The single most important delivery-day habit is testing the frame’s full range of motion before the delivery team leaves, not after. Beyond that, a proper unboxing checklist checking for shipping damage, letting a compressed mattress expand fully, and pairing the remote correctly sets you up for a smooth first night instead of a frustrating one.
Delivery day is exciting, but it’s also the one chance to catch problems while help is still standing in your room. A short, deliberate checklist makes the difference between a smooth first night and a frustrating round of calls to customer support after the delivery team has already left.
Before the Delivery Team Leaves
- Inspect the frame for visible shipping damage – dents, cracks, or anything that looks bent before signing for delivery.
- Test the full range of motion, running the frame through its complete head and leg elevation, including the Zero Gravity preset if it has one, while the team is still present to address any issue immediately.
- Confirm the remote works and pairs correctly, since remote pairing issues are far easier to resolve with the installer present than later over a phone call.
- Check that the power cable reaches your outlet comfortably without excessive tension or needing to be stretched across a walkway.
- Ask the delivery team to walk you through any assembly-specific features, such as how panels or side rails attach, while they’re there to demonstrate.
Unboxing a Rolled or Compressed Mattress
| Step | What to Do | Why It Matters |
| Unroll immediately | Remove all packaging and unroll the mattress onto the frame right away | Leaving it compressed for too long can slow full expansion |
| Allow full expansion time | Most memory foam and latex mattresses need 24 to 72 hours to reach full thickness | Sleeping on it before full expansion can feel firmer or less supportive than intended |
| Air out the room if there’s an initial odor | A mild off-gassing smell is common and normal for new foam | Ventilation speeds up the smell dissipating, usually within a few days |
| Avoid heavy pressure in the first 24 hours | Let the material settle before regular nightly use if possible | Reduces the risk of uneven settling at the fold lines |
Your First Setup Steps
- Start with the frame completely flat before adding the mattress, so you have a clean baseline to test from.
- Place the mattress and check it sits evenly, without a noticeable gap or overhang at any edge.
- Run through each preset slowly, noting how the mattress moves with the frame at each angle.
- Set up position memory if your remote supports it, even with a placeholder angle for now, so you’re familiar with the process before you’ve settled on your ideal setup.
- Keep the original packaging for at least the first few weeks, in case anything needs to be returned or exchanged under your warranty period.
Signs Something Needs Addressing Before You Settle In
- Uneven elevation between left and right on a dual-motor frame, which should be reported promptly rather than assumed to self-correct.
- Visible gaps between the mattress and frame edges, which can indicate a sizing mismatch worth raising with the seller immediately.
- Unusual motor noise from the very first use, rather than noise that develops gradually over months.
- A remote that intermittently loses connection, even after fresh batteries, which points to a pairing issue rather than a battery issue.
Setting Realistic Expectations for Night One
Delivery day excitement often leads to testing the steepest possible angle immediately, which isn’t the best way to judge a brand-new setup. Our guide on the first 30 days with your new adjustable bed covers a more gradual approach that tends to produce a better long-term result than maxing out every setting on night one.
Getting the Remote Set Up Properly From the Start
Delivery day is the ideal time to learn your remote properly, while instructions and any installer support are freshly available. Our complete guide to your adjustable bed remote walks through presets and position memory in detail, and working through it on day one avoids weeks of only using the basic up and down buttons.
Disposing of Packaging Responsibly
Adjustable bed packaging tends to be bulkier than most furniture deliveries, between the frame’s protective materials and the mattress’s compressed packaging. Before discarding everything immediately, check whether your local waste collection has specific guidance for large cardboard and foam packaging, since some materials are recyclable with proper separation. If you’re not keeping any packaging for warranty purposes, breaking down boxes flat makes collection considerably easier than leaving them bulky, and many delivery teams will take packaging away with them if you ask before they leave, saving you the disposal task entirely.
Involving Family Members on Delivery Day
If the bed is being set up for a family member rather than yourself, particularly an elderly parent or someone with specific health needs, it’s worth having them present during the delivery and initial testing where possible, rather than setting everything up in advance as a surprise. Seeing the remote demonstrated and trying the motion themselves, with support on hand, builds familiarity and confidence that’s harder to establish after the fact, and gives them a chance to flag any concern about the angle or feel before the delivery team has left and real-time adjustment becomes harder to arrange.
A short, deliberate delivery-day checklist testing motion while help is present, giving the mattress proper time to expand, and setting up your remote correctly from the start makes the difference between a smooth beginning and an avoidable round of troubleshooting calls in your first week.
Explore our Adjustable Bed Frame range, or read how to troubleshoot common adjustable bed problems if something doesn’t seem right after delivery.
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