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Comment by gergely | Hacker News Reader

Why would anyone ever want a mattress permanently that was possibly used for sex by other people countless times?

Unless we're getting somewhat kinky, I don't think that counts as the biggest deprecation of mattress values. I'd rate sweaty obese salesman higher than a short spout of bonking.

Unless we're talking about "impure" from a moralistic pov. In which case I'd recommend slipping your local priest a few bucks to have it blessed.

I'm not sure these people are at the point in their lives where they demand un-fucked-on furniture.

I'm guessing that there is also a segment of society that already-fucked-on furniture is a plus.

They're less squeamish than you, apparently. For practical purposes it doesn't matter.

Also I already slept on it once, I'm not sure twice, thrice or hundreds of times would matter after once to me.

If it grossed me out I'd rather not sleep on it at all.

why would anyone want to sleep on a mattress that just recently was being used by someone else possibly also for the sex, perhaps imperfectly cleaned afterward, and get overcharged for the experience?

Presumably they steal them to sell them on, not because the thief needs mattresses for every one of their 14 bedrooms. As long as it's reasonably new and clean (or maybe even if not) it can be sold on eBay. New mattresses are quite expensive too - £1500 for really nice ones - so I suppose this plus the TV makes for a worthwhile evening of grifting.

Someone has already suggested that the benefit of taking the mattress away isn't to use or sell it, but to conceal a crime by disposing of it.

Yes, nobody would buy those knowing they've been used in a hotel. But the question is, do they have to know? Mattresses can be repackaged and sold as new or they may have a network to place those mattresses to other hotels, BnBs etc. I even heard of cases where people were picking mattresses off the streets in NYC and "refurbishing" them, whatever that means and selling them as new.

Someone renting out a few AirBnB rooms would gladly furnish them with used mattresses.

That's is a possibility. I'll stop thinking about it or won't travel anywhere anymore

Every hotel or airbnb you use has (with near certainty) a "used" mattress.

People don't use bed sheets / mattress protectors ?

They are choosing a 5 star hotel. The mattress is probably only a couple times before they sell it to a 4 star hotel that uses it for a month before it is resold to a 3 star hotel... Eventually it ends up in a 0 star hotel for a couple years (which is why all the beds are lumpy in 0 star hotels - they are well used before they end up there)

I know the above happens with sheets. It isn't a stretch to believe it happens with other things as well.

Absolutely not true. There is no Marriott/Hyatt/IHG/Hilton hotel that would bother with used mattresses. Mattresses alone are only $250 to $500 a piece, and the labor and logistics to transport mattresses is huge. They are sold with 10 year warranties from Tempur Sealy and Simmons. There is no way any half decent hotel risks getting bed bugs or any other issues from another hotel to save a few thousand dollars.

The idea of using a mattress a couple times and then moving it to another hotel is laughable, much less for a "month". They easily last 5 years, if not longer, and it's a huge capital expense when they need to be replaced as it's usually done all at once since it disrupts operations quite a bit.

people who already crossed a line by stealing have shown they are not rationale decisions in their life. it never ceases to amaze me how much effort people will put into stealing something that truly isn't worth the time expended if they had instead focused that time on working

It's actually pretty easy to put together a theft worth more than the time you spend on it, especially if you forget not to get caught.

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