**Discussion starts at 8:55**
Have you ever slept on a mattress before? Have you ever questioned whether or not your comfortable sleeping mat was part of a money laundering scandal? Well, this is what many conspiracy theorists believe is happening with this popular mattress company, Mattress Firm. We often see multiple store fronts within a localized area, even up to five in a one mile radius in certain cities. You may also note that these store fronts are normally empty but yet are always having large sales. The parent company for these stores has also been confirmed to be involved in financial crimes within the last decade. Is this an innocent mattress business or are they hiding something? Are they hiding a money laundering scandal?
Source Materials and Additional Content
Theme song by INDA
**Discussion starts at 8:55**
Have you ever slept on a mattress before? Have you ever questioned whether or not your comfortable sleeping mat was part of a money laundering scandal? Well, this is what many conspiracy theorists believe is happening with this popular mattress company, Mattress Firm. We often see multiple store fronts within a localized area, even up to five in a one mile radius in certain cities. You may also note that these store fronts are normally empty but yet are always having large sales. The parent company for these stores has also been confirmed to be involved in financial crimes within the last decade. Is this an innocent mattress business or are they hiding something? Are they hiding a money laundering scandal?
Source Materials and Additional Content
Theme song by INDA
(00:00):
Hey, it's Colleen. Hi, it's Kait. And it's Megan. And we're the 3SchemeQueens. Join us as we discuss popular hoaxes and give you our comedic take on what is fact and what is fiction. If you have a sense of humor and an open mind, come take this journey with us. We'll tell you what we think and we'll try to prove it to you.
(00:49):
Is this thing on, Hey guys, welcome back. How's everybody doing? Enjoying the snow. Oh my gosh, I love snow. It's so pretty right now, and it just makes me want to know, hang by the fire, which what we're doing now, we're just hanging out by the fireplace. Drinking some, oh, that's a spoiler alert. We can't say that yet. Got to wait for, it. Just makes me want to read my book. But the kids, my kids are like, let's go, go slapping. I just love being outside of the snow. And then the kids are like, I want to go outside, and I like to go outside. But then when you're out there, you're out there for 15, 20 minutes and suddenly a kid's lost a glove or then their mitten feels funny underneath their coats sleeve. And then the hat makes your head itchy. Yes. And then it's like, I'm cold.
(01:45):
Or then one of your older brothers shoves snowballs down your pants. Or you get run over by your other brother with a sled and you break your collar bone. Shout out to Timmy! Colleen! Wait, that happened? Yeah. I mean, I got tackled by the neighbor's big black lab, and I was too small and the snow was too high and I couldn't get back up. So anyway, less about the snow and our childhood trauma. No, literally. Yeah. Tell people where they can find us, Megan. Well, not Twitter. No, not Twitter. Yeah. www.3schemequeens.com is our webpage with links to all of our social media, episodes, and ways to support us, including merch. Merch! You can also find us on Buzzsprout. Check us out on Instagram or Facebook at 3SchemeQueens. That's the number 3, scheme queens. All one word. And you can reach out to us on our website via the contact link if you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns.
(02:38):
So let's start with a shout out to Kathy. Kathy, yes. Kathy from Bellevue, Washington. She bought us a cup of coffee. Thanks, Kathy. Washington, the state? Like Twilight? Yes. She put in a request to hear about the Eriksson twins, because I guess one of the sisters lives in her hometown. Oh, we're going to do that for her. Yes, coming soon. It was already on the list. Yes, we will definitely put a little star by it. So yeah. Again, if you want to support us financially, check out our website or our social media. You can find links to buy us a cup of coffee, buy some merch. There's some Amazon affiliate links for additional content. We appreciate your donations, but even more importantly, please just support us. Please. Yeah, give us the five star reviews. Give us some feedback. Tell your friends to listen. Share the pod. Yes. So is it time for our drink check?
