehicles. Even if said oil is synthetic.
- st26 9y ago
  "think"? The manufacturer specifies the interval, and you best follow it if you'd like your warranty honored.
  - seattle_spring 9y ago
    Most people don't follow the manufacturer's recommendation, they follow the "Jiffy Lube" recommendation which is every 3000 miles. 3000 miles is a ridiculous interval.
  - astura 9y ago
    My manufacturer specifies 1 year or 10,000 miles. However, growing up I was told that you shouldn't go more than 3 months or 3,000 miles between oil changes.
    - dmh2000 9y ago
      well back in the day, say before 1990, many cars needed that because the engines were so bad. a combination of plain old poor quality and immature technology for reducing emissions . So it became a meme.
      - dboreham 9y ago
        That hasn't been true since the 60's or before, when oil was very different than today's (or the 90s). We know that the 3000 or 5000 mile oil change interval is pure nonsense because the exact same engines magically have 10-20k mile oil change intervals in Europe.
  - dboreham 9y ago
    Curious, have you actually read their specification? I ask because it is oven much longer than people think. The cars are configured to "warn" you that the oil needs to be changed, but the miles to change is a soft configuration that is under-provisioned (presumably due to $$ made by people selling you oil you don't need). You can ask the oil changing people (or do it yourself if sufficiently motivated) to change the interval.
    - st26 9y ago
      My old Tacoma was 5k. My Subaru is 6k. Does that answer your question?
- rconti 9y ago
  Volkswagen USA says my 2016 Golf should have the oil changed every 10,000 miles. 5w40 synthetic, I think. So far I've changed it twice, every 10k. To be honest, I meant to do my own change after 1000mi as it was my first new vehicle and I figured there was no harm in doing an early first change to satisfy my concern about the supposedly-old-wives-tale of flushing out breakin materials on my first-ever new car. To make up for my guilt at doing the bare minimum I do a Blackstone oil analysis. Great so far, but what I expect out of an engine which, at 26,000 miles, has still not done half the mileage as my previous lowest-mileage car was at purchase!
- jccalhoun 9y ago
  I change my oil when the car tells me to. (Which for me is only about once a year since I rarely drive more than 100 miles a week)
  - dboreham 9y ago
    Unfortunately it is lying to you (it was paid to do that by the people who sell you the oil).
dpweb 9y ago
Mattress is an item where its very easy to misjudge the value. You spend 1/3 your life on it! Whats that worth? $3000. Seems legit. There was some movie where these street guys were talking about the best stolen stuff to sell on the street. Scissors. Everybody needs em, no one knows what they cost. Go for good sleep surely but living alone $100 air mattress I sleep fine. Glad I didnt go for the $1000 matress in a box. Had a $2000 bed plus a $2000 mattress before that.
- user5994461 9y ago
  Americans from the major cities have a much higher purchasing power. You're throwing numbers that are a year of disposable income. That's madness for the rest of the world.
lsc 9y ago
> As an American that moved to Europe before I was old enough to ever buy an expensive mattress, what Americans spend on mattresses is always incredibly baffling. I think it might just be a class thing? If you want a $100 mattress in America, you can get one for super cheap: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Linenspa-6-inch-Innerspring-Mattress-in-a-Box-Multiple-Sizes/47961685 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Linenspa-6-inch-Innerspring-Mattr... I'm just saying that I think that most Americans don't blow a grand every time they want a new mattress.
omgbananas 9y ago
I have a theory about mattress shopping: Purchasing a mattress can be like purchasing a car when it comes to getting a good deal. Let's say you know what car you want, so you just e-mail dealers back and forth until you get their lowest offer. The same could be done with mattresses. Thoughts anyone?
- doughj3 9y ago
  The problem is that mattress manufacturers create different product lines and variants for each retailer. This makes it difficult to comparison shop or price match between retailers.
  - omgbananas 9y ago
    Except for when there's several stores of the same chain in the same town.
rconti 9y ago
A few years ago we shopped for a mattress here in Silicon Valley. Size was California King which is, IIRC, 4" longer than a standard King, but 4" narrower. First mom-and-pop store we went to, prices were $599-$3000ish. Running a "no sales tax" promotion (they always are). My wife and I spent an hour trying different beds and through all the firm and soft and plush and ultrafirm ultradeluxe ultraplush nonsense. Talked to the salesman, and he pretty much said the only difference between the REALLY low end $599 ones, and the $799+ ones, was coil count. Once you hit 799+, he told us, it was all kinds of toppers and so on. But the coil count doesn't effect warranty or how often you should replace it. My wife's favorite bed was the $599 simple firm one. That was my second favorite by a narrow margin; my favorite was way down her list. Delivered to our house a day or two later; again, no sales tax, no need for a box spring because we had a platform bed. It's still a REALLY REALLY industry, and I'm not saying Americans don't pay more than they should, but I'm not sure our price range is particularly out of whack with what you saw, and this is for coils, not foam. At Ikea you can easily get a cheap foam mattress; we have one in our guest room. I've slept on it when I'm sick. It's fine. I don't prefer it, but if it's all I ever knew, or if I spent as much time on one as I've spent on coil mattresses, it might well be my favorite. Yet, not many people here buy foam mattresses, or mattress from Ikea at all. Perhaps the bias is just that Ikea = cheap, but some trendy internet-advertised foam brand with a new name and a fresh face must be some new high-tech amazing thing.
SlapHappy 9y ago
I agree with you. I went mattress shopping a couple years ago and was taken aback by the prices. The whole thing felt like a scam, as people have been sleeping perfectly well for hundreds of years without all this extraneous marketing crap. I ended up buying a $200 queen size mattress on Amazon. My fiance and I have been sleeping on it for ~2 years - never once had an issue, easily the best mattress I've ever owned. I can post the brand if someone wants to know, but I'll refrain for now as I'm not interesting in shilling for some company.

