Hi Mattress,
That depends on the return or exchange policies of the store or merchant you are buying from and the costs involved.
If they have a return or exchange policy then you would still be able to choose another mattress out of the remaining choices they have available. In some cases a local manufacturer may also be able to open up the mattress and replace individual layers and then close it up again at a low or minimal cost as part of the service they provide to their customers.
If the mattress is too firm then you would still have the option of adding a mattress pad or topper to fine tune the mattress and add additional comfort/pressure relief…
If the mattress is too soft and doesn’t provide you with good support/alignment and you don’t have any options to exchange or return the mattress then you would be in a much more difficult position because there aren’t any great options to make a mattress that is too soft any firmer without removing and/or replacing the layers that are too soft (rather than adding layers on top of them).
In most cases … exchange or return policies are built into the cost of a mattress so that the people who don’t return or exchange a mattress pay for the ones who do so some people would rather pay less for a mattress if they are confident that it’s a good match in terms of PPP and is a good quality and durable choice than have a good return or exchange policy that they are confident they won’t need.
When you are making “value” comparisons I would compare “mattress only” to “mattress only” because the extras that are included in a purchase can lead to comparisons that can be distorted.
The most important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase is your confidence in how well a mattress matches your specific needs and preferences in terms of PPP. No matter what the cost or value of a mattress in terms of the raw materials and components … if it isn’t suitable for you to sleep on then it would have little value to you.
The next most important part of a mattress purchase is the type and quality of the materials and whether there are any weak links in the design in terms of durability (see post #4 here). In this case … if all the materials are latex … then there would be no weak links in terms of quality and durability.
If there are lower quality materials in a mattress or an obvious weak link in the design then there would also be little value in a mattress purchase that was “perfect” at first but where lower quality and less durable materials softened, compressed, or began to break down prematurely which can result in the loss of its comfort or support and the need to replace the mattress long before you would have hoped for or where the price you paid would have made a shorter useful life “worth it” (the loss of comfort and support isn’t covered by a warranty).
After PPP and the type and quality/durability of the materials … then how a mattress compares to your other “finalists” based on all the other parts of your personal value equation that are important to you (including price) would also be important parts of the “value” of your purchase.
When you look back on a mattress purchase at the end of its useful life (hopefully in a decade or more down the road) … the thing you will remember most is how well you slept on the mattress and for how long you slept well before you crossed the “fuzzy line” into “tolerating” the mattress more than sleeping well on it (and eventually decided to replace the mattress). Relatively small differences in the cost per year of “sleeping well” will be much less significant.
Of course the price you pay and how a mattress compares to the other finalists that are available to you either locally or online (if you are comfortable considering an online purchase) in terms of cost or materials are always important parts of the “value” of a purchase as well and I wouldn’t knowingly pay more for a mattress than I needed to when another option that was “similar” in terms of the materials, PPP, and all the other ways that are important to you was also a good choice at a significantly lower price but price is only one part of the “value” of a purchase and in some cases (or for some people) may not be the most important part.
Once you are down to final choices that are comparisons between “good and good” and there are no “bad choices” or “weak links” in any of them then which one is “best or you” really depends on the criteria that are most important to you and the other finalists that you are comparing it to.
Phoenix