(03:35):
All right, guys. What are we drinking today? Today I am drinking the usual diet Coke. However, my Diet Coke is comfortably koozied within a koozie with our logo on it. Hashtag merch. Can you use the term koozie as a verb? Koozied? Yeah. I feel like everything can be a verb, right? It is when I say it. You just say it with confidence. Yeah. What are you drinking, Kait? Well, I'm drinking some hot chocolate made with oat milk in a crazy plant lady mug that I gave Megan last year for Christmas. It's like a little terracotta plant pot. It's real cute. And this hot cocoa is slapping. In case any of listeners haven't picked up on this. We are a couple of basic gals. Yeah, basic bees. But we do love our plants. And I love to try not to kill them. And I love to give her propagations.
(04:32):
She's our plant mom. Yes. But there's no judgment if they don't make it. Yeah. Right, Megan? Right. I am drinking some Simi Chardonnay. That's a chardonnay we had at our wedding. Ooh, congrats. Bourbon boy and Kait. Yeah. You had a selection of white wine at your wedding? Yeah, we sure did, but we are mostly red wine drinkers and bourbon drinkers. Surprise, surprise. The bourbon was all gone. All the whiskey went first at our wedding. Literally iconic. And the only thing that was really left over was the Simi. I say Semi, you said Simi. I don't know. Simi Chardonnay. So yeah. Did your head hurt the next day from all that red wine? No, actually, but I was also 24. So you were 24 when you got married? Yeah, child bride. I was a child. Right. That's crazy. But still married. So that's also why she's never had to change her own flat tire or anything.
(05:32):
No, no. I've got a husband for that. And before that, a dad. True, true, true, true, true. Well now, but feminism!ou. Y know what I will say also… Steph friend of the pod posted something during one of the first snow days of her husband clearing the car, and she was like ‘watching feminism leave my body’ and I messaged her. I was like, girl, I am such a feminist, except I love a door held for me. I love a man to do things for me. Yeah. Let's bring back men doing things for girls that are nice, like opening doors, paying for our meals, and none of this ‘let's split the check’ bullshit. Also, this is coming from a girl who married a boy she met in middle school and was married at 24 and didn't ever have to online date, man. Yeah, that's true. But the Simi, so Kate's a red wine drinker.
(06:27):
Sure am. I love the red wine. But you've been on a bit of a buttery chard kick. I have. Because I would always go over to Megan's house and I'd be like, ‘whatcha got to drink?’ And she's like, I’ have this white wine’. And I was like, okay. And so one time she had this wine named Butter that's delicious, buttery. And I picked it because I liked the label. And she was like, it's like a buttery chard. And I was like, I have no idea what that means. And so I drank it and I was like, oh, wait a second. I actually like this. So yeah, it's that malolactic fermentation. Oh, that word. That's what gives it that buttery taste. I was in a wine club guys. Also, Simi’s not a good example of this. I don't necessarily have to drink a buttery chard.
(07:14):
I like sauvignon blanc. I love a crisp chardonnay. I also love a nice buttery toasty chardonnay. But I specifically love a buttery chard made in a bourbon barrel because guess what guys? It's not bourbon. If the barrel's made or used twice. That's right. So they have this bourbon barrel with nothing left to do, but make some wine and it gives that nice toasty flavor, which pairs well with that butter. Good mouthfeel, if you will. I personally enjoy your drinking vessel today, Megan. Yes. I'm drinking out of a Crime Junkie mug. Shout out Crime junkie. Be weird, be rude, stay alive. Yeah, it's another podcast. But everyone knows Crime Junkie. It's like the number one podcast right now. That and the Kelce Brothers. I've forgotten Kelce Brothers already. 3SchemeQueens. Have you had of 'em? Yeah. I don't know if we're number one. Number one in my heart?