by wheels 9y ago

dboreham 9y ago

If this is interesting look at how often Americans think they have to change the oil in their vehicles. Even if said oil is synthetic.

st26 9y ago
"think"? The manufacturer specifies the interval, and you best follow it if you'd like your warranty honored.
- seattle_spring 9y ago
  Most people don't follow the manufacturer's recommendation, they follow the "Jiffy Lube" recommendation which is every 3000 miles. 3000 miles is a ridiculous interval.
- astura 9y ago
  My manufacturer specifies 1 year or 10,000 miles. However, growing up I was told that you shouldn't go more than 3 months or 3,000 miles between oil changes.
  - dmh2000 9y ago
    well back in the day, say before 1990, many cars needed that because the engines were so bad. a combination of plain old poor quality and immature technology for reducing emissions . So it became a meme.
    - dboreham 9y ago
      That hasn't been true since the 60's or before, when oil was very different than today's (or the 90s). We know that the 3000 or 5000 mile oil change interval is pure nonsense because the exact same engines magically have 10-20k mile oil change intervals in Europe.
- dboreham 9y ago
  Curious, have you actually read their specification? I ask because it is oven much longer than people think. The cars are configured to "warn" you that the oil needs to be changed, but the miles to change is a soft configuration that is under-provisioned (presumably due to $$ made by people selling you oil you don't need). You can ask the oil changing people (or do it yourself if sufficiently motivated) to change the interval.
  - st26 9y ago
    My old Tacoma was 5k. My Subaru is 6k. Does that answer your question?
rconti 9y ago
Volkswagen USA says my 2016 Golf should have the oil changed every 10,000 miles. 5w40 synthetic, I think. So far I've changed it twice, every 10k. To be honest, I meant to do my own change after 1000mi as it was my first new vehicle and I figured there was no harm in doing an early first change to satisfy my concern about the supposedly-old-wives-tale of flushing out breakin materials on my first-ever new car. To make up for my guilt at doing the bare minimum I do a Blackstone oil analysis. Great so far, but what I expect out of an engine which, at 26,000 miles, has still not done half the mileage as my previous lowest-mileage car was at purchase!
jccalhoun 9y ago
I change my oil when the car tells me to. (Which for me is only about once a year since I rarely drive more than 100 miles a week)
- dboreham 9y ago
  Unfortunately it is lying to you (it was paid to do that by the people who sell you the oil).

