Mattress Disposal

December 10, 2006

We bought a new mattress set from Costco and it was delivered yesterday. Nothing exciting like a Tempur-Pedic or a Sleep Number bed, just a lower end Sealy Posturepedic that is still much better than the generic mattress that we got many years ago.

One of the things that really bothered me about getting a new mattress was what we were going to do with the old mattress. I see a fair number of mattresses on curbs waiting to be picked up and getting rained on and ruined. Or better yet, stuffed into apartment complex trash bins. Or on the side of the highway. Obviously there are people you can pay to dispose of it. The people that delivered it on Costco’s behalf wanted $35 to do just that. No thanks.

Ideally, it would just get passed down the chain to someone a little less fortunate however, I’ve always thought people would be put-off by taking someone’s old mattress. So you’ve got two obstacles: First you have to make contact with someone with that specific need. I guess that is why the mattresses on the curb happen. It’s kind of like a billboard. Second, you have to find someone who isn’t grossed out about the prospect (real or imagined) of someone else’s cooties. Enter CraigsList. It helps solve both of those problems.

So, I skeptically put a listing up advertising our queen size mattress set for free. I figured I would be lucky if I got rid of it within a week. As a back up plan, some of our friends were having bulk collection in a week so they said we could drop it off on their curb if needed.

Within 10 minutes of my posting, I had five people calling for the mattress and five emails in my in-box. If I hadn’t gone back and adjusted my post to let them know that it was taken, I’m sure the calls would have kept rolling in. Even with that blurb, I still got another five calls and five emails within the next two hours to ask if it they first people had picked it up yet. My biggest problem was figuring out how to deal with the fact that the first person bailed and I get someone to actually pick it up and not just be perpetually “on their way”.

So, the next time you have a mattress to get rid of, don’t leave it outside, throw it away, or pay someone to remove it. Post it to CraigsList, FreeCycle or your local Greensheet, etc. There are a lot of people out there that are more than willing to take it off your hands.

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Posted by Matt Smith | Filed Under General | 2 Comments 

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