(08:07):
Yeah. I think Kait. I mean also Mermaid Girl and I bonded over Crime Junkie. We'd been friends for a while at that point, but Kait and I bonded because she was like, do you listen to Crime Junkie? And I was like, yeah, yeah. And then I was like, wait a second, should we start a podcast? And then five years have gone by and here we are starting the podcast. It took five years, but we got there. It's funny. Yeah. Yeah. Mostly she was like, Colleen and I are funny. We should have a podcast. And I was like, what's your format? And they just stared at me. We were like, we're just going to slap on some headphones and talking to a microphone. Yeah. I said, and people will love it. I mean, I do think you guys are funny, but I was like, no one wants to listen to a couple of girls just giggling and telling inside jokes. So we came up with a format and here we are. Anyways. You guys know what I like to do after a few glasses of wine? What do you like to do? I like to go to sleep. On, a really comfortable mattress. If I can find one. Yeah. Well, it shouldn't be hard to find one because there's five mattress stores on each block. Yeah. Well, you know what guys, today we're talking about mattress firm.
(09:22):
All right. So let me get into a little bit more in depth on this theory. Have you guys ever slept on a mattress before? Yes. Never. Never. Have you ever questioned whether or not you're comfortable sleeping mat was part of a money laundering scandal? I have not. Interesting. Well, this is what many conspiracy theorists believe is happening with this popular mattress company, mattress firm. We often see multiple storefronts within a localized area, even up to five in one mile radius in certain cities. You may also note that these storefronts are normally empty, but yet are always having large sales. The parent company for these stores has also been confirmed to be involved in financial crimes within the last decade. Is this an innocent mattress business or they hiding something? Are they hiding a money laundering scandal? Well, I'm going to try to prove it to you.
(10:24):
Okay. All right. Okay. I'm going to be honest. I didn't realize how many mattress firms were around. Yeah, a lot. Until you pointed it out to me. And then I started seeing them everywhere. Yeah, they're everywhere. Literally everywhere. It's very strange. And they're always empty and with the fluorescent lights on, but nobody's home. And you can just pull it up on Google Maps and there's like four on a block. It's ridiculous. So before we get into it, generally, what do you guys think? I mean, I got to be honest, I went down the Reddit rabbit hole on this one. There's a lot on Reddit on this one. I think I'm sort of a believer that something fishy is going on. Oh, you are? That's interesting. I don't really know enough about it. So my jury's out. Yeah. I mean, as I researched, I definitely think they're hiding things, but I don't know what illegal activities specifically.
(11:14):
I don't think it's necessarily money laundering anymore. Yeah. I mean also side note, don't you hate when you're researching these conspiracy theories and they prove you wrong? What to believe in so bad. Alright, so the first kind of segment I want to get into is the number of locations specifically. It's a very suspicious aspect of the company as a whole. They have an insane number of stores per block. There's one particular city, I thought it was Detroit. People always talk about it, but I was proven wrong. It's actually in Indiana where there's five… very wrong. Indiana. Detroit. Not the same. There's five stores in Indiana that are within less than a mile radius, which is absolutely outrageous. And then in total in America, there's over 3000 storefronts in America alone, which is apparently about equivalent to the number of Starbucks. You see, so literally on every block.
(12:09):
Oh my gosh. I did see that number. Which is interesting, right? Because you think about it, I mean, I could have Starbucks every day, but how often do you really need a mattress? Yeah, you don't need a mattress every day. So they're clearly shuffling money around between layers and layers of paperwork, hiding details, just so many locations. Things are very easily going to go amiss. That's kind of what my thought was at first. And so the company has been questioned over the years. This conspiracy was posted on Reddit, I think in about the early 2000s. That's where they really took off. And so the company has been questioned over and over and people who've worked for the company, the spokespersons, have been interviewed for things like that. And sorry, I did see on Reddit a response from the company. I just went back into, oh, we love a response response.
(13:01):
I just love to needle it out of them. But I guess the amount of locations is technically a type of business strategy. So it's supposed to be strategic so that the more locations is first of all, a big part of advertisement in general. So the more locations, the more often you see it, the more often you think about it. And thus it dominates the area. So when people go out to buy a mattress, this is the first location that they can think of. Kind of like a monopoly, too. They only have one choice for mattressing. I mean, I do think of only mattress firm when I think of mattresses, but also, I don't know, because doesn't that mean more overhead cost? Wouldn't it be more expensive to have more stores open? You have to pay more people pay for the merchandise, pay for the rent, pay for the electricity, all of the things.
