The One Sided Mattress Conspiracy

Mattress manufacturers build one-sided mattresses to increase profits!

The One-Sided Mattress Conspiracy a common complaint suggested to me each and every day as a business plan of the big corporations that build beds. A plan devised to stuff the pockets of corporate CEO’s and their shareholders. Interesting thought but could it really happen? Truthfully this is why I am fascinated by conspiracy theories. Theories like did we really go to the moon? No, we did not according to some people and in fact, the people that believe this consider the Apollo 11 Moon Landings to have been faked. It’s hard to believe but there are some who believe the US Government coordinated the September 11 destruction of the New York Twin Towers. Finally here might be the greatest conspiracy theory you never heard of. The mattress industry’s design of the one-sided no-flip mattress. True conspiracy theories are viewed with much skepticism, but I will tell you this last one is picking up steam.

The idea that competing mattress manufacturers conspired to change the entire the way a mattress is built and its very design is really far fetched.

Believers in this idea say the motives behind this mattress conspiracy include:

• Increased profits.
• Making them 1 sided would shorten mattress life requiring more frequent replacement.
• Greed.
• Don’t care about their customers.
• Cheaper to make one-sided mattresses than a two-sided mattress.

Interestingly as a mattress salesman, I find my self in the position of having to answer to these accusations on a daily basis. So here are my thoughts on the topic based on my 25 years of experience in the retail mattress business and why I believe the mattress conspiracy theory doesn’t hold water. In addition, I’ve included the facts about 1-sided mattresses and why consumers cannot or rarely do find them in retail stores:

• 2 sided mattresses are hard to find, but it’s not because they are not being manufactured. The fact is many retailers and I would say the majority of mattress stores could get them if they wanted to get them; they have merely opted not to carry them. So with two-sided not being offered customers frankly have no alternative choice but to purchase the one-sided option in that particular area.
• Customers really didn’t care if a bed was one-sided or two they just wanted a more maintenance-free mattress
• FR Mattress lines were introduced. As of July 2007, mattress builders had to comply with new federal standards for fire safety put in place by the CPSC
• A majority of consumers were not complying with warranty requirement that necessitated regular turning and flipping.
• One-sided mattresses pass mandated FR regulations easier and cheaper saving all parties including the manufacturer, retailer, and consumer money.
• One-sided mattresses actually outperform the two-sided predecessors that they replaced.
• Bed makers were trending the direction of one-sided for ease of customer use before the implementation of FR regulations by the government. The new law merely fast-tracked the new building process.