EU Mattress Scrappage Subsidy Scheme

Every now and then something comes along that seems like a good idea. So what’s the first thing people do? They look for a problem. I saw one of these post cards for the EU Mattress Scrappage Subsidy Scheme and I thought what a good idea. I could see that it made good business sense for someone. If you want to get a foot in the door in a new market, it’s not cheap. So you can spend thousands or tens of thousands on advertising or you can come up with an idea.

Now I think taking old mattresses away and giving people a big discount to buy your new ones is probably one of those ideas. What they do with a big pile of old mattresses is anybodies guess. I don’t completely get the over 50 part, but I’m a little past that so I’ll not worry. What does bother me a little more is  that I’ve seen comments on the web like “this is a scam to trick silly OLD fools out of their money or to go to thier house and rob them.”

Now come on, what is it that makes someone of say 45 middle aged and someone of 50 a silly old fool? I would be very surprised if any of these commentators are more than 30. It’s good of them to want to protect all of the old fools, but what are they protecting us from? Another thing that I’ve noticed and I may be talking out of turn here, when you see these “consumer reports” they always say if you know a silly old fool, warn them. I may be 50 someting but I can still use a computer! I can still read and I can still make my own decisions, Thank you!

Getting back to the subject of the mattress scrappage subsidy scheme, they could have come up with a shorter name. If someone knocks on your door and says would you like to buy a mattress? you’ll probably say no and I don’t want my driveway tarmaced either! But if you get a post card with a good offer you may well reply. If that postcard said fill in you credit card number here or attach  20 euros it’s different.  Being of a certain age gives me a clear advantage I know that I can stop payments from my credt card or a cheque if I want. I know that I can easily compare the price of mattresses on the internet and if it came to it I have a telephone too.

So why am I raving on like this? This is just another example of people that have nothing better to do that to tell me I’ll a silly old fool and shouldn’t be allowed out on my own.  So in defence of all not so silly and not so old “fools” everywhere I’m fighting back. This is my blog and from here I’ll be ranting and raving everytime someone steps on my toes. That could be most days. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to have a small whiskey to calm things down again.

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