A site for consumer information about Beds and Mattresses
Following is a previously confidential internal advice document from Cocketts Mattresses of Herne Bay
Staff Info from internal document from Cocketts Mattresses
The W H test in brief. The W and H shapes describe the shape of the back; the W is when laying on your back with the hips and shoulders being the downward points and the curve up the lumber region, the neck and legs are the outward lines; the H is when laying on your side the uprights being hips and shoulders the horizontal bar being the line of the back. Therefore some give is needed in the mattress to allow hips and shoulders to sink in but the strength of mattress needs to be such that support is given to the limber region.
Lay on the mattress and concentrate on your lumbar. Is it being supported? If necessary run your hand through the small of your back. If too hard your hand will go through quite easily under the bridge formed by your back. If about right your hand will be hard to push through and you will be conscious of the pressure between your back and the support of the mattress. If too soft then again your hand will be hard to push through but there will not be the pressure, your hand will not be squashed and it may even feel that your hand dives away from the back.
Another useful test is the hip test. When you lay on the mattress does it feel like your hips are being pushed up? If so then your hip and back alignment will be affected.
MATTRESSES
remember - Dylan makes mattresses himself and can make them to any specification. He takes into consideration height weight budget etc... he can also make them any shape i.e. for boats or caravans etc.
Mattresses usually take 1-3 weeks to be made. If someone would like to order a mattress make sure you write them an invoice out and take a deposit, stating how much they have paid how much they need to pay, and the method of payment the deposit was. Prices vary according to size and deviation from normal sizes.
The Standard Mattress Sizes
3' x 6'3" } std single
4'6" x 6'3" } double, (queen size) the usual double size
5' x 6'6" } king size, increasingly common double size
6' x 6'6" } super king size, watch out for metric superking sizes for import bedsteads.
Types of springs
Interior Sprung / Bonnell Spring - 60% of bed market,
the one you will think of perhaps from Dennis the menace jumping around on them from the beano. To vary the support to the customers stature we change the thickness of the spring used.
10 uc0u189 stone or less - require 2.0 mm spring
NB: we have to import these from Germany as no one else in the uk uses this guage which is the one required for all children and light old ladies and any under 10 1/2 stone
10 uc0u189 - 13 u189 stone - 2.2 mm spring
This is the usual spring gauge used in this country
14+ stone - 2.3 mm spring ,
often called ortho. or orthopaedic springing a lot of people are mis-guided in believing that this is the spring that they require, many people today are sleeping on beds which are too hard for them.
Pocketed Spring - about 35% of market and growing
to vary the support to the customers weight easiest to vary the number of springs in the mattress commonly 1000 springs, 1200 springs, 1400 springs - more springs = more pockets = denser mattress. Marketers will use a simple spring count to sell a mattress regardless of whether it is the best support for the customer.
Foam Mattress(polyurethane) - denser the foam, heavier the person,
each grade of foam will have an RX or RG number e.g. RX33 the bigger the number the denser, and a responsiveness number such as /120 the larger this number the stronger the foam, the lower the softer.
Memory Foam/ Viscose Elastic/ Tempura. Temperature sensitive foam moulding to fit back perfectly
A quickly growing sector. developed for nasa space flights, chemist who died about a year ago patented in early 70's, it responds to temperature, thereby working in space where gravity doesn't. As it heats it becomes more pliable so stinks to mould to the body. Also Tempura from temperature. Tempura Scandinavian firm, from industry sources doesn't not come up to the higher standards that British manufacture Viscose foam does i.e. vapour, toxicity etc
W/H test
The W H test in brief. The W and H shapes describe the shape of the back; the W is when laying on your back with the hips and shoulders being the downward points and the curve up the lumber region, the neck and legs are the outward lines; the H is when laying on your side the uprights being hips and shoulders the horizontal bar being the line of the back. Therefore some give is needed in the mattress to allow hips and shoulders to sink in but the strength of mattress needs to be such that support is given to the limber region.
Lay on the mattress and concentrate on you lumber. Is it being supported? If necessary run your hand through the small of your back. If too hard your hand will go through quite easily under the bridge
formed by your back. If about right your hand will be hard to push through and you will be conscious of the pressure between your back and the support of the mattress. If too soft then again your hand will be hard to push through but there will not be the pressure, your hand will not be squashed and it may even feel that your hand dives away from the back.
