4 ms·

You'd have to bulk order from China most likely or build your own mattress... or just order something cheap on Amazon where it is a race to the bottom. IKEA is

by sjg007 7y ago

You'd have to bulk order from China most likely or build your own mattress... or just order something cheap on Amazon where it is a race to the bottom. IKEA is also ok. I prefer Costco b/c of the return policy itself. Maybe you might find a hotel liquidator. The fact that we all sleep in hotels though shows you that the mattress resale laws are kind of weird or antiquated .. e.g. maybe last century. It seems like there should be a rehab process that allows a mattress to be resold "used" but clean. I am guessing the reason is health and safety but given craigslist where mattress change hands ad infinitum I am not sure how big the risk is. The fire risk is obviously a bigger deal.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
The reason is surely bedbug infestations. It is just too risky to buy a mattress second hand, even from legitimate sources.
- ars 7y ago
  That can be handled, either store the mattress for a year or so, or heat it up enough to kill them.
- OJFord 7y ago
  That's enough for many of us to avoid it, it hardly needs regulation. GP's point is that we gladly share hotel mattresses. Bed bugs are consequently occasionally an inconvenience.
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    The hotels check for bedbugs often and are aggressive in their cleaning habits. They know their reputation is shot once they have even one infestation. Now buy a used mattress from a source you don’t know whose hygiene is also unknown, you just don’t take that risk.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      That sounds like a business opportunity for “certified mattress cleaners”....
      - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        When you get an infestation, it’s best to just burn everything in the room and then fumigate.
        scarface74 7y ago
        There’s no way to get rid of an infestation? I’ve never had one so I seriously don’t know.
        DoreenMichele 7y ago
        They're tiny. Even the adults are quite small. The babies are specks. The younger ones are clear unless they've recently fed, so nearly invisible when they aren't bright red from ingesting blood. They have a real talent for going unnoticed, even when there are dozens or hundreds of them. People often discover an infestation due to bites or poop smears, not from seeing a live bug at any time. They mostly come out at night and I think they can hibernate for long periods, like weeks or months. They are quite hard to get rid of once they get into something like a mattress.
        ss3000 7y ago
        I can confirm all of the above, having lived through an infestation myself. Had to ditch my dirt cheap apartment and basically throw away all of my belongings at the time out of fear of bringing any of them with me to the next place ("luckily" I didn't have much at the time as I was a poor student). And then ended up spending $2000+ anyways on a full room heat treatment for my new place because I could swear I was still getting new bite marks and it was driving me insane (though in hindsight they might have been what's referred to as "phantom bites" but I wasn't going to take the chance to find out after going through that whole ordeal). Up to that point I've lived in shady places with ants, roaches and rats and other shitty stuff but none of that bothered me too much, so I thought I could handle any shitty living arrangement as long as the price was right, but the bed bugs thing was by far the most nerve wracking experience of my entire life, and even made me contemplate suicide at one point. I learned to not cheap out on a place to live ever since... And definitely never pick up used furniture lying on the sidewalk, which I used to do a lot... So yeah... I can see why people might have reservations against used mattresses...
  - Bluecobra 7y ago
    We also gladly steal hotel mattresses too! https://www.wellness-heaven.de/wellness/study-theft-in-hotels/ https://www.wellness-heaven.de/wellness/study-theft-in-hotel...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- tartoran 7y ago
  Mattresses could be frozen for 72 hours and kept in a very hot environment for a while too, that’s kill both fungus and bedbugs. If laws allowed it there would be such a business. I wonder if the mattress business lobbies to keep these laws in place. Or whether they’re at the source of some bedbugs infestations. I wouldnt be surprised, in the mattress business it’s a cut throat in all directions type of world
Spooky23 7y ago
There are many places that refurb mattresses. My dad used to run housing projects, and people would dumpster dive to sell mattresses when they cleaned out apartments.

by sjg007 7y ago

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

The reason is surely bedbug infestations. It is just too risky to buy a mattress second hand, even from legitimate sources.

ars 7y ago
That can be handled, either store the mattress for a year or so, or heat it up enough to kill them.
OJFord 7y ago
That's enough for many of us to avoid it, it hardly needs regulation. GP's point is that we gladly share hotel mattresses. Bed bugs are consequently occasionally an inconvenience.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  The hotels check for bedbugs often and are aggressive in their cleaning habits. They know their reputation is shot once they have even one infestation. Now buy a used mattress from a source you don’t know whose hygiene is also unknown, you just don’t take that risk.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    That sounds like a business opportunity for “certified mattress cleaners”....
    - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
      When you get an infestation, it’s best to just burn everything in the room and then fumigate.
      - scarface74 7y ago
        There’s no way to get rid of an infestation? I’ve never had one so I seriously don’t know.
        DoreenMichele 7y ago
        They're tiny. Even the adults are quite small. The babies are specks. The younger ones are clear unless they've recently fed, so nearly invisible when they aren't bright red from ingesting blood. They have a real talent for going unnoticed, even when there are dozens or hundreds of them. People often discover an infestation due to bites or poop smears, not from seeing a live bug at any time. They mostly come out at night and I think they can hibernate for long periods, like weeks or months. They are quite hard to get rid of once they get into something like a mattress.
        ss3000 7y ago
        I can confirm all of the above, having lived through an infestation myself. Had to ditch my dirt cheap apartment and basically throw away all of my belongings at the time out of fear of bringing any of them with me to the next place ("luckily" I didn't have much at the time as I was a poor student). And then ended up spending $2000+ anyways on a full room heat treatment for my new place because I could swear I was still getting new bite marks and it was driving me insane (though in hindsight they might have been what's referred to as "phantom bites" but I wasn't going to take the chance to find out after going through that whole ordeal). Up to that point I've lived in shady places with ants, roaches and rats and other shitty stuff but none of that bothered me too much, so I thought I could handle any shitty living arrangement as long as the price was right, but the bed bugs thing was by far the most nerve wracking experience of my entire life, and even made me contemplate suicide at one point. I learned to not cheap out on a place to live ever since... And definitely never pick up used furniture lying on the sidewalk, which I used to do a lot... So yeah... I can see why people might have reservations against used mattresses...
- Bluecobra 7y ago
  We also gladly steal hotel mattresses too! https://www.wellness-heaven.de/wellness/study-theft-in-hotels/ https://www.wellness-heaven.de/wellness/study-theft-in-hotel...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
tartoran 7y ago
Mattresses could be frozen for 72 hours and kept in a very hot environment for a while too, that’s kill both fungus and bedbugs. If laws allowed it there would be such a business. I wonder if the mattress business lobbies to keep these laws in place. Or whether they’re at the source of some bedbugs infestations. I wouldnt be surprised, in the mattress business it’s a cut throat in all directions type of world

Spooky23 7y ago

There are many places that refurb mattresses. My dad used to run housing projects, and people would dumpster dive to sell mattresses when they cleaned out apartments.