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Comment by JPKab | Hacker News Reader

"There are all sorts of outlets for reasonably priced, what you see is what you get mattresses: Sam's Club. Costco. Ikea. You can get a decent name brand mainstream mattress for ~$500."

I hear you, but who says that $500 is a reasonable price for a mattress? I'm sorry, but looking at the raw materials involved (don't even get me started on the frickin foam ones that don't even have springs: I'm looking at you Tempurpedic) it's clearly still a racket at the Sam's Club prices.

If it is the raw materials, and not a rip off, then why do solid foam rubber mattresses cost more than mattresses containing moving parts and metal springs?

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Why is it obvious that memory foam is cheaper per cubic inch than a spring assembly?

I have purchased my last two mattresses from Overstock, and recommend people do the same (and read the comments on all of them, preferring those with more reviews...)

http://www.overstock.com/Bedding-Bath/Memory-Foam-Mattresses...

Lots of mattresses are rated +4.5 with 550 reviews but when you go read the reviews, there's a ton of 1/5 reviews saying "the memory foam lost its memory after a couple of months."

For example: http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Comfort-Dreams-Select-A...

Something really shady is going on with their rating averaging.

The market says that's a reasonable price, and Tempurpedic is serving the premium market segment. Why does a half gallon of milk with a generic store logo cost 10% less than the name-brand milk from the same exact dairy?

Anything less is either refurbished (ick) or one of the foam ones from Amazon/Overstock. The online foam mattresses are as low as $350, because they can compress the foam and make it light enough for UPS Ground.

Personally, I don't like foam mattresses. If i didn't know that, dropped $350 on a mattress from Amazon, I'm stuck with some bizarro return process, since it's no longer compressed foam that can be readily shipped!

"The market"?

The market consists of buyers and sellers. Since a bed typically lasts over 10 years, a typical buyer buys fewer than 7 beds in a lifetime. That's not enough to get educated or even keep up with change.

So in fact the market consists of sellers and what they can get away with. Nothing to do with being reasonable.

moving parts != comfort, which is paramount when it comes to mattresses. For me (and a lot of people I know), having springs is actually an issue. The springs wear off, the mattress begins to sag and not to mention the back aches. So its not as simple as -- simple foam mattresses should cost lower just because they have less raw materials than a spring coil one.

I suppose you wouldn't like a waterbed, then, since it's essentially 1 giant moving part.

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