Another useful test is the hip test. When you lay on the mattress does it feel like your hips are being pushed up? If so then your hip and back alignment will be affected.
When selling mattress get customer to concentrate on the small of their back. Are they supported?
Run hand under small of back, if mattress is correct it will be more difficult to push hand through, the mattress will have to be pushed down or the back arched up. If mattress is to hard the hand will pass easily under. If to soft, then there will still be a tight squeeze but the back will sink in more.
This is just a rough guide - Dylan will explain more thoroughly!!
//////Check above///////
BEDSTEADS
show catalogue - discuss sizes, colour options etc.... approx. 600 items when thinking about sizes, styles and colours available by order. write prices down of ones they are interested in (from Skyla's beautiful price list) on invoice sheets and give customer a copy
if they want to buy:
check on outlook express email for most recent email from Original Bedstead titled STOCK AVAILABILTY to see how long it will take i.e. in stock = we can get it in 2-4 weeks, if it says 4 weeks then it will be 6-8 weeks until we have it in stock.
DYLAN WILL DELIVER and assemble (erg, takes about an hour for a double) LOCALLY FREE OF CHARGE
take a deposit
write out an invoice, making sure you have their name address and phone number and it contains all the details about the bedstead - size, colour, approximate delivery date, total price, amount of deposit they have paid, and how much more they have to pay, as well as any other notes. Give customer their copy (white) and staple the blue copy to the day book.
To order bed for customer from original bedstead
go to Microsoft Works
click History
click Bedknobs Fax Sheet
fill in appropriate information on form, print out, and fax to David Lees. If for some reason this doesn't work after several attempts then either phone David Lees or fax straight to Original Bedstead Company.
MITRE (bed linen)
most of the bed linen we have in stock is Egyptian cotton of varying qualities apart from the spectrum range which is 50% polyester 50% cotton.
Its worth looking through the mitre fabric sample book to make yourself familiar with the different cottons - in the front there is a chart about the weights and the thread counts etc... and obviously you can feel the different qualities also.
I have made up a mitre price list which if there isn't a copy on the desk then it will be in the prices folder on desktop.
in the mitre catalogue there is the full range of mattress protectors, sheets, pillows, covers etc... as well as pillows and duvets. it is good to make yourself familiar with the items in here. Also it is important to remember the prices in the catalogue are NOT RETAIL. Its what we order them in at. Retail price is
trade price X 2 X 1.175 (round up to an appropriate number)
Mitre do make sheets for odd sized mattresses - but not in all fabrics. It usually takes 1-2 days to find out a quote for an odd size. so take customers name and number etc on invoice sheet write down all the relevant information i.e. exact sizes, fabric preference etc. It will cost more than the regular price. Call them later with quote price and delivery time. Only order from Mitre once you have told the customer this.
We do order individual items from mitre, but it costs 'a320 carriage for however much you order up to 'a3200 (I think!!). So if someone wants 1 or 2 specific sheets that we don't have in stock its not worth it for us unless they pay at least half of the carriage price. Obviously if we are already placing an order its no problem or if we are ordering several different things for customers or if they are ordering several sheets its not such a big deal and we can pay. Use your judgement. You can either explain the cost of the carriage - or you can just add a bit on (like 'a35 or 'a310) to the sheets they would like ordered.
Staff Info
MATTRESSES
remember - Dylan makes mattresses himself and can make them to any specification. He takes into consideration height weight budget etc... he can also make them any shape i.e. for boats or caravans etc.
Mattresses usually take 1-3 weeks to be made. If someone would like to order a mattress make sure you write them an invoice out and take a deposit, stating how much they have paid how much they need to pay, and the method of payment the deposit was. Prices vary according to size and deviation from normal sizes.
The Standard Mattress Sizes
3' x 6'3" } std single
4'6" x 6'3" } double, (queen size) the usual double size
5' x 6'6" } king size, increasingly common double size
6' x 6'6" } super king size, watch out for metric superking sizes for import bedsteads.
Types of springs
Interior Sprung / Bonnell Spring - 60% of bed market,
the one you will think of perhaps from Dennis the menace jumping around on them from the beano. To vary the support to the customers stature we change the thickness of the spring used.
