I Bought a Bed Online From the Warby Parker of Mattresses
Even at 30 years old with two kids, buying a mattress is still just a little too “grown up” for me (unlike the twentysomethings in this press photo apparently). It’s right up there with getting life insurance, voluntarily making a dentist appointment, or saving for retirement. But here I am, a large box sitting at my front door with a mattress inside.
I got into this situation because I’m a sucker for new types of products, or ones being re-invented after decades long stagnation. This mattress from Casper mostly fits in the second category—so I needed to try it.
Casper is a new type of mattress company, it’s hip, or at least it’s trying to be. Just like Warby Parker made ordering eyeglasses over the internet a cool experience, Casper is slinging its mattresses in a way that it hopes appeals to an ‘order anything from Amazon’ generation.
What makes this mattress any different anyway? First, it’s reasonably priced—I’m told. I don’t spend my time shopping mattresses. $850 for a queen-sized mattress may sound like a lot, but is actually quite reasonable for good quality bedding. Second, the materials used—combination of latex foam and dense memory foam—allow it to fold up into a box that can be shipped across the country in five days, or same day delivery in New York City.
Back to the mattress at my front door. Coming in at around 68-pounds, Casper’s queen-sized mattress was manageable enough in its large box to get up the stairs—which was an achievement in itself. Not surprisingly, however, once it was unboxed and unfolded it still took on all the characteristics of a standard mattress. That means it was not fun to move around.
After I struggled to get it on the bed frame, of course I excitedly jumped on expecting to be instantly sedated by the mattress’ implied perfect level of softness and firmness. I laid there a minute, but nothing happened. I then decided there were better things to do instead of sleeping at 11:00 am on a Wednesday anyway. The first time lying down was nice, but it didn’t tell me anything about how a full night’s sleep would be.
After my smugness of getting a huge mattress delivered to my door and carrying it up the stairs by myself wore off, it was time for the real tests. Because frankly, it won’t matter how cool the ordering experience was if I don’t sleep well.
Night #1