Are Discount Mattresses Necessarily Cheap?
In the world of discount mattresses it is important to distinguish the difference between those that are simply sold at a reduced cost and those that leave your back tired and sore due to poor craftsmanship. What holds true about the word “cheap” in most industries does so in the discount mattress business as well. Namely, that “cheap” does not have to mean “inferior.” To be sure there are mattresses for sale that indeed are inferior in every way. Regardless of how little one pays for such a mattress, it seems like too much, especially in the middle of a long night of no sleep or a day filled will lower back pain.
The good news is that quality need not be sacrificed whether you make your purchase at a mattress discounter, department store, or online. If you are in the market for a discount mattress set you will find quality products and services can be found at premium and discount stores alike. The idea that because a business sells discount mattresses means you will get treated poorly either with the product, service, or both is nonsense. This is not any truer than the claim that you will get quality products, service, or both at a premium provider. A good example of this is one retailer of discount mattresses has all potential customers first fill out a survey so the sales staff can better understand what the buyer wants/needs in their mattress. Most consumers would have a difficult time finding this kind of attention to detail at any retailer, including premium outlets. Fact is, what you are more likely to get at the premium outlet is a price that is premium, and average service.
In fact, one will find upon searching for discount mattresses that often the supposed discount mattresses are the same high quality national brand names, only reduced in price for a variety of reasons. However, they have a lower price, these discount mattresses had to meet company standards prior to being shipped.
Then how do they end up on showroom floors at the local mattress discounter costing less than they do at other vendors? Usually the most common reason for the price differences has more to do with internal agreements made by the manufacturer with each retailer than anything else. Commonly the motivating factor for the smaller price tag is the retailer has agreed to purchase a larger inventory from the manufacturer so they are given a more preferred price than their competitor down the street. This is one way brand name mattresses can be sold as discount mattresses to the customer.
Another way that high quality bedding can be sold as discount mattresses is by the retailer becoming an “exclusive” dealer of a certain brand name. The willingness of the retailer to limit the brand choices they offer customers is offset by price reductions from the manufacturer. The manufacturer is essentially paying the seller to reduce competition by refusing to secure agreements with other companies that would provide discount mattresses.
Some of the brands selling as discount mattresses include Sealy, Serta, Stearns & Foster, and Tempur-Pedic just to name a few. These are hardly names associated with poorly crafted mattresses. When in the market for a new mattress one need not feel that discount mattresses are cheap in quality, only less expensive.