Made In The USA, Sorta: Tempur-Pedic Dual Cooling Pillow

Six years ago, I paid nearly two thousand dollars to buy a foam mattress from The Original Mattress Factory. I can honestly say that it changed my life. Any X-ray of my body would look like a cheap jigsaw puzzle with a bunch of stuff from the hardware store laid across it, and as a result I find sleep both painful and unlikely. The foam mattress was a game-changer.

A couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Baruth demanded that I retire said long-suffering mattress and replace it with a proper name-brand Tempur-Pedic, which cost more than a Ducati Monster S2R in excellent condition. But --- wonder of wonders --- my life is once again improved. There are now actual nights where I go to sleep and wake up seven hours later, something that hasn't happened in years.

I was so enthused by this development that I decided to get a new foam pillow to replace my old foam pillow. Tempur-Pedic has one that contains cooling gel. It's brilliant. I can feel my habitual ill temper slipping away like ice on the roof of my house under the assault of the March sun. But if you know me, then you know that I can't just be satisfied with a product being life-changing and delightful.

Tempur-Pedic explicitly states that its mattresses are made in the United States. In the case of the pillow, as you can see, things are a bit more complicated. I think it's safe to say, however, that the vast majority of the value added occurs here in the States. Sometimes, this is all you can hope for --- there are "American-made" laptop computers out there, but stuff like the memory and the video hardware is always made overseas, for example. And I appreciate the forthright detailing of the pillow's provenance. This is a purchase about which I can feel pretty good.

Which is lucky, because not only did I buy one for myself, I got one for my son as well, because he tried one out and really dug the idea that it was cool to the touch. The mattress salesman was a bit discomfited by this; "Getting your little boy a Tempur-Pedic pillow? That's, ah, really something... well now, young man, what do you say to that!" I will admit that I thought briefly about the fact that Spartan children had to sleep on the rocky ground from the time they were four years old or whatever. But I bet you that Max Verstappen never had to sleep on anything but the finest pillow available, and he's turned out just fine.