50% Off mattress sales are always phony.

There are always Mattress Sales featuring deep discounts of 50% – 75% or even more.

All of these deep discounts are deceptive marketing designed to attract gullible shoppers. 

There may be some smaller, legitimate discounts in the 10% – 25% range.

But there are no real discounts of 50% or more.

Many years ago I was a buyer for a major furniture retailer. Over a 4 year period I purchased over $20 million of mattresses.

Every week I ran sales promotions, including mattress sales claiming 50% off or more.

Retailers do not lose money on mattresses sold at these deeply discounted prices. The profit margin is about the same as they get for non-discounted mattresses.

Last year, I shopped for a mattress for personal use.

I was looking for an innerspring mattress that was 12 – 14″ thick, priced under $1000 and made by a major brand.

I looked at approximately 200 different innerspring queen-size mattresses being sold online. Most were from Serta, Sealy and Simmons.

Nearly half had discounts of 50% or more. The others had no price reduction at all.

Mattresses have always been tough to compare across brands.

When shopping for my mattress, I discovered that comparisons within a single brand are now equally difficult.

Each individual mattress model has unique specifications. Different models that look identical in photos can have completely different specs.

Each major brand offered hundreds of different models.

Models offered by an individual retailer were rarely available from their competitors.

This eliminated the possibility of comparing prices on identical mattresses across retailers.

Despite this, I was able to identify one universal measurement that enabled me to compare mattresses.

Both across brands and within brands.

I compared the weights of the different mattress models.

In almost every case, queen-size mattresses selling between $799 – 999 weighed 80 – 100 lbs — regardless of the original “list” price.

Mattresses at the lower end of my price range weighed 80 lbs – 90 lbs.

Mattresses at the top of my price range weighed 90 lbs. – 100 lbs.

This included mattresses with “list” prices of $1999 – $3999 that were selling at discounts of 50% – 75% off.

I subsequently examined several mattresses actually selling in the $1999 – $2999 price range.

All of these weighed 110 – 120 lbs.

This included mattresses on sale for 50% – 75% off selling with list prices ranging from $3999 – $8999.

There was absolutely no relationship between the “list” comparison price and the weight of any mattress.

All mattresses listed as $3999 values and selling for $999 weighed approximately the same as mattresses selling for $999 with no discount.

Mattresses listed at $8,999 values selling for $2999 weighed approximately the same as mattresses selling for $2999 with no discount.

All mattresses actually selling for $1999 weighed more than those selling for $999.

Mattresses selling for $2999 weighed more than those selling for $1999.

What are you paying for when you get a mattress selling for $2999 instead of one for $999?

According to my best estimate:

$500 for quality improvements

$500 for cosmetic improvements

$1000 extra profit

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