Mattress Firm Conspiracy Theory

 Mattress Firm Conspiracy Theory

Mattress Firm is a very well known mattress company that sells and has stores all over the nation. You see them everywhere but it's one of those places that most people just drive by and have never really gone into. There was a conspiracy theory that was started a few years back that mattress firms are a front for money laundering. On average, a person needs a new mattress every 7-10 years. This means that the demand for mattresses is not very high especially since they are so expensive and nonessential. As of 2018, there are 2,600 mattress firm stores in the United States, which means that there are approximately 52 in each state. These numbers are absurd when you think about how this is just one mattress company. After looking on google how many are in my area, there are 25 in just the Tampa area alone. There is also always sales going on at these stores, which makes it confusing on how they are able to stay afloat with 25 stores in a 20 mile radius all having half off sales. In just Chicago Illinois alone, there are 235 stores. 

The company is owned by Steinhoff International, which is the second largest furniture retail company in the world. This company is currently under criminal investigation for fraud. They had a CEO, Markus Jooste who ran a huge chunk of the company. Steinhoff was one of the largest companies in the Johannesburg stock exchange. They employed about 50,000 people in South Africa and the top workers were some of the richest people in the country. After Markus Jooste resigned everything went downhill. There are allegations that Steinhoff was hiding financial irregularities for years. In 2016, Steinhoff bought out mattress firm for 2.4 billion, which is more than twice what the company was worth. Right after this purchase, Jooste had a falling out with one of the largest suppliers of mattress firms, which hurt sales dramatically. These are the main reasons why this company is being investigated for fraud, there is clearly more going on the inside than we know.

After learning all this information, it really took me by surprise. I have never really thought about a mattress firm in my life. I always see them driving around, but to me it was just like any other store. I now have a completely different perspective and it leaves me wondering if mattress firms are actually laundering money through their company. 

Money Laundering “is the concealment of the origins of illegally obtained money, typically by means of transfers involving foreign banks or legitimate businesses.” This means that when people are illegally making money, typically through drugs, terrorism or illegal businesses, they use a real business to hide the money and make it look like its coming through that. Many money launderers that have kept their money in their home and used their mattresses to hide the money, which would make sense why they would target mattress stores. I definitely think that this could be true, but there are so many conspiracy theories that seem so real and are proven wrong. Although this was never proven wrong, I don't think you can assume that the mattress firm is money laundering until you have actual facts. Yes, I do definitely think that the Steinhoff company is suspicious, I don't think you can base this off of no real facts. Overall, I think that this was eye opening and now when I see mattress firms I'm going to think twice about what's really going on in there. If any more information comes out about the Steinhoff company or mattress firm I would definitely reevaluate this theory, but right now I don't think there's enough information to believe it.