10 uc0u189 stone or less - require 2.0 mm spring
NB: we have to import these from Germany as no one else in the uk uses this guage which is the one required for all children and light old ladies and any under 10 1/2 stone
10 uc0u189 - 13 u189 stone - 2.2 mm spring
This is the usual spring gauge used in this country
14+ stone - 2.3 mm spring ,
often called ortho. or orthopaedic springing a lot of people are mis-guided in believing that this is the spring that they require, many people today are sleeping on beds which are too hard for them.
Pocketed Spring - about 35% of market and growing
to vary the support to the customers weight easiest to vary the number of springs in the mattress commonly 1000 springs, 1200 springs, 1400 springs - more springs = more pockets = denser mattress. Marketers will use a simple spring count to sell a mattress regardless of whether it is the best support for the customer.
Foam Mattress(polyurethane) - denser the foam, heavier the person,
each grade of foam will have an RX or RG number e.g. RX33 the bigger the number the denser, and a responsiveness number such as /120 the larger this number the stronger the foam, the lower the softer.
Memory Foam/ Viscose Elastic/ Tempura. Temperature sensitive foam moulding to fit back perfectly
A quickly growing sector. developed for nasa space flights, chemist who died about a year ago patented in early 70's, it responds to temperature, thereby working in space where gravity doesn't. As it heats it becomes more pliable so stinks to mould to the body. Also Tempura from temperature. Tempura Scandinavian firm, from industry sources doesn't not come up to the higher standards that British manufacture Viscose foam does i.e. vapour, toxicity etc
W/H test
The W H test in brief. The W and H shapes describe the shape of the back; the W is when laying on your back with the hips and shoulders being the downward points and the curve up the lumber region, the neck and legs are the outward lines; the H is when laying on your side the uprights being hips and shoulders the horizontal bar being the line of the back. Therefore some give is needed in the mattress to allow hips and shoulders to sink in but the strength of mattress needs to be such that support is given to the limber region.
Lay on the mattress and concentrate on you lumber. Is it being supported? If necessary run your hand through the small of your back. If too hard your hand will go through quite easily under the bridge
formed by your back. If about right your hand will be hard to push through and you will be conscious of the pressure between your back and the support of the mattress. If too soft then again your hand will be hard to push through but there will not be the pressure, your hand will not be squashed and it may even feel that your hand dives away from the back.
Another useful test is the hip test. When you lay on the mattress does it feel like your hips are being pushed up? If so then your hip and back alignment will be affected.
When selling mattress get customer to concentrate on the small of their back. Are they supported?
Run hand under small of back, if mattress is correct it will be more difficult to push hand through, the mattress will have to be pushed down or the back arched up. If mattress is to hard the hand will pass easily under. If to soft, then there will still be a tight squeeze but the back will sink in more.
This is just a rough guide - Dylan will explain more thoroughly!!
//////Check above///////
BEDSTEADS
show catalogue - discuss sizes, colour options etc.... approx. 600 items when thinking about sizes, styles and colours available by order. write prices down of ones they are interested in (from Skyla's beautiful price list) on invoice sheets and give customer a copy
if they want to buy:
check on outlook express email for most recent email from Original Bedstead titled STOCK AVAILABILTY to see how long it will take i.e. in stock = we can get it in 2-4 weeks, if it says 4 weeks then it will be 6-8 weeks until we have it in stock.
DYLAN WILL DELIVER and assemble (erg, takes about an hour for a double) LOCALLY FREE OF CHARGE
take a deposit
write out an invoice, making sure you have their name address and phone number and it contains all the details about the bedstead - size, colour, approximate delivery date, total price, amount of deposit they have paid, and how much more they have to pay, as well as any other notes. Give customer their copy (white) and staple the blue copy to the day book.
To order bed for customer from original bedstead
go to Microsoft Works
click History
click Bedknobs Fax Sheet
fill in appropriate information on form, print out, and fax to David Lees. If for some reason this doesn't work after several attempts then either phone David Lees or fax straight to Original Bedstead Company.
MITRE (bed linen)
most of the bed linen we have in stock is Egyptian cotton of varying qualities apart from the spectrum range which is 50% polyester 50% cotton.