dpweb 9y ago

Mattress is an item where its very easy to misjudge the value. You spend 1/3 your life on it! Whats that worth? $3000. Seems legit. There was some movie where these street guys were talking about the best stolen stuff to sell on the street. Scissors. Everybody needs em, no one knows what they cost. Go for good sleep surely but living alone $100 air mattress I sleep fine. Glad I didnt go for the $1000 matress in a box. Had a $2000 bed plus a $2000 mattress before that.

user5994461 9y ago
Americans from the major cities have a much higher purchasing power. You're throwing numbers that are a year of disposable income. That's madness for the rest of the world.

lsc 9y ago

> As an American that moved to Europe before I was old enough to ever buy an expensive mattress, what Americans spend on mattresses is always incredibly baffling. I think it might just be a class thing? If you want a $100 mattress in America, you can get one for super cheap: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Linenspa-6-inch-Innerspring-Mattress-in-a-Box-Multiple-Sizes/47961685 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Linenspa-6-inch-Innerspring-Mattr... I'm just saying that I think that most Americans don't blow a grand every time they want a new mattress.

omgbananas 9y ago

I have a theory about mattress shopping: Purchasing a mattress can be like purchasing a car when it comes to getting a good deal. Let's say you know what car you want, so you just e-mail dealers back and forth until you get their lowest offer. The same could be done with mattresses. Thoughts anyone?

doughj3 9y ago
The problem is that mattress manufacturers create different product lines and variants for each retailer. This makes it difficult to comparison shop or price match between retailers.
- omgbananas 9y ago
  Except for when there's several stores of the same chain in the same town.

rconti 9y ago

A few years ago we shopped for a mattress here in Silicon Valley. Size was California King which is, IIRC, 4" longer than a standard King, but 4" narrower. First mom-and-pop store we went to, prices were $599-$3000ish. Running a "no sales tax" promotion (they always are). My wife and I spent an hour trying different beds and through all the firm and soft and plush and ultrafirm ultradeluxe ultraplush nonsense. Talked to the salesman, and he pretty much said the only difference between the REALLY low end $599 ones, and the $799+ ones, was coil count. Once you hit 799+, he told us, it was all kinds of toppers and so on. But the coil count doesn't effect warranty or how often you should replace it. My wife's favorite bed was the $599 simple firm one. That was my second favorite by a narrow margin; my favorite was way down her list. Delivered to our house a day or two later; again, no sales tax, no need for a box spring because we had a platform bed. It's still a REALLY REALLY industry, and I'm not saying Americans don't pay more than they should, but I'm not sure our price range is particularly out of whack with what you saw, and this is for coils, not foam. At Ikea you can easily get a cheap foam mattress; we have one in our guest room. I've slept on it when I'm sick. It's fine. I don't prefer it, but if it's all I ever knew, or if I spent as much time on one as I've spent on coil mattresses, it might well be my favorite. Yet, not many people here buy foam mattresses, or mattress from Ikea at all. Perhaps the bias is just that Ikea = cheap, but some trendy internet-advertised foam brand with a new name and a fresh face must be some new high-tech amazing thing.

SlapHappy 9y ago

I agree with you. I went mattress shopping a couple years ago and was taken aback by the prices. The whole thing felt like a scam, as people have been sleeping perfectly well for hundreds of years without all this extraneous marketing crap. I ended up buying a $200 queen size mattress on Amazon. My fiance and I have been sleeping on it for ~2 years - never once had an issue, easily the best mattress I've ever owned. I can post the brand if someone wants to know, but I'll refrain for now as I'm not interesting in shilling for some company.