why are there so many new, unopened mattresses for sale on Craigslist?
Theft, or people enterprising enough to shrink wrap some plastic on a used one. Maybe invest in or borrow a blacklight for potential purchases.
People are really truly terrible about reading; I bet he didn't even register that you asked a question.
I do not understand the mattress economy.
Are you still in Virginia? It does seem like there are many more mattress stores here than one would expect. Maybe CL is just being used as alternative marketing.
I recall hearing that at UNC they drag couches into the street and set them on fire to celebrate their team winning a big game. Maybe in Virginia they set fire to mattresses instead?
4: Again, this is something the Ohio State University is famous for. In fact there is an artists group here in Columbus called the Couchfire Collective http://www.thecouchfire.org/index.html
Mattress retailers are oligopolistic and vertically-integrated, right? I know they make way too much profit. Maybe that's connected to some kind of inefficiency that also leads to new ones being disposed of.
It's all theft. Shoplifters are shoving mattresses under their coats and walking out of the store.
I know they make way too much profit. Maybe that's connected to some kind of inefficiency...
Clearly mattresses need to be replaced by MOOCS in order to bring the costs down.
I'm sure you can get a used mattress from a couple of mooks to bring the costs down.
Rest easy, everybody. I acquired the futon, and it's suitably wide for my purposes.
I'm going to assume "wide" is being used in the British slang sense.
Some surplus or graft coming out of the hotel industry? Like towels, but bigger?
13: I'm going to assume it is being used in the senator visiting Minneapolis sense.
I tried to sell a futon on CL a couple of years ago, and I had a guy attempt the cashier's check scam on me. (Attempts to pay for an item with cashier's check for more than the purchase price and get me to refund the difference in cash; the bank might cash the check to start out with but then you'd have to pay back the money when it's found to be counterfeit.) It seemed like a lot of work for just a hundred dollars or so.
Email exchanges occasioned by Craigslist ads are bizarrely ... delightful! ? My household started feeding and otherwise making comfortable a pregnant stray cat a few months ago: put a food dish out on the porch, a bowl of water, a blanket on a chair for coldish nights. Eventually we put an ad on CL announcing the availability of a pretty, friendly, petite young cat, all black, probably going to give birth in about a month.
Among the people we had responses from:
Respondent 1: Since you're in [neighborhood], I can meet you in the parking lot of the local Safeway to pick her up.
Us: Can you tell us more about yourself? Have you had cats before? Would you want to keep the kittens? We don't know whether the cat has had her shots, and ideally she should be spayed after she gives birth, especially if you expect to have her be an indoor/outdoor cat.
R1: I've had a cat before. Let me know when you want to meet to make the exchange.
R1 (two days later): I thought you were meeting me in the parking lot of the Safeway.
4 & 5: I've always associated couch-burning with U Maryland winning (or losing) big games. It kind of freaks me out to learn that this is a widespread phenomenon.
4,5, 18: Ahem, West Virginia.
Couch burning, dumpster burning and general flaming of furniture, is indeed part of many campus cultures, Colyer said. He believes it springs from what sociologists call "opportunity structure" or, in this case, "the availability of stuff to burn and the reason to burn it."
Craigslist doesn't allow sales of used mattresses - there are a lot of local laws requiring fumigation. So sellers claim the mattresses are new so they appear to meet the TOS.
Relatedly, as a fairly frequent seller on craigslist, people who ask questions almost never show up. Unfair, but I've learned to ignore almost all buyers with questions.
23: Really? I see lots of used mattresses being offered on my local Craigslist.
You can't donate them to Goodwill, at least. For hygiene reasons. Which would stand to reason would drive up their numbers elsewhere.
Well do I recall the widespread feeling of shame after the Steelers Super Bowl win, when couches were burned in South Oakland. The morning after, we realized we had sunk to WVU's level.
Plus some fuck smashed the bus shelter and the library windows.
26: My dad does some charity work that requires him to obtain mattresses for cheap. He nearly always does business with a guy who buys, sanitizes, and resells these mattresses. Or at least does step 3.