WHY FLOOR MATS COST SO MUCH

A set of automobile floor mats can cost more than $200.  To many people, that price seems exorbitant for a product consisting of four small plastic squares or rectangles.  So Parksplug asked Pat Fisselouver of Pat and Pat’s Mats, a top online supplier of vehicle floor mats, why the price is so high.

PP:  Mat, why are mats so expensive?

Pat::  My name is Pat, not Mat.

PP:  Sorry.  Your company is called Pat and Pat’s Mats.  Which Pat are you?

Pat:  The other one.

PP:  Pat, why are Pat and Pat’s Mats so expensive?

Pat:  Pat and Pat’s Mats mats are not just mats.  We like to call them automotive flooring protection systems.

PP:  Do you actually call them that?

Pat::  No.

PP:  Isn’t $200 for a set of floor mats a bit steep?

Pat:  There’s a lot of costly skill and technology involved in making Pat and Pat’s Mats. For example, all our mats have sculpted channels to trap water, dirt and small animals.  We have a gifted Italian sculptor named Aldo Abatesciannidebene who carves each channel by hand.  We wooed him away from the soap industry, where he carved the words “Irish Spring” into millions of bars of soap.

PP:  How are Pat and Pat’s Mats made?

Pat::  Ah, I love to talk about our manufacturing process.  I think you’d find it very interesting.

PP:  Great.  Go ahead.

Pat::  I can’t.  It’s a trade secret.

PP:  Darn.

Pat:  But I can tell you that we use a lot of resins.  Expensive, gooey resins.  And molds and other stuff, too.

PP:  And that justifies the high price?

Pat::  Did I tell you Aldo is leaving to return to Irish Spring?

PP:  No, you didn’t mention that.

Pat:  Do you sculpt?