How to Ship a Mattress and Bed in 3 Simple Steps

Recently, I explained how you can move your mattress alone by folding it up to save space and ease transport, and now I want to show you how to ship your mattress easily from start to finish – even if you’re not using the folding technique.

To ship a mattress and bed, calculate the costs to see if it’s worth shipping your existing bed or if it makes more sense to buy a brand new bed. If shipping is the cheaper option, then package your mattress and bed, and then complete the move.

The rest of this article shows you how to ship your mattress and bed step-by-step.

Alternatively: if you’d rather buy a new bed, then check out the best beds to buy online now.

How to Ship a Mattress and Bed in 3 Steps

If you’ve never shipped a mattress before then it can be very easy to burn out mentally simply because you don’t know the exact steps to follow.

Well, I’m going to walk you through the precise process of shipping your bed or mattress in 3 simple steps below.

But the truth is that you might not even have to bother.

Because if the cost of shipping the mattress or bed is more than the cost of a suitable replacement – then it would make more sense to just buy a new mattress or bed and have it delivered to your destination.

For example, if you’ve been sleeping on your mattress for a few years and it would cost $200 to replace – but shipping it would cost $350 – then I would just buy a new one.

Because not only would this totally remove the hassle of having to ship the old stinky mattress – I’d have a nice fresh mattress to sleep on too.

And I might even invest in a high quality foam or hybrid mattress so that I can get a more comfortable night’s rest in my new house.

1: Calculate Costs

Before you lift a finger, the first thing you need to do is estimate how much the move is going to cost.

So, how much does it cost to ship a mattress or bed?

The exact cost is going to depend on the size of the bed and/or mattress, plus the weight – plus the distance of transport required.

Don’t forget to include additional parts such as the headboard, box spring, and bench if you have them.

Then you’ll need to factor in the costs of the shipping or transport company that you’re going to use.

uShip is a transport marketplace that connects you with specialist bed and mattress shipping companies.

And on their site, uShip say that the cost of shipping a bed or mattress can range from $0.70 per mile for ‘longer transport’ and $2.50 per mile for ‘shorter transport’ [1].

If that’s too expensive, you might want to consider self packing the bed and using a LTL (‘less than truckload’) carrier to keep costs down – possibly in the $200 – $300 range in the US.

Although some sources that I’ve consulted say that shipping a bed and mattress ‘…will cost at least $600…’ [2].

If you decide to hire a moving truck and drive it yourself – this could prove to be highly inefficient because you’re paying for the entire space of the truck plus fuel.

So where do you even start?

The first thing to do is find out the dimensions of the bed and mattress to be shipped – along with the weight.

You can then use these to help you get a shipping quote on sites like uShip or TSI.

A tape measure can help you with the dimensions, but things get trickier when it comes to quantifying the weight – since your bathroom scales probably aren’t going to cut it when it comes to handling a huge bulky mattress!

If possible, I would go to the manufacturer’s site and try to find the exact dimensions and weight for your bed and mattress to help save you some time.

You can find out the typical mattress dimensions in my guide to US mattress sizes.

But to help you out even more, I’ve gone ahead and found the typical weight ranges for the main mattresses sizes in the US too (but these weights can vary depending on if the mattress is spring or memory foam, and the exact brand).

Here are the approximate weights listed alongside their dimensions:

Don’t forget about insurance either!

Whilst your mattress might be able to take a fair bit of stick if you’ve packaged it correctly, items like bed frames, headboards, and box springs may not fair so well during transit.

And if you’re shipping something like a Murphy bed, adjustable bed, or a zero gravity bed – then you’ll need to remember that these beds have more moving parts and are far more delicate.

So you’ll want to have some insurance if you’re transporting such items – especially if you paid a lot of money for them.

2: Package Your Mattress and Bed

Once you’ve figured out your costs, the next step is to package your mattress and/or bed.

Now, you’ll probably want to do this yourself – and I’ll show you how in just a moment.

But if you’re using a bed delivery company to ship the bed then you may have some additional options where the packaging is done for you – such as full bed transport, or a white glove moving service.

Full bed transport and white glove moving can be useful if you don’t want to get involved with the manual work at all – since these services will typically sort out the deconstruction, packaging, removal, and transport of your bed.

Otherwise…

You’ll want to start the packaging process by removing your pillows, sheets, and other bedding and place them inside protective packaging.

Next, you’ll want to carefully dismantle the frame and any associated furniture to help save space in the van and reduce damage from impact. Place the connecting parts inside a ziplock bag so they don’t get lost.

Be sure to use the correct tools for dismantling your bed, such as a Phillips-head or flat screwdriver, a hex wrench, or spanner. You may even want to use an electric tool to save your hands. But in either case, always take care not to strip any screw threads or damage any parts by rushing.

And when it comes to protection, I recommend using generous amounts of bubble wrap or packing foam to shield your frames and headboard from damage if they get slammed around in the back of the truck during transit – but you can also improvise with things like old blankets and cardboard.

And as for the mattress, you can use the folding technique to save space but in any case, be sure to place your mattress in a waterproof protective mattress case or plastic sheeting to shield it from damage.

3: Complete the Move

With your bed and mattress packaged up soundly – the next thing is to actually go ahead and complete the move.

If you’re still unsure as to who to use to ship your bed and mattress then I suggest going to a shipping comparison site like uShip.

Where you’ll be able to create your listing by stating the dimensions of the items to be moved, origin-destination, and date to be shipped.

You’ll then start getting quotes from movers as they attempt to compete for your business. You can also view each mover’s history, safety records, and customer rated feedback to help you get the best service for the job.

And if you’re on a budget, then you can even name your price and see if a mover will match it for you.

Sources and References

[1] uShip – How to Ship a Mattress or Bed With uShip.

[2] Quora – What is the Cheapest Way to Ship a Bed and Mattress Across the US?

Image Attribution and Licencing

Main image: ‘Workers Loading Mattress in Truck’ by Dragon Images – used with permission under the terms of Canva’s One Design Use License Agreement.

Dan

Dan is the founder and head content creator at Bedroom Style Reviews.

He has been working as a professional online product reviewer since 2015 and was inspired to start this website when he ended up sleeping on a memory foam mattress that was too soft and gave him backache.

Through in-depth research and analysis, Dan’s goal with this website is to help others avoid such pitfalls by creating the best online resource for helping you find your ideal mattress, bedding, and bedroom furniture.

Dan is a qualified NVQ Level 2 Fitness Instructor with 6 years’ experience helping clients improve their health through diet, exercise, and proper sleep hygiene.

He also holds several college and university-level qualifications in health sciences, psychology, mathematics, art, and digital media creation – which helps him to publish well researched and informative product reviews as well as articles on sleep, health, wellbeing, and home decor.

Dan also has direct personal experience with insomnia, anxiety, misophonia (hypersensitivity to sounds), and pain from both acute and long-standing sporting injuries – he enjoys writing insightful articles around these subjects to help fellow sufferers of such conditions.

Learn more about Dan here.