Did Your New Mattress Come Vacuum Sealed? Here's How To Properly Open It

If you purchased a bed-in-a-box mattress and choose not to pay that extra fee to have someone conveniently carry it into your room and lay it on your bed frame, there's a good chance it arrived rolled up in vacuum-sealed plastic inside a box. Companies typically use this shipping method for their bed in a box products because it reduces the overall package size and makes it much easier to ship and transport compared to a large, bulky mattress. Even if you've never received a mattress under these delivery conditions, you've probably seen the viral videos on social media showing what happens when you open it the wrong way — it can literally send you flying across the room.

Or, maybe you know from firsthand experience, having gotten tossed back involuntarily while trying to cut open the tightly sealed plastic your mattress was shipped in. Between the sudden release of pressure from the vacuum seal and the sheer weight of the mattress, which can start at around 32 pounds for a twin and reach upward of 60 pounds, it's no surprise that people are sent flailing when it's opened incorrectly. But apparently, there is a right way to do it. Inside Edition decided to seek out an expert to break down the proper method for opening a vacuum-sealed mattress after realizing, based on the influx of viral videos, just how many people were doing it wrong.

Plenty of vacuum-sealed items, especially soft, plush ones, tend to expand slowly when you make that first snip in the plastic, which is why many people assume the same will happen when they cut open their tightly packed mattress. So, they'll usually slice into any safe spot they can find that won't nick the fabric. But mattresses are a different story.

According to the mattress experts Inside Edition spoke with at a bedding shop in New Jersey, that's actually the wrong approach. To open a compressed mattress the right way, you'll want to unfold or unroll it as much as possible before you start cutting. This helps get it in the right position from the get-go so it won't thrust away or push back once you break the seal. If it's folded like a piece of paper, unfold it and lay it out flat first.

Now, not all mattresses come folded flat in a box. Many actually arrive rolled up tightly, almost like a giant Swiss roll, and compressed so firmly that unrolling them can feel nearly impossible. But if you want to avoid that aggressive pushback when you open it, try to get it unrolled as much as you can beforehand, and if needed, have another person step in to help keep it rolled out and steady while you make that first cut. Once that first wave of air gets in and the mattress starts to expand naturally, it should be ready to be placed on your bed frame or styled as part of a chic, intentional-looking floor mattress setup.