Anyone who has ever purchased a mattress knows this drill:

Marked price: $1,799
Sale price: $899.50 – 50% off!!!
Extra haggling: $750.00

Meanwhile, you’re still not 100% certain that you’re getting a good deal, but because you’re paying so much less than the item was originally marked, you feel ok.

This strategy is called price anchoring. In this [interesting article on price anchoring](http://danwin.com/2011/12/the-irrationality-of-price-anchoring/), Dan Nguyen posts about an interesting example from Daniel Kahneman’s new book involving a roulette wheel and a guessing game. If you find the mattress pricing scam appalling, you should definitely check it out. It’ll make you even less excited about their tactics.