The mattress tag that says “do not remove under penalty of law” is not aimed at you. It is aimed at whoever makes and sells the mattress. Once you have bought it and taken it home, you can cut the tag off. California’s regulations spell this out in the wording the tag has to carry: “UNDER PENALTY OF LAW THIS TAG NOT TO BE REMOVED EXCEPT BY THE CONSUMER.”
What the law tag is for
The tag exists so that a buyer can tell what is inside a mattress without cutting it open, and in particular whether the filling is new or second-hand. In California the rules are set out in Title 4 of the state’s Code of Regulations, section 1126. The label must carry a heading saying either “All New Material” or “Secondhand (Used) Material”, describe the filling, show a registry number assigned or approved by the state bureau named in the regulations, and include a certification by the manufacturer that the materials are described “in accordance with law”.
The rules are precise about the look of the thing. The label must be at least 2 by 3 inches, with capital letters at least an eighth of an inch high. It is white with black ink for new materials, red with black ink for second-hand materials, and green for a mattress made from the owner’s own materials. A red tag on a mattress in a shop tells you, at a glance, that someone has slept on what is inside.
Why removing it is a problem for sellers
The point of making the tag hard to remove is to stop a used mattress from being passed off as new, and that has happened. In June 2000 the Federal Trade Commission settled with two Brooklyn retailers, Mega Furniture and Nueva Furniture. According to the FTC, they had sold mattresses as “rebuilt” and made of “all new materials except for the springs” when the mattresses were simply old ones re-covered with new ticking. The settlement barred them from misrepresenting used materials and required refunds of nearly $50,000 to customers who had bought from them since the start of 1999.
The FTC’s explanation at the time is a good summary of the whole system. In most states, it said, used mattresses can be resold if they meet labelling and processing requirements, and buyers should look for the tag that tells them whether a mattress is new or used. The tag only works if it stays on until the mattress reaches the customer. Hence the stern wording.
The law tag number
Many people go looking for the tag to find its number. Under California’s rules, the number on the law label is that registry number, assigned or approved by the state bureau. The same label can carry other codes from the manufacturer as well. If you might ever need any of them, photograph the tag before you cut it off. Once it is in the bin, nothing else on the mattress will tell you what is inside.
Where the scary wording came from
The usual story is that early in the 20th century some makers stuffed mattresses with rags, old horsehair and other rubbish, and states began requiring labels that listed the filling. We could not trace that history to an original law within the sources we checked, so treat it as the common explanation rather than a documented one. What is documented is the modern wording, which settles the question most people are actually asking. The tag can come off, as long as the person removing it is the consumer.
