# Have you ever returned a mail-order mattress? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 8, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630 "2020-02-08T15:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/1 "2020-02-08T15:57:35Z")
We’re looking to replace my deteriorating 2006 mattress. Some of the available mattresses aren’t sold in stores and come with a free trial period. But I’m wondering how easy they are to return if you don’t like them. It’s not like I can just drop one off at the UPS store with a return label. Have you tried one you didn’t like that you returned? What was the procedure like? ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/2 "2020-02-08T16:04:28Z")
Many of the mail order mattress companies will just tell you to donate the mattress you don’t like and send you a new one. ( i may be wrong but I don’t think there is any requirement that you verify you’ve done so which probably means they often end up in guest rooms. Mattresses have an enormous markup, that’s how they can afford to do that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/3 "2020-02-08T16:13:05Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > It’s not like I can just drop one off at the UPS store with a return label. Have you tried one you didn’t like that you returned? What was the procedure like? Sure you can drop it off at a Post Office or a UPS store or whatever is arranged. Two weeks ago, I returned a 40" television that I ordered online (screen was cracked “internally”). I was e-mailed a postage-paid return label that I could print on regular ol’ copy-machine paper. I re-packed the faulty TV back in its box – the packing-material arrangement was simple. I secured the box with some packing tape and was on my way. I took the re-boxed & re-taped television to our local post office, with the mailing label unattached. When I got to the clerk, she simply taped the label to the side of the TV box (no wrapping the entire affair in brown paper or anything like that). Then she took the box behind the counter and that was it for me. Piece of cake. A mattress is larger, yes, and you may need help to get it to the shipping agency (USPS, UPS, FedEx, wherever). But I would expect that if they can ship it to your doorstep, there is a method to ship it right back. There will be some effort involved, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/4 "2020-02-08T16:57:37Z")
I bought a memory foam mattress online. They shipped it compressed in this long skinny box. When I took it out of the box, it expanded to about 4x the size of the compressed version. The return/exchange directions said to download a shipping label and affix it to the ORIGINAL packaging and ship it back. There was no way in hell I could ever get that thing back into the original packaging, so I kept it. It’s actually more comfortable than I expected it to be. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/5 "2020-02-08T16:58:21Z")
Nm, Enola Gay answered my question. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/6 "2020-02-08T17:19:23Z")
FYI, almost all of the mail-order mattress companies are selling solid foam mattresses, the kind without any springs. The reason they can be sold via mail order is that they can squish them into a box that can be handled by a regular UPS delivery person (who could never manage a regular spring mattress). There’s no way you can squeeze them back into the box, so if they do pick them up, they need to do so by other means. But some of these brands are available in bricks-and-mortar stores. Purple mattresses, for instance, are sold in Mattress Firm stores. Casper mattresses are supposedly available via Target (though I don’t know if they have ones you can actually try out) and they also have their own retail stores. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/7 "2020-02-08T17:31:13Z")
[Previous thread from 2017](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=842906), and [another from 2016](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=804754). Apparently it’s very common for the company to ask you to donate it to a charity, and in some cases the charity org (Salvation Army, etc.) will come pick it up. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/8 "2020-02-08T21:33:57Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > [Previous thread from 2017](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=842906), and [another from 2016](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=804754). Apparently it’s very common for the company to ask you to donate it to a charity, and in some cases the charity org (Salvation Army, etc.) will come pick it up. Looks like one person in one of those threads returned one. Nobody here has so far. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/9 "2020-02-08T21:35:12Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Sure you can drop it off at a Post Office or a UPS store or whatever is arranged. I’m not physically capable of this. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/10 "2020-02-08T21:44:53Z")
We returned one. They contracted with a company that picked it up. I didn’t ask but I suspect the pick-up company’s fee is covered by keeping the mattress for resale at a brick and mortar discount outlet. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/11 "2020-02-09T11:49:34Z")
there are people that are buying them with no intention of keeping them, they use different companies so they can have a free mattress for a year or more. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/12 "2020-02-09T12:17:32Z")
Bijou Drains, do you know how those people deal with the “unwanted” mattress? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/13 "2020-02-09T12:23:28Z")
same way other people do they get a refund and most go to charity ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/14 "2020-02-09T15:15:24Z")
I have purchased my last two mattresses from [Costco.com](http://Costco.com). I have returned a memory foam based mattress and a regular mattress at [Costco.com](http://Costco.com) In the case of the memory foam, Costco arranged for Salvation Army to pickup. For the regular mattress, Costco arranged to have a shipping company pickup. Most brand name Mattresses are available at [Costco.com](http://Costco.com) and I recommend going with Costco because of the easy return process. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/15 "2020-02-10T16:58:17Z")
When my wife didn’t like her Casper mattress (we got two and I still love mine), we had to hold onto it a week or so while they looked for local charities to donate it to. They never did find one, so they eventually sent someone around to pick it up and recycle it. I suspect they would have sent the charity person to retrieve it if they had found one. They did not expect us to put it back in the tiny box it came in. This was 2015, not sure how things have changed since then (except Casper beds are a lot more expensive than they were). ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/16 "2020-02-10T17:13:29Z")
Technically, I did but my experience isn’t helpful to you. One of the big mattress companies accidentally delivered a mattress to our house that was intended for the building two blocks from me. I called the company and they sent someone to pick it up but that was easy because I never opened the box. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/17 "2020-02-10T17:13:58Z")
Is it at least theoretically possible for people to re-pack the mattresses back into their original boxes, maybe with the help of a few friends, rope, duct tape, plastic wrap, etc.? Or is it just too hard to keep all that foam compressed long enough to roll it back into a relatively-thin cylinder? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/18 "2020-02-10T18:02:20Z")
I’ve returned two, about 6 years ago. Note: if you don’t like one of them, don’t bother with another brand. You probably just don’t like solid foam mattresses, and you won’t like that one either. One company had me contact a local charity that would pick it up and provide me a receipt. I scanned it and emailed it to them. The other one contacted a local junk hauler that came and took it and trashed it. I do not believe it would be possible to get the mattress back into its original box without an industrial vacuum of some kind. They really expand _a lot_ when you take them out. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-returned-a-mail-order-mattress/847630/19 "2020-02-10T18:06:25Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Is it at least theoretically possible for people to re-pack the mattresses back into their original boxes, maybe with the help of a few friends, rope, duct tape, plastic wrap, etc.? Or is it just too hard to keep all that foam compressed long enough to roll it back into a relatively-thin cylinder? There are YouTube videos ([example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9D7FV-qsCc)) that show how they get the mattress squished enough to fit in a box. As you might guess, it requires special equipment.