Its worth looking through the mitre fabric sample book to make yourself familiar with the different cottons - in the front there is a chart about the weights and the thread counts etc... and obviously you can feel the different qualities also.
I have made up a mitre price list which if there isn't a copy on the desk then it will be in the prices folder on desktop.
in the mitre catalogue there is the full range of mattress protectors, sheets, pillows, covers etc... as well as pillows and duvets. it is good to make yourself familiar with the items in here. Also it is important to remember the prices in the catalogue are NOT RETAIL. Its what we order them in at. Retail price is
trade price X 2 X 1.175 (round up to an appropriate number)
Mitre do make sheets for odd sized mattresses - but not in all fabrics. It usually takes 1-2 days to find out a quote for an odd size. so take customers name and number etc on invoice sheet write down all the relevant information i.e. exact sizes, fabric preference etc. It will cost more than the regular price. Call them later with quote price and delivery time. Only order from Mitre once you have told the customer this.
We do order individual items from mitre, but it costs 'a320 carriage for however much you order up to 'a3200 (I think!!). So if someone wants 1 or 2 specific sheets that we don't have in stock its not worth it for us unless they pay at least half of the carriage price. Obviously if we are already placing an order its no problem or if we are ordering several different things for customers or if they are ordering several sheets its not such a big deal and we can pay. Use your judgement. You can either explain the cost of the carriage - or you can just add a bit on (like 'a35 or 'a310) to the sheets they would like ordered.
SCHLEICH (smurfs, knights)
we can order ones in individually when we next place an order. no need to take a deposit as we don't always know when the orders will be in. Take name number and toys order numbers and then when order has to be taken call customer again to let them know when items will be in. put order in day book and email details to Dylan in Herne Bay.
KINGSWOOD (furniture)
look in Kingswood envelope folder in cupboard for magazine. We can order anything from Kingswood in without to much problem. There is a pricelist there - remember again - all prices are
trade price X 2 X 1.17
so make sure you quote that to customers and don't let them see the list with trade prices on if possible! Put order in day book and email details to Dylan in Herne Bay
INDESIGN INTERIORS (IDI) (damasks & velvets)
we have all the colours of velvet available and all the colours of damask - although we don't have all in every format. We can order them in however if details are taken. These do not come in any other size,
and we do not do curtains or anything else of the sort. Call Dylan re: orders or email him at Herne Bay.
MOULIN ROTY
as with schleich, we can order anything in from the catalogue but only when we next place an order so take details of customer and toy they would like. Moulin Roty price list is trade price, so trade price X 2 X 1.175 and round up to a reasonably number is retail price. Make a note on quote/invoice of how much they have to pay. Put details in day book and email order to Dylan at Herne Bay.
GENERAL STUFF
When anything is ordered email Dylan from outlook express telling him what needs to be ordered and for who (as much info as possible), as well as writing it in the day book. Clip moulin roty and schliech orders in the clips by the pillows so they are all together. If you have already ordered something (i.e. bedstead, mitre) then make sure Dylan knows this in the email. Dylan will be as accommodating as possible, i.e. re: delivery of bedsteads and or mattresses as well as anything else. If your unsure about something then take details and call them back once spoken to Dylan. For an extra price we can post items or get them delivered through someone else.
Each day hoover the shop floor and occasionally if it needs it some dusting! Make sure the shop is always kept as tidy and clean as possible.
Card Machine: For a Sale -
Press Sale first, then all the instructions will come up on screen.
For a refund its the same, but press refund first instead of sale.
We only really use the till to keep the money in, there is a calculator to use if needed. But basically everything is just written in the day book. Write down the payment method used.
At the end of each day click on "SALES BREAKDOWN USE ME" type in a brief description of what has been sold, how they paid for it, and what category it fits into. It will automatically add it up so its just to keep the records up to date on the computer.
NB if on phone or internet the card machine cannot talk to the mainframes and will not be able to transact. It you are taking a phone payment taking card number when it says insert card, follow the instructions then just explain to the customer about the single phone line and end the call, if there is a problem them you can call back. Once of the phone the machine will dial up and sort itself out just follow the instructions.
NB the customer gets a copy of the transaction, the one that says customer copy with most of the numbers **ed out. Our copy is the one with all 16 numbers.
If in shop give customer copy, if by phone then post receipt and invoice to them.
13 May 2010 PM