(13:54):
And then people on Reddit were saying though, that they talked to people who work in these mattress firm stores and they said they'd go weeks without a single customer. Yes. I do have a quote from a particular Reddit user. I think it's the same thing directly from this Reddit user that you're referencing. It's a quote from a person who is allegedly a mattress store manager. Now, they did not confirm if they were mattress firm, but I think that can be kind of assumed. But they said they worked for a mattress store for five years, and I'm quoting it directly can confirm it's an extremely boring job. You see few customers in a day, they often go as far as three weeks without a single person walking into the building. But the reason the store profits is the insane markup on the merchandise. A mattress set cost for the company would be about $200.
(14:40):
But then would retail for $2,000, every penny you negotiate off that price reduces how much the salesperson makes on the bed. So reality, a discount doesn't affect the company's bottom line as long as you are negotiating the salesperson commission. So I guess in another aspect of how this company functions, it's like the insane locations, but also the insane markups. Yeah, I was reading about the markups, but that's interesting what you're saying about the sales commission. I mean, I wonder how much a sales person makes off of a mattress. Do they have a salary and then they make a commission? Or is a commission only? That kind of seems like also if someone's bartering with me and I'm selling 'em a mattress, I'd be like, yeah, no, you got to pay full price on that one's my commission. But also, I guess if you haven't had a commission in three weeks, you've been working for three without pay, you might just take what you can get.
(15:26):
Yeah. Also, side note, I don't think I ever realized you could barter on a mattress. That was not something I realized you could do. You can barter on a Christmas tree. Yeah, but a Christmas tree is not a brick and mortar store. I had no idea. That's fair. That's true. Yeah. My dad always used to take us to the Christmas tree lot and he'd be like, you can fight them on it. Yeah, the tree would be back in the day. To me, that's embarrassing. I would never do that. The tree would be like 50 bucks and he'd be like, I'll give you 35. I could never be able to do that. But you know what? Also, I think Boomer dads just are different. They're just different. But also Emilie friend of the pod was telling you about how she negotiated at Home Goods just last week.
(16:06):
Yeah. Who knew that's an option. She was like, love this end table, but it's off its track. And he's like, man, I'll knock 200 off it. Oh my God. Well, I did do that at a pier one one time. I will never have the confidence to do that probably ever. And my friend bartered for a CVS plant for me once when I got a tulip at CVS. She was like, back when I used to buy plants at CVS, but she would be like, it's looking a little sad. And the CVS guy would just be like, okay, $3. See, this is why I need type eight confident friends in my life who will do the bartering for me. When Bourbon Boy and I just got married, we were shopping at Pier one for a table, and I found one that I liked, and I asked, do you guys have this in stock?
(16:48):
And they didn't have it in the back. That was the last piece. And so they were like, you can have this one. And I was like, yeah, but you got to knock the price down. This is the floor model. Was bourbon Boy, just in awe of you? I can't believe I married this confident woman? Yeah. He was happy I knocked off 250 bucks off that table. But yeah, you know how they say those memes that are like nice guys marry mean girls. So they can, the mean girl will send the mashed potatoes back. You didn't order mashed potatoes? No. You ordered french fries. I'll definitely do that for him. Alright, back on track. But anyways, it still doesn't make any sense to me because another thing that I learned is that an average person does not replace their mattress for seven to 10 years. So how are they still a functional place?
(17:44):
Well, right. I thought it was like eight years or something. Yeah. Well, that's the thing I read is that they keep changing the recommendation. So it used to be like, okay, every 10 years you need to replace your mattress. Then it was eight years and now seven years. And I feel like that's part of the scheme. If we just keep telling them they need to replace their mattress earlier and earlier. Now if we're every five years, you have to replace your mattress. That's a 200% profit. And then kind of going back to the multitude of location aspect, I'm not going to read it all, but I did have a quote from the spokesperson addressing this. And she kind of states that in the early two thousands, mattress firm set a goal to become the first border to border coast to coast specialty mattress retailer.
