Unbox your mattress within a day or two of its arrival since prolonged time spent in the vacuum seal could impact its structural integrity. With the help of another person, open one end of the box and tip it onto your foundation or one of our picks for the best bed frame. Lift the unopened end of the box and shake the sealed mattress onto the foundation. Use extreme caution when removing the packaging and cut parallel to the mattress. You can use a slitter or other cutting implement to cut through the first layer of plastic, but it may be easier to just unroll the plastic with a yanking motion. Then unfold the mattress onto your foundation. You may need to flip it so the top is facing up. Lastly, I use a yanking motion while trying to keep the mattress in place so I can remove the plastic from the bottom side.