In article ,
Lobster wrote:

I've been moving the bloody things for more than 40 years now, and I
don't recall ever having seen one with handles on the ends. Does anyone
know of a 'real' practical reason for this ?

I'd assumed it was so you can carry them 'vertically', eg up and down
stairs, like a suitcase. If you're carrying then horizontally, you can
just hold the sides of the mattress?

They're not for carrying - they're for moving the mattress, when you
make the bed, esp. if it's against a wall. You remember making beds,
don't you? (I barely do: mine's been made for me, since I got
married....)

J.