(18:32):
And to achieve that goal, the company intentionally grew quickly over a span of nine years through acquisitions and organic growth. So I guess in general, they just tried to buy up as many locations as possible. But I don't know, it still kind of seems weird to me. And I was reading, usually if you buy a storefront, if you're a normal business, you probably have to do a renovation and everything. But these mattress firms just literally put their banner up over a previous sign and you get one or two employees and you just start selling mattresses. So I guess kind of to Kait's note, overhead is maybe pretty low for this. Then they say it's critical for them to invest in real estate in highly trafficked intersections and shopping centers and key markets to maintain that visibility. So in actuality, sometimes it does make financial sense to have stores in close proximity.
(19:24):
So this quote was in response to that Indiana town I was talking about where there was five stores within a mile radius, and I guess that particular location is a big international travel area, which, I'm sorry, who's going to Indiana? Like what? I'm sorry. So you fly internationally to Indiana and then you're like, what I need to do is buy a king-sized mattress and get it back to Europe? I guess it’s a big layover area? I don't know. That's weird. Also, what is there to do in Indiana? Look at corn fields. It doesn't make any sense, especially now that Amazon ships. I mean, you can just get your mattress in a box. Oh yeah, I got mine. I bought mine on Amazon. Me too. But I guess I also should have started the podcast by explaining what money laundering is. Oh yeah. But the definition directly from Google, because I will be sending Google as one of my sources.
(20:15):
It's that money laundering is the concealment of the origins of illegally obtained money typically by means of transfers involving foreign banks or legitimate business. So for example, if you're a breaking bad fan, this is how Walter White used his laundry business to hide his income from selling meth. And I thought this was absolutely hysterical. I did not even put it together that he was using a laundry business and money laundering. I thought that was where it came from. Oh, like you're cleaning the money. I didn't know that either. My gosh. Hysterical. I thought that was funny. They didn't even think of it as funny as I thought it was. But I've never watched Breaking Bad. Oh my God. Okay. You need to watch it. No, I can't. I can't watch because well, I watched a couple episodes and I just cannot get behind his character. The anti-hero.
(21:09):
Yeah. I feel like he just keeps making the wrong decisions and I'm just like, makes my eye twitch. Yeah, I know. It did take a lot for me to get over the fact that he's Malcolm in the Middle's dad, because I loved that show. I did watch the last episode with Bourbon Boy, but I could not connect with his character. Yeah, you got to connect with the characters. Yeah. That's why you like to watch the summer. I turned pretty lowkey. Harry Potter. Yeah, Harry Potter, nerd alert Lord of the Rings. We haven't had Nerd Alert for a couple of episodes. No, we haven't. Funny. There's been no time travel, but there is some nerd Alert merch on the shop. So check that out. So another odd suspicious thing about the Mattress Firmconspiracy. So we talked about the fact that there's so many locations, and we mentioned a little bit about the markup.
(21:57):
So they sell these mattresses for an insane amount of price, and that's how they profit because it doesn't really cost that much to sell a mattress. But what's crazy is that they're always having sales, constantly having sales. They're constantly marking things up and then putting them on sale for a reasonable price. Also, isn't that illegal to mark something up like a crazy amount and then putting it on sale for the normal price? I thought that's what Old Navy got in trouble. I don't think it's illegal. Yeah, old Navy was definitely doing something like that. I did get money back from them. Oh, really? Yeah. That's surprising. I forget what the legal term is, but we'll fact check it later. But suspicious, am I not wrong? It's suspicious. I would like to see their Excel spreadsheets that can justify opening this many stores and saying that it makes financial sense to have this many stores open, even though they only sell a mattress every two weeks.
