A good mated queen is worth much more than a measley virgin and priceless compared to a queen that has already failed! Beekeeping decisions should be made with whats in the best interest of your wallet and the bees, not "tree hugging" philosophy.
Very good advice right here . . . aside from the "tree hugging" sling (sorry Beeslave, not an attack at you).
If you do something wrong, thousands of workers will die. By not choosing a good queen, you are essentially pinching each and every worker. By pinching the queen that could endanger the hive, you are just killing one instead of thousands. Believe it or not, it's the more humane thing to do. For the good of the hive, that's how the bees think, and that's how I view it.
The hobbiest tends to look at the decision that is best for the bees, not considering cost. The commercialist often gets the rap of looking at the decision that is best for the wallet, not considering the bees (although this isn't necessarily true). Striking the right balance between the two is what makes a decent beekeeper a great beekeeper.