What Price Sleep?

We've got a beautiful bedroom set on order. It should be here a week from tomorrow. I've not slept on a bed with a headboard since ... well, since I lived with my parents, I think. A king sized bed too. It's been years since I've owned one. Can't wait. Big chest of drawers coming as well. I won't have to use my grandmother's cast off, or the one I basically stole from my daughter. And honest to goodness night tables -- one for each side. Not some discount store $10 particle board thing that you have to keep covered with a table cloth. You know: we're gonna have a real bedroom.

But the darn thing needs a mattress and box spring. The store at which we purchased the furniture specialized in Kingsdown "Sleep To Live" bedding. The sales person even had us lay on a computerized mattress-thingy that said I needed a 'blue' (3 of 4 on firmness scale) and Wife needed a 'gold' (cushiest, 1 of 4). They had demo models of each and we tried them out. VERY nice. Wife decided that cushy was not for her. Felt better on my firmness. Cool! We finally agreed on something. "OK," says I to the salesperson. "How much?" She says, "$4500". I laugh and say, "No, really: how much?" She says, "$4500 ... plus tax, of course." I say, "What else you got?"

And then the sales job starts: "How much is a good night's sleep worth to you?" "Only bed you'll ever need." "20-year guarantee." "I have two hip replacements and I own one of these and have no pain." "Worth every penny." Yada-yada-yada.

I say, "What else you got?"

We try one of the lower price sets. Not nearly as comfortable. Even cheaper one; even less comfortable. Surprise. Surprise.

Final words from me, "Thanks. I think not. Send the furniture." Which by the way, costs less than the mattress and box springs we'd just looked at.

So today, we tried Mattress Giant store down the road. We knew they had Kingsdown as well and wanted to see if they had a better price. As my daughter had told me: you can't do apples-to-apples comparison on bedding. Each store calls each mattress something different so you can't tell whether you're comparing the same mattress or not. But never mind. The only Kingsdowns they had were all more expensive than the ones we'd seen at the furniture store. So I says, "What else ya got?"

And nice man Steve shows us some Simmons and some Posturepedic and some Tempurpedic. We find one Simmons Beautyrest for $2100 and another for $1800. Neither were as comfortable as the Kingsdown, but if the Kingsdown was a 10 for comfort, these were in the 7-8 range. Based on price, you'd expect them only to a 4 or a 5. Naturally I like the more expensive one and Wife likes the cheaper one, but those are high class problems at this point. We think we'll go back for the cheaper one tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, given the right circumstances, we can sleep anywhere.