Name's Cathy Marchioli. Single mother,
very busy always. Even as we speak,
I'm sending an email. Loop back, action steps,
synergy, sent. Now, I may be busy,
but I hate getting ripped off. So if I'm getting scammed,
I want to know. Oh, wow! You are the first person
to ever openly accept
my presence. You got 30 seconds,
and I'm gonna do squats
while you talk. Uh, okay, well, ever notice
how stores like these intentionally make
mattress shopping as confusing
as possible? This model has
Insta-Snooze coils, heat-sensitive memory foam,
and pillow-top underwire. And I'll let you
take it home today for just $39.99 a month with no interest
and no money down. We leave the down
to the comforter guys, and that's not
a blanket statement. Huh? But it's all
a big bed of lies designed to rip you off. Hey!
That's illegal. Yeah, it is,
to protect us from you. See, big mattress
has been stuffed with shifty scam artists
since the beginning. Back in the 1800s, manufacturers would
stuff mattresses with literally anything. ♪♪ So the government forced them
to label what was inside. But then,
those devious mattress stores would just remove the tag. So, in 1958, the government made
that practice illegal. Huh, so that's what
those tags are for. Nowadays,
you can rest assured that your mattress
is garbage-free. But the mattress industry
is still full of it. Come on down
to The Mattress Store! They've got so many scams,
your head will explode! Scam number one:
Manufacturers will take the exact same mattress
and sell it under different names
in different stores. So it's impossible for you
to compare prices! At Macy's, it's called a Simmons
Beautyrest Recharge Allie. At Sears, it's called
a Beautyrest Recharge
Devonwood Luxury. At US-Mattress.com,
it's called a Beautyrest
Recharge Lyric Luxury. And everywhere,
it's the exact same mattress. If I can't compare prices,
how am I supposed to haggle? Ugh!
This is stressing me out. Give me that wine! Same number two:
Manufacturers make up special mattress features
to jack up the price even when they do nothing
to help you sleep. This mattress has
fluff-stuff,
inner springs, outer springs,
and flexicoil! Ooh!
Look at the sparkles! What does flexicoil do? It adds $300
to the price! Scam number three: Retailers profit off
of your confusion by regularly
marking up prices
50% or more. And here's the dirtiest
little secret hiding...
under the mattress. This industry spends
a lot of time making its products
seem different, but the truth is,
the majority of mattresses are produced, owned,
and sold by the same companies. More than 60%
of mattresses sold in America are made by the same
two manufacturers with materials
from the same suppliers. Then they're often sold
in mattress stores owned by the same company. (Cathy gasps)
Oh, my! Sorry, you shouldn't
have seen that. Embarrassing.
(gasps) Wait! I can order a mattress
from one of those
Internet companies. I heard about it
on my favorite podcast. Welcome back to part 64
of our investigation into a crime
that's none of our business. But first,
let's talk about Casper. I needed to buy a new mattress
but I was too busy playing amateur detective
with real people's lives. With Casper, I just clicked,
they shipped, and it showed up
straight to my door in a neat little package. Could Casper be disrupting
the mattress industry? Oh, definitely not! (feedback in headphones) Those online companies
are just as sneaky
as the stores. Too late.
I already ordered one. (doorbell rings) Oh, nice! Cheap and easy,
like my ex on our first date! (air hissing) Actually, online mattresses
aren't always cheaper. You can find plenty
of memory foam mattresses in the store
for the same price. And they're often made by the very same
subcontractors the brick-and-mortar guys use. And since you're
shopping online, you can't try
before you buy. So, once again,
comparison shopping is basically impossible. Ah! Nice try,
Mr. Smarty-pajama-pants. I checked a bunch
of review sites first. Oh, that's
no guarantee at all. Online review sites are infested
with conflicts of interest, and mattress reviews
are some of the worst. Most mattress reviewers
get kickbacks from sales generated
from their site, incentivizing positive reviews. This mattress gives me
all the feels. 10 out of 10 Winks. (bell tings) Ooh! Someone purchased
via my link. Oh, babe, you're so cute
when you're working for me. The reviewers and the reviewed
are in bed together? Oh, that was
very good, Cathy. Thank you.
But it's true. Casper has even bought out
an entire review site. You know what?
Let's make this official. (bell tings) Putting all that together,
if you do a Google search for "mattress reviews,"
you might just be seeing
advertisements from the companies
themselves. So where the heck do I go
to get a new mattress? Honestly, there aren't
really any better options. No matter what you do,
shopping for a mattress is just a big old nightmare. (voice distorts and deepens) Whoa!
(screams)
The guy looks like Alton Brown and the skit plays like a Good Eats bit.