the title of this post is a combination of words i never thought i would write. actually, it is a combination of words i never considered stringing together. and yet, here we are.
so. since finishing grad school, i have had clear plans about goals in regards to money. (the trouble with these plans, of course, is that i can come up with the plan faster than i can come up with money.) the most recent item on the plan was to buy a new bed.
i have never bought a bed. college meant the mattress was there waiting for me. after college, i took the double that i had used in high school. and then i moved to la. for a while in la, i slept on an air mattress. then my back started hurting some and i decided i probably should get a proper bed. miat, through john, recommended this place called 'm&m furniture' down on wilshire. they have refurbished mattresses and i bought a double — a mattress, box springs and a frame, all delivered, for 80 bucks. this was a purely functional purchase — a great deal. the bed isn't too bad, but it's nothing to write home about either. and i'm not just saying this because it is going to be mike's bed soon.
anyway. the point is that i have never gone through the mattress buying process. but i realized at some point that i should have a nice bed. the bed being the place where i spend the single most amount of time. and i finally decided i had enough saved up to buy one.
so we went mattress shopping on sunday.
we started at sleep train, in palo alto. to be fair, i've never even been in a mattress store. it turns out that there aren't that many options. this seems due to the fact that every design comes in 3 models — basically a firm, plush and ultra plush. the ultra plush just means it has a pillow-top, which is just a pad sewn to the top of the mattress. genius — when you wear that padding out, you can't even replace it because it is sewn to the mattress. so the real question is: do you like you mattress firm or soft?
we found a sealy we liked. but for 1600 dollars, it was out of the range i considered to be my budget. not hugely so — i had budgeted about 1200, so we were close, but it was too much. and i felt very odd throwing down 1600 for a mattress when we hadn't shopped around at all.
roxy and i had read the articles about buying them months ago and had a general budget and idea about what we wanted. so we went into the whole process with an idea about what it was about, but no specifics. so we went home to brush up.
and then went to manconi's sleepworld. man. allow me to do a quick review, in case you ever want to set foot in there:
1. we were ignored when we went in. that's ok, really, because i hate being pounced upon and they were busy. however, i also got the impression that they were not taking us seriously as customers because they either thought we were young or looking to spend nothing. and those kinds of judgments make me insane.
2. after criticizing sleep train, where we had just been, the salesman tells us that 'we stopped carrying sealy 14 years ago.' and then walks away. great. he did mention that he had 5 mattresses that were similar to things sleep train sells, but his disinterest and the fact that they are placed in the back of the store did little to inspire confidence in us. for the most part, every mattress in the store was over 1000 dollars, most over 2. i wanted a good mattress, but general consensus seems to be that anything over about 1200 starts getting silly.
3. we left. quickly, but not before laying on the mattresses in our price range. the salesmen, seeing us walking to the car, chases us outside and says, 'i forgot to ask, what is your budget.' i say 1200, though it really doesn't matter since we aren't going to buy a mattress from here. he asks which one we like and we point, a serta in the front that is about 1200.
'what if i knock 100 off the price right now, could i get you to come back in?' i smile and tell him i will think on it. 'what if i make it an even 1000, will you come back in?' i decline and we leave.
ug.
costco was next. they had a sealy that isn't awful. it was made more-so by the pricetag — 589. this doesn't cover the frame or delivery, which would add another 110 to the price. the downside? we had to drag the mattress out from the shelf on the wall and lay on it on the concrete floor, the mattress still in the plastic. less than ideal. but, ladies and gentlemen, we have a second place winner.
go home. call sleep train. tell the guy that was helping us that we found another bed and that, while we didn't like it as much, the price was right. he pulls up costco.com where the bed is on sale for 699.
silence on the phone.
then he says 'i cant beat that, we pay more than this for the bed.'
more silence.
i don't say anything, just let him run. i hear typing. and silence on the line for minutes and minutes.
finally, he says, 'the best i can do is match it.'
he just price matched for me. on the floor, this is a 1600 dollar mattress. and he is willing to sell it to me for over 50% off.
'sold. we will be right there.'
and we were.
now, sleep train says they will beat any price by 5%. we didn't get that. we didn't get a free frame either. but those, to me, are negligible — about 30 bucks for each. i didn't feel like pushing any harder — we got the bed we wanted, for much less than we had planned on spending. we are getting free delivery. if there is a warranty problem, we contact sleep train; we don't have to go through sealy.
and seriously, we bought the mattress for 57% off the price they listed.
the salesman points out it is a referral business and he just made a customer. and he did. and i am referring. now, maybe, when it comes time for you to buy a mattress, you can get a better deal. we might have been able to. we didn't go to sears or jc penny or even ikea. but again, i got what i wanted for a price i didn't mind paying.
everyone should buy art! It makes life fun!