How to get rid of a mattress in Richmond

The short answer

Mattresses are priced by size, flat, disposal included:

Note the set price. A queen mattress and a box spring bought separately would be $103 + $92 = $195. As a set they are $143. If both are going, always book them as a set.

The visit minimum is $75, so every mattress size is already above it.

Why mattresses are the worst thing to DIY in Richmond

A mattress is not heavy. It is floppy, oversized, and completely uncooperative on a staircase. That combination is what makes it the single most commonly abandoned item on Richmond curbs.

In a Fan or Museum District rowhouse, the staircase is narrow and the top landing turns. A queen mattress will bend around that turn — a king usually will not without two people and a plan. Box springs are the real villain: they are rigid, they do not flex at all, and a standard queen box spring frequently will not make the turn in a 1910 house that was furnished before box springs got that big. That is why split box springs exist, and why so many Richmond bedrooms upstairs have one.

Church Hill adds the exterior steps. Oregon Hill adds the narrow front doors. Scott's Addition lofts add a freight elevator with a booking window.

The humidity problem

Do not leave a mattress outside in a Richmond summer. The metro sits in a humid river valley and an afternoon thunderstorm is normal from June through August. A mattress left on the sidewalk on Monday is a saturated, mildewed, forty-pound-heavier object by Wednesday.

That matters for three reasons: it becomes undonatable, it becomes miserable to carry, and in a lot of jurisdictions a soaked mattress is a bulk-collection refusal. If you are setting one out for collection, set it out the morning of, not the weekend before, and wrap it if rain is forecast.

Can you donate a used mattress?

Mostly no, and you should not take this personally. Most charities in the Richmond area will not accept used mattresses at all, and the ones that do have strict condition requirements — no stains, no odour, no sagging, no tears, and often a limit on age. Health regulations around used bedding are the reason, not fussiness.

Sheets, pillows, blankets and unopened mattress protectors are usually much easier to donate than the mattress itself. If your mattress is genuinely nearly new, call ahead before you carry it down three flights on a maybe.

Curbside and bulk collection

The City of Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield each run their own bulk collection arrangements with their own rules about what is accepted, how much, and when. Mattresses are handled differently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Check your own bulk-pickup page for the current rules rather than assuming the metro works one way.

Two practical points wherever you are. First, many programs ask for mattresses to be bagged or wrapped — partly for the crew's sake, partly because of bed-bug handling rules. Second, on Fan and Museum District blocks where the sidewalk is four feet wide and the parking lane is permanently full, a mattress at the curb is an obstruction until it is collected, and "until it is collected" can be a while.

Hauling it yourself

If you have a pickup and a helper, a mattress run is doable. Ratchet straps, not rope — a mattress catches air like a sail and an unsecured one on the Downtown Expressway or I-64 is a serious hazard. Check the current gate rate and accepted materials at whichever transfer station or landfill you plan to use before you load, because mattresses are sometimes handled separately from general household waste.

Where DIY falls apart is the same place it always does here: the stairs. You have rented or borrowed a vehicle to solve the drive, and the drive was never the hard part.

Real Richmond bedroom totals

Item by item, literally added:

• VCU-area student room, Oregon Hill: twin mattress $82 + bed frame $68 = $150.
• Fan second-floor main bedroom: mattress + box spring set $143 + bed frame $68 + dresser (standard) $126 = $337.
• Short Pump guest room refresh: queen mattress $103 + box spring $92 + nightstand $57 = $252. Booked as a set instead: $143 + $57 = $200.
• West End downsizing, two rooms: king mattress $114 + box spring $92 + solid bed frame king $152 + large dresser $148 = $506.

If a whole house of beds is going, compare against the truck ladder — a half truck is $431, a full truck is $732 — and take whichever is lower.

Booking it

Tell us the size, whether the box spring is going too, which floor it is on, and whether there is a rear or alley door. In the Fan and Museum District, say whether the staircase turns at the top — it does not change the price, it changes how many people show up and whether they bring a saw.

You get the total before anyone is dispatched, and the total does not move.

Frequently asked questions