Is industry ready to tackle issue of body impressions?

Hi! I work for Select Comfort in customer siervce. We’re sorry to hear that the bed isn’t feeling as good as it used to. Not knowing just how long you’ve had it, or which model you have, I can’t speak to specifically what may have changed, but one thing to keep in mind is that as our beds get older, so do we, and many of our bed owners report that their sleep number can change during their lives. This might be a good time to reassess your Sleep Number setting. The analysis you got at the furniture illustrates one of the best features of the Sleep Number bed: the ability for couples to individualize the firmness of each side of the mattress! We hope these suggestions will help you to find your ideal comfort level.- While lying on the bed, inflate it to 100 (you cannot over-inflate the bed).- Lie on your back without a pillow until your body adjusts to the horizontal position.- Place your pillow under your head and get into your normal sleep position.- Decrease the firmness in increments of 5, pausing on each setting, until the mattress feels comfortable and you can feel it cradle and conform to the unique contours of your body. This will probably be softer than you have been sleeping.- At this point, pay special attention to how the mattress feels in the curve of your waist (side sleepers) or the small of your back (back sleepers).- Increase the firmness by 5 points until you feel the mattress rise up to support the curve of your waist (side sleepers) or the small of your back (back sleepers).- Leave the mattress at this level for a minimum of 3 nights, as it will take your body that amount of time to adjust to the new setting. After that time, you will know if that is your ideal comfort setting, or if you need it a little firmer or a little softer. - If you do find that you need to make an adjustment after 3 nights, you do so only in increments of 5 or 10, and sleep on it again for 3 nights. Do not make a drastic change.- It may be helpful to keep of ‘Sleep Journal’ of the settings you have tried, how long you have tried them for, and how you felt when you woke up.Another important consideration is your pillow. Your head and neck should maintain their alignment as if you were standing upright. You may want to try different pillows in your home to find one that will allow you to maintain the most natural spinal alignment. Here are some things to keep in mind as well:- When lying on your back, if your pillow is too thick, your chin will angle towards your chest causing stress on your neck muscles.- When lying on your side, a thick pillow will cause your head to angle towards the shoulder that is not on the mattress. A pillow that is too thin will cause your head to angle too far towards the shoulder that is on the mattress. Again, both of these situations will cause stress on your neck muscles.- If you do have extra stress on the muscles in your neck, it can cause neck and shoulder pain. If you’d care to contact us at customer siervce, we’ll be glad to hear from you. Our number is 1-888-411-2270. Best regards, Jim Freund Select Comfort Customer Service

Ok, Mr Perry... What are YOUR comments, on the comments so far?

GREAT post, Dave! This is a question I get all-too-often from consumers contacting the Better Sleep Council. I too, am interested to see what others have to say about this issue...

Larry Moore...

Interesting take on the problem, just to reiterate what you wrote... “It definitely is an issue in the industry but the blame hardly lies solely with the manufacturers”

Sorry, but I didn’t realise that “salespersons” are actually responsible for the failings of a product?

Simple solution is to collate figures on returns/complaints and then stop selling the culprits product... Job done!

Call it whatever you will, but “natural settlement” should be,and is explained at point of sale, and those who listen are given the best possible information on the product they are interested in.

As for lower priced units, well, people buying that end of the market are not sold the very high expectations of “high end” product and as such accept their purchase for what it is.

Good to see that people are concerned enough to comment on this subject though!

~ Top Book ~

It definitely is an issue in the industry but the blame hardly lies solely with the manufacturers. Every, I repeat, every retail mattress salesperson worthy of the title should be addressing the issue at point of sale. For the most part you can't take a mattress, put 200 pounds on half of it for eight hours and not get somewhat of a body impression over time. As for those low priced beds, those are generally the ones that stay sold as they do not have the multiple layers of poly and foam more expensive units do. If retail sales people address it up front at time of purchase and tell the consumer that a certain amount of compression is to be expected you'd eliminate a lot of consumer complaints. Oh, and I don't call them body impressions. I refer to them as body signatures. Thanks for listening.

It definitely is an issue in the industry but the blame hardly lies solely with the manufacturers. Every, I repeat, every retail mattress salesperson worthy of the title should be addressing the issue at point of sale. For the most part you can't take a mattress, put 200 pounds on half of it for eight hours and not get somewhat of a body impression over time. As for those low priced beds, those are generally the ones that stay sold as they do not have the multiple layers of poly and foam more expensive units do. If retail sales people address it up front at time of purchase and tell the consumer that a certain amount of compression is to be expected you'd eliminate a lot of consumer complaints. Oh, and I don't call them body impressions. I refer to them as body signatures. Thanks for listening.

Manufacturer... Thank you.

Your point does underline the difference between budget, middle and high-end products. Manufacturers produce what they feel the buying public want at each end of the budget and retailers employ people to express the strengths and weaknesses of the product on offer. We must work together to find a mutually profitable, consumer fair, price-point to quality ratio. Making the consumer aware of the extreme settlement problems of budget Matts drives that market segment towards those offering what they can afford. My job is to help the buying public understand the minefield which they see as bed buying and to give them the best possible quality for their money.

Manufacturing profitability is the barometer of its own success and a compass of market forces.

~Top Book~

Top Book...

There is truth to your point. I certainly should not have given the impression that retailers are alone in bearing the blame for this issue. We absolutely have competition that continues to find ways to build the thickest and cheapest mattresses imaginable. The problem is, we are held to those standards with a lot of retailers in order to stay competitive. Margins are as thin in this industry as I have ever seen them, and as the competition continues to lower the bar, we are held to their standards. I would love for sales consultants to start telling the truth about the products they sell. Maybe that will weed out the producers that continue to put the poorest and cheapest materials in mattresses and we won't have to try to compete with them.

