I don't know what other cities it runs in but out here, you can't turn on the TV without seeing a commercial for Sit 'n Sleep, a business that sells beds and other furnishings. In every one of their ads, you hear their slogan: "Sit 'n Sleep will beat anyone's advertised price or your mattress is free!"
Today, my friend Michele Hart stopped in and she pointed out something that hadn't occurred to me the eighty-seven million times I've heard that sales pitch. It's that it doesn't make sense. They would never give a mattress away free.
Think of it this way: Sit 'n Sleep is selling the Sealy Posturpedic for $1700. You find an ad someplace that offers the same mattress for $1680. You bring that ad into Sit 'n Sleep and show it to them. Which of these two things do you think would happen?
- They sell you the Sealy Posturpedic for $1679.
- They say they can't afford to sell you the Sealy Posturpedic for $1679 so they give it to you free.
Their pledge is not worthless. It is a way of saying they'll beat anyone's advertised price and I assume that's so. It just didn't dawn on me until Michele mentioned it that it couldn't possibly result in any free mattresses. And boy, do I feel dumb for not picking up on that before. I wonder how many people do.