(22:47):
Yeah. Well, first of all, I love how we're always like, can you guys show us the Excel spreadsheet? Give me the numbers. We need the numbers. But yeah, I don't understand how they make a profit. I don't get it. Especially if they have locations in these high rent areas. I just want to read to you from Google here, it says, in the United States, there's no overarching law regulating pricing markup and charging more real-time price. Each state has its own laws, regulations and guidelines regarding pricing fees. Some states considered illegal to charge more than the advertised price. Well, all I know is that I did get money back from Old Navy. But anyway, so another aspect of this company and the theory behind it is the drama they had with their higher ups, so their CEO drama. So Mattress Firm was bought by a parent company called Steinhoff, which was located in South Africa in Stellenbosch, right?
(23:43):
Yes. I've been to Stellenbosch, Kerry and I went there and it was lovely. Lots of good wine. It's like their little wine country. But yeah, I think where the money's at, I have not been there. I have not been to that. But I do find it interesting that their parent company is in a foreign country, and the aspect of money laundering is that you're kind of transferring money between countries. So Steinhoff as a company has had a lot of drama. So just so you know what Steinhoff is, so it's a top furniture retail company. It's up there with Ikea, and they've gone through a couple CEOs in the past decade or so. But the problem started with Marcus Juist,I believe is how you pronounce his name. He was the CEO around 2017. So just a background check on his character. He's your classic CEO. He's a bougie rich man, and he was known for being a big spender, being fancy and being a little bit sloppy.
(24:38):
And he was an elite in South Africa. He had a huge part in making the company have a big impact on the country's stock market. And I guess in 2017 he suddenly retired. And so let's back it up. He bought Mattress firm for 3.8 billion in 2016, which was way more than what it was worth. And 2016 is when we started to get our mattresses in boxes. So people were like, what is this company really valued for? Why did they spend all that money buying Mattress Farm? It just felt really weird, especially you're probably on your decline, right? So he bought it for an insane price and then suddenly just retired. And so because of his retirement, and then the company's random overspending absolutely tanked the economy in South Africa. Everybody kind of lost trust because their thought process was, if this guy Marcus Juist is leaving for a reason, there's got to be something else.
(25:34):
Everybody started pulling out their stock. I read that the stock price tanked by like 62% in one day. So December, 2017, they're supposed to release their end of year finance report, the parent company. And then they decided that they would just postpone that occasion because accounting irregularities. So they were going to share their numbers and then just didn't. They were officially accused of financial fraud. And I guess all their paperwork about where the money was going was incorrect. So there was a lot of accounting discrepancies. And so they were accused of what's called accounting fraud and not specifically money laundering. Okay, so what's the difference? So accounting fraud is loading your numbers. They entered fictitious transactions and figures to hide their losses to kind of create an illusion to investors of more income. Whereas money laundering is illegally selling things and using your company as a front, like drug dealers.
(26:44):
So we can't exactly prove them of money laundering based on what their parent company did. But like you mentioned, Mattress Firm itself as an individual company was struggling as well with competition. So Mattress Firm also bought out Sleepies, I think they bought out and maybe a couple other companies, but their goal for them to buy out Sleepies was to hopefully be the top 25% of all mattress sales. And they're trying to buy out their competition, but it ended up doing them dirty because there are so many other online mattress companies at the time that were even bigger competitors. And then they got stuck in this huge realtor fraud as a sideline plot twist. But I guess I didn't really understand what specifically was going on with that. And I think Megan, I think you kind of researched that a little bit more than I did.
(27:38):
Yeah. My understanding was that they had two real estate executives who worked for them, and these real estate agents wanted to be their broker, their person. So whenever Mattress Firm would rent a place, come to us, we'll be your agent. And they were giving kickbacks, so the mattress company employees for bringing them the business, but then they were upcharging on the real estate, making them sign on for really long leases and overcharging for the leases. And so by jacking up these prices, then the real estate executives are getting these big commissions. So it's giving the mattress company employees and the realtors, again, kickbacks, huge commissions. That's like more money lost to the company. And then they got stuck having to pay out these insanely expensive leases and things like that, which really impacted the financial status of the company. They ended up filing bankruptcy, which kind of leads to where, I don't know a hundred percent if this is a money laundering scandal, perhaps more like an insurance fraud situation.