Dear “Manufacturer” There may be a little truth in what you write, but only a very little.

Let’s face (as you said) reality here... there are indeed those(the usual suspects) who protest that they are being dictated to by both retailers and the public’s expectations of value for money, but the cries of distain are just a smoke screen to mask their shoddy manufacturing and quality. Those who use the poorest and cheapest of materials to glean the highest margin are the first to shy away from complaints and blame everyone but themselves (evident from “Manufacturers” diatribe). Many mattresses are not fit for purpose and have no place on the shop floor at all. Be very careful what you wish for here, sales consultants might just start telling the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth about some mattress producers’ products which would result in solving the problems and the closing of your businesses!

The retail industry “is” taking a long “look in the mirror” and sees too many monkeys on their backs!

Let’s also not lose sight of the fact that some manufacturers have, and do address the problem...

Selling their product keeps me as ~Top Book~.

Let's face reality here. The reality is, retailers want to complain about the body impression issue with today's mattresses, but they are unwilling to admit the true reason for the problem. They continue to demand thicker, softer mattresses at cheaper prices. So what is a manufacturer to do? The solutions to this problem are very simple. Improve the quality of material in the mattress, reduce the amount of foam in the mattress, or offer a two sided mattress that can be flipped for even wear and longer life. Higher quality material costs more, and retailers are not willing to pay the price and pass it on to the consumer. Thinner beds aren't as "visually appealing", so retailers don't want them on the floor. Why do we make 15" mattresses?? Does the consumer ever feel or benefit from the bottom 8" of that mattress?? Absolutely not! So why is it there? Because retailers want it there. And two-sided mattresses are a thing of the past that they sell against, and they cost more, so retailers don't want them on the floor, when in reality they provide much better quality. Manufacturers provide the goods that retailers demand, plain and simple. Demanding the product, and then complaining about it, is ridiculous. Retailers need to look in the mirror at the products they want to offer their consumers. If they will demand and pay for higher quality, manufacturers will be glad to provide it.

Heavy duty Holland Maid innerspring double sided mattress with a removable three inch all natural latex topper. Comfort for years. Don't knock it until you try it... more to come...

Body impressions can be remedied (but not eliminated)by using better quality materials (that eventually cost everyone more). Body impressions, wear and tear etc is going to happen with any product, whether its a mattress, tires, sofas, seats in your car. Somethings just wear down with use(ie. 6 to 8 hours a night in bed, every night for years at a time). We can go back to using a coco pad, on top of the bare spring with little or no quilting but todays market calls for more cushioning and thicker beds. I think its our job as manufacturers to service these issues right away and for the retailer to do the same, nobody wants service calls but thats part of doing business.

Love the answers given here “sales associates overselling their products”, “not selling a comfort impression story at the time of sale”, “customers' unrealistic expections”.
And the cheek of the person who said” I believe the issue can be solved with better training” may be the oracle of all things sales, but what they fail to address is selling with integrity and not just selling to targets.

How about manufacturers addressing their own problem for a change and finding a solution to that problem?

Wow, let's use "salesmanship" to cover up the biggest lie in the mattress industry, I guess that is what this business has become.

The big names and other manufacturers have had it their way for a long time, single sided beds that don't perform well stuffed with inferior components. In the meantime other companies have come up behind them and are taking market share such as foam, air, and better made innerspring products.

The issue is real, anyone that says it is not is just plain ignorant, and likely, arrogant.

This industry is approaching a cross roads either start making beds that are of equal quality in comparison to the warranty given or reduce the warranties to equal present quality levels.
Note, I am not a proponent of selling based on warranty but that is a path the everyone in the industry has gone done so far that I fear there is no return.

Smart retailers that choose to sell quality products actually have it easier than say a "name brand" only format. They are more able to explain why most modern beds fail rather easily and all the while selling a premium solution that actually helps the customer and makes them happy to part with their hard earned money.

You check into your room at the hotel. The king bed has a hump running down the center of the bed from head to toe. You call the front desk. Bill answers the phone. You request another room after you explain to Bill the appearance of the mattress. Being a former mattress salesperson, Bill explains to you, "Oh, don't worry about that nobody sleeps in the middle so the padding hasn't matted down yet. You see those comfort impressions on either side of the hump? That's where most guests sleep and that's a sign that the mattress is conforming to your body so you will sleep better." After this line of mattress speak you say, "Yeah right, Bill. I still want another room."

I have been on both the retail and wholesale side of Mattress sales. The sales person that has a high return rate for body impressions most likely is not selling a comfort impression story at the time of sale. All mattresses will get a comfort impression. Just like a pair of fine leather shoes the mattress is designed to conform to the person’s body otherwise they may as well sleep on the floor. I believe the issue can be solved with better training on the subject by retailers and manufactures a line. I tip I use is to tell the customer if they do not see a comfort impression in the first 45-60 days there is a problem and to contact me. Now every morning they are waking up looking for a comfort impression not a body impression. Guess what I have never had a customer call me up and say they did not get a comfort impression. I also have very few that call up to complain about an unwarranted body impression. Try it, you might be surprised how a little salesmanship can go a long way in cutting down your body impression and comfort exchange problems

Yes body impressions are a significant problem, especilly the center ridge on king sets. A large part of the problem is customers' unrealistic expections of what to expect from a mattress, often caused by sales associates overselling their products. We tell customers every mattress we sell, including a large selection of latex and memory foam products, will get body impressions. A 14" thick $399 pillowtop mattress will compress. We sell them, we warn the customer, but we still expect the factories to honor their unrealistically long warranties.

Interesting article - we would be interested to hear reader's responses.