Mattress Shopper NYC

Hello, my wife and I are looking for a new king sized mattress and have come across this site. First of all, it’s awesome to see all this information available and would like to thank the admin. We started looking for a bed before Hurricane Sandy got us into a jam then wedding preparations kept us busy. A week into our marriage we are desperately in need of a new bed especially since my wife who is pregnant cannot tolerate the current one. We have visited Sleepy’s before coming across this site which was like a battle with a pushy salesman. Then we proceeded to the nearest suggested retailer listed which was Sleep Works in Massapequa. We tried quite a few of the mattresses they had on hand. The PLB(old model) and a gel-infused memory foam caught our attention. The old model was quoted at ~$3000 and the gel-infused display model was at a clearance price of ~$1500. Both I believe had 2" latex toppers. Now a month later we decided to take a drive up to Custom Sleep Design in Westport, CT, which is a very lovely town. Met Bob and he proceeded to take us through the mattresses. He quoted us $3800 for the mattress that he thought was right for us. I wake up today to find the warning previously posted about CSD so now am looking on the market again. Am I really looking to pay $3000-4000 for an all latex mattress?

Hi Monster719,

This would depend on the size and on what goes with it but unless there was some specific reason to go that high it isn’t “necessary” no. Reasons to go to a higher budget such as what you are suggesting would include things like custom zoning or design (such as is the case with CSD) or thicker layers or amounts of latex (for reasons of weight or just personal preference). When you buy a mattress … you are also purchasing the options you have to make changes to the mattress and the other services and benefits that come with both the design and content of the mattress and the services and options provided by the manufacturer or retailer both before and after the sale.

If you look at some of the online latex manufacturers listed in post #21 here … you will see some “baseline” prices for different types of latex mattresses with different features and options. These are what I would use as reference points. As you can see you can find 8" - 9" latex mattresses (mattress only) for significantly less (again depending on size). Of course if your purchase includes a foundation or other options (mattress protector, pillows, delivery, removal of your old mattress etc) then these would be added to the price.

My general guideline is that if you have a mattress that is available locally that is close to an “apples to apples” comparison with something similar that is available online (similar types and amounts of materials and cover) … then a “premium” in the range of 20 - 25% (everything included in both cases) would be reasonable because testing a mattress locally is less “risky” than an online purchase and there are also other benefits that can come from dealing with a local merchant. Once any local “premium” goes beyond this … then depending on what is most important to each person I would more strongly consider an online purchase where the lower price and/or any options available for exchanging layers or the mattress itself can offset the higher risk. Of course each person would decide on an individual basis how “risk tolerant” they are and at what point the benefits of one source begins to outweigh the benefits of the other. In some cases … a local purchase from either a factory direct manufacturer or sleep shop may even be less or have no “premium” at all compared to good online sources.

In the case of CSD … they are a premium mattress that is custom zoned for each person on the mattress and this can result in layer or zone exchanges and wasted material that can’t be re-used and this is factored into the cost and wouldn’t be part of the cost of another mattress that didn’t have these options or require the time, effort, and material expense of this type of custom design. It would be similar to the difference between a custom fitted suit or shoes that would fit more “exactly” than something off the shelf. Of course if something “off the shelf” happens to be perfect … then a custom design would have less benefit.

The “caution” about CSD (now removed) is not so much a warning or an indicator of how I feel about Bob or the mattresses they make as much as it is to make sure that customers are prepared for the possibility of delays in either delivery or layer exchanges that may be frustrating (and not the service that they originally paid for) and to make sure that you are clear at the beginning and that there is some agreed upon benefit if their delivery times don’t match what they have promised (within reason of course).

PLB are high quality mattresses and they have “better than average” value compared to most mainstream choices (and the old models can even be “good value” at reduced prices). This will vary from retailer to retailer (they have controlled minimum advertised prices but there is variance in the actual selling prices particularly in the old models).

The specific “value” of any of them would depend on which model and size you were looking at and if anything besides the mattress was included because of course the models with less latex (or with less costly materials) would or should be less than models that include greater amounts of more costly materials. The “value” of the gel infused memory foam mattress would also depend on the layering and type of materials (including the gel memory foam) that were in it (and on their ability and willingness to provide the information you need to make meaningful comparisons).

In other words … they would need to provide you with a layer by layer breakdown of what is in each mattress if you didn’t already know what was in it or the information isn’t available to you elsewhere.

Hope this helps.

Phoenix