(28:40):
Well, my thought is that if you were trying to hide illegal activity, you would be making money. You know what I mean? They are losing money to the point where you have to file for bankruptcy. That doesn't make sense. Yeah. The whole point of money laundering is to be like, I have cash inflow. And it's supposedly coming from this totally legal, thriving mattress business. So I guess 2018 they filed for bankruptcy. And at the time, Mattress Firm had a CEO named Ken Murphy, and I think he was kind of stuck in the realtor mess, but also more into the accounting mess of the finances of the company. And he was kind of the peak - he was there during the peak of this conspiracy around mattress firm, and he personally was accused over and over by online users, IE Reddit users about being involved in money laundering.
(29:40):
And he ended up having to respond directly to this. And he claimed that the bankruptcy, oh, Ken, why is he responding? I know he claimed that the bankruptcy was just a method for the company to redesign their finances to kind of get their shit together. And then he promptly denied the money laundering accusation, and then after his denial, he promptly resigned the next day. And I guess he was like, I'm a head out. He got the hell out of there. He was probably like, well, probably what happened is he had a lawyer that was advising him like, ‘Hey, you need to declare bankruptcy, and then the next day you just need to bow out because this is for your legal protection’. Yeah, it definitely kind of checks out. They were definitely doing something shady, probably advised by his legal representation. Yeah, and I was going to say, to me, it points more to him being shady because he's like, of course we didn't do this.
(30:41):
And then I'm going to get my name out of it real quick. So I'm reading a quote that mattress firms, gross revenue and sales are in line with its competitors indicating that it is indeed a legitimate business. They did make about the same as Caspers, which is another kind of pretty common mattress company, and they're like, we're not doing anything weird, essentially is what they were trying to prove. Yeah. I don't know if they're really doing illegal stuff, but I think that they're truly selling mattresses. But I think there's definitely maybe some dirty… Somebody is definitely making money off of this scam, and they have come out with responses a couple of times. Like I've kind of said earlier, their Mattress Firm Twitter account will post memes every now and again about how ridiculous it is that they, and they're kind of like sugarcoating things instead of actually owning up to it.
(31:42):
Twitter… And their parent company seems very suspicious. I mean, the South African company. They had accounting fraud. Of course, something weird's going on with every aspect of their company. It just seems like, what were they up to that they just put this obscene amount of money, like $3.8 billion, way more than this company is worth. They do that, and then they just watch the stocks plummet by 62% and then they just pulled out. It's odd. Yeah, it's really odd. Yeah. I feel like a billionaire businessman would know better than to do a shitty business deal like this for $3.8 billion. And then why are all the CEOs promptly retiring and resigning? They're all getting out right before shit happens. Like that Marcus guy, the CEO of the parent company, he got out right before the company tanked, and then Murphy denied all claims and then got out right before the drama happened.
(32:33):
Yeah, I mean, it doesn't really make sense. I mean, don't ask me about the mattress companies. I don't, don't know how they can mark up these mattresses super high and then make a profit when people aren't buying mattresses all the time. Doesn't make sense. I don't understand how the company functions. I mean, none of us are business majors, but again, we talk about a $200 mattress and you're marking up to $2,000. That seems crazy. But I did read that the markup on our cups of coffee is approximately equivalent, but we don't really think about it because it's a much lower price. That makes sense. So it just seems so much more dramatic when you're looking at a $2,000 product. This is also why you should buy Fair Trade Coffee guys. But also when people come into buy a mattress, they have to buy a mattress.
(33:19):
That's true. They're not just shopping around. Yeah, they're in there specifically for a mattress. Remember? Do you guys remember going furniture shopping with your parents? Well, I mean, we would go to Jordan's, which is local to New England, only famous for having the IMAX theater and the Jellybean place. I love Jordans. My dad just loves to shop for furniture, so he'd take us into these furniture stores. Well, yeah, you grew up in a prime location for furniture sales. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lots of furniture shops in North Carolina. I'd like to just give a shout out to my mother who gets almost all of her furniture off the streets, and yet still makes them adorable. Oh, well, that's good. But yeah, so I'd be shopping and be like, ah, come on, dad. This is so boring. And so me and my brother would just go play on the mattresses.
(34:12):
Right, right, right. Oh, so you're saying you actually went to mattress stores, Kait? Yeah. I feel like, well, you know how in the furniture stores there was always a mattress section. Yeah. So my brother and I would just go lay on them. Hang around. Yeah. What do you, oh, just hanging around. You know that guy? Yeah, that meme. Yeah, that meme. Anyways, back to what I was going to say. They mark up the prices and they have a confirmed sale, so no matter what, so maybe they do actually profit, you know what I mean? They know they're going to make a sale either way. Yeah. It just seems like you could more easily profit if you just lost the brick and mortar stores and went online. I mean, can you buy Mattress Firm mattresses online? Can we get a fact check on that, Kait? Yeah.
(34:56):
Okay, hold on. Oh, look, you can buy them online, but what is shipping?. Wow. 149? That's like an actual pretty cheap mattress. Maybe because they got caught. I don't know what the shipping was. I think I have to add it to my cart. I read that the Department of Justice did come out and say, ‘we cannot confirm nor deny that there is an ongoing investigation’. Oh, yeah. That was crazy to me. Yeah, I thought that was crazy too, that the FBI literally had to come out with a response because people on Reddit we're literally niggling this company so much. But yeah, they're definitely padding their numbers and someone should probably be in federal prison. But also, I don't have a law background, but maybe that's why they're not denying that there isn't an investigation. You think in five years there's going to be this huge scandal that comes out and we'll look back on this episode and be like, we were there first.
(35:47):
You heard it here first. You know what, guys? We will cover it for you from the courthouse. Yeah. That's pretty much all I got. This company and the drama, but let me know what you guys think. We will post some polls as per usual, Kait, what are our polls? Yeah. Yes. They're money laundering. No, there's something illegal happening, or No, it's just a mattress company. It's all on the up and up. They got to be doing something. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Business majors hit us, so please help us understand. I dunno, I'm kind of in the middle in the end. I feel like they have to be doing something illegal, but I just don't think it's money laundering. Okay. Megan? I think the same, just because there's no proof, proof that there's money laundering happening, but definitely some fishy accounting, that whole real estate scheme, we do not have enough proof to determine, but it's definitely suspicious when you put the whole international aspect into it too.
(36:52):
Yeah. I don't know if I believe that it's specifically money laundering, but just like you guys, I'm like, there's something else happening. It's just too weird that the CEOs resign or quit, or, I dunno. It just doesn't make sense to me. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be more believable if someone came out and was like, yeah, I was the CEO and I just had really bad business sense, and I just bought up way too many buildings. I was trying to create a monopoly on mattresses, but they're really doubling down on that. No. Even if we only make a sale every three weeks, we are doing well. Yeah. I don't know. This is, again, it's like, like when they go to the moon and I'm like, how did they make the video come back? I don't understand. But in this sense, I'm just like, how did these stores just stay open?
(37:40):
It shouldn't make sense. Yeah. We're all actually in agreement on this one. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. This is a this. Oh, I think we're, we're all chem rails. Yeah, chemtrails. Yeah. Yeah. But sounds like a pretty boring job in the end. Yeah. On Reddit, there was this one 12-year-old who was like, I did my own investigation with my friends, which I also loved. Right. And we just walked from store to store. But they said when they went into these places, the employees would all just look really bored. What a boring job. And when they walked across the street to the next door, the guy from the previous store would've already called that guy to give him a heads up. But I'm like… I'm here for some 12 year olds doing their own investigation. Funny. Getting to the bottom of this. Yeah. Also, the guy's like, Hey, heads up. They're coming to you. 12-year-old. These 12 year olds. Yeah. Wow. But let us know what you think in the polls, guys. Otherwise, thanks for listening and have a good week. Yeah. See you guys every Tuesday. Yep. See you next week. Thanks.