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How Gyms Make Money (2015)

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Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#41

Post by klipt »

Avshalom wrote: post #33
nelblu wrote: post #25

I've been a gym rat for almost 20 years now, and I'm probably the worst customer for gyms. I only workout at 24*7 gyms and being an early bird I get there at 430 and I have pretty much the whole gym for myself. I am there 6 days a week and I always shower at the gym. Further, I use the corporate discounts available to join the memberships. With all that, it comes down to approx. $50 a month for membership and I used…

>I'm probably the worst customer for gyms [...] I get there at 430 no that's the best customer for gyms. The ACTUAL way gyms make money is by heavily over subscribing a fixed amount of resources (machines/benches/space). You finding some random time to go to the gym instead of just canceling has barely any marginal cost over some one just not going and you'll talk positively about having a membership.

I guess the most economically efficient model would be for gyms to charge per use with surge pricing.

4-5am? $2. 5-6pm? $10!

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#42

Post by klipt »

asylteltine wrote: post #40

The best thing I ever did was invest in some quality gym equipment at home. I have a power rack, tons of weights, bars, etc. treadmill, TVs, speakers, whatever. Never going back to a gym again.

But then you're paying for a big house to fit all that.

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#43

Post by klipt »

RajT88 wrote: post #31
nickpsecurity wrote: post #2

There’s also tricks like requiring certified letters to cancel the membership. One I went to required two. You also paid a fee upfront that was like being there for half a year.

Just recently dealt with this. Gym would not respond to emails asking for cancellation form, nor pick up the phone during office hours. Then stood by their cancellation policy of 30 days despite the weeks of messages left. 30 days from time of signing the form. Shady business.

If you paid by credit card just dispute the extra charges. Credit card company will side with you if you have evidence of trying to cancel earlier.

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#44

Post by Animats »

That's what killed TechShop. They had a gym pricing model - pay by the month and use all the tool time you want. They thought that people in Silicon Valley would buy a membership and rarely show up. No. It was people who really needed to make stuff and who showed up every day. There were people who spent eight hours a day on a milling machine, every day.

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#45

Post by NikolaNovak »

nelblu wrote: post #25

I've been a gym rat for almost 20 years now, and I'm probably the worst customer for gyms. I only workout at 24*7 gyms and being an early bird I get there at 430 and I have pretty much the whole gym for myself. I am there 6 days a week and I always shower at the gym. Further, I use the corporate discounts available to join the memberships. With all that, it comes down to approx. $50 a month for membership and I used…

>>Finally I must add, all the friends (more like acquaintances) you make at the gym are absolutely crucial to motivate oneself

Yes, but it's personality specific; the absolute worst part of the gym, to me, is "other people". The sweaty, macho, over-enthusiastic bros with specific kind of humour (you can tell me that's not all or even most of them; doesn't matter, my subconsciousness doesn't believe you! :). The stinky changing rooms and people who don't want to cover anything up. The noise and the loudness and the boisterousness and just... people. So many people. Way too many people. Some of them even try to engage me! Make eye contact or talk to me!

I think I'll stay home and try my elliptical again.

SO I guess, you're right, people at the gym ARE motivational :-)

(don't get me wrong - I'm mostly a people person otherwise; I'm an introvert but nobody believes me as I'm fairly outgoing, make small talk easily, smile and listen and engage people. But gym is where I'm at my most vulnerable, least-confident, and I suppose I have my share of traumatic memories of gyms as a scrawny dorky asthmatic nerdy boy. So I definitely, absolutely, completely, positively, desire no social interaction at the gym right now :)

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#46

Post by SoftTalker »

ndeast wrote: post #35
quickthrower2 wrote: post #15

Any gym owners can chime in? My local gym seemed pretty normal this January so far (but I am in Australia where many people book their holidays during forced shutdown periods). Also the gym seems to have the same pricing whenever except sometimes there is “no joining fee” which is a weird thing to me but hey? My gym is independent. A famous world brand of gym I used to belong to seemed to make their money by making i…

Alan Thrall (owner of Untamed Strength in Sacramento) has discussed this a few times (most recently in this video[0]), but basically independent gyms don't really see this effect. In fact January can still be a pretty slow month for independent gyms as members over spend during the holidays (and cancel memberships) or don't want to go out in the cold weather. Personally as a member of an independent gym for a few yea…

I go to an independent gym, it's definitely more crowded in January but pretty much back to normal by mid-late February. If history repeats, they will close to new memberships sometime in the next few weeks until the crowds abate.

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#47

Post by siliconc0w »

asylteltine wrote: post #40

The best thing I ever did was invest in some quality gym equipment at home. I have a power rack, tons of weights, bars, etc. treadmill, TVs, speakers, whatever. Never going back to a gym again.

+1 total quality of life improvement, I (try to) use mine everyday. If you hunt for deals on FB marketplace you can generally get the basics for I'm kinda into flywheels right now. Not too hard to DIY, basically unlimited resistance, very low space, and if you can figure out how to do a vertical and horizontal pull - you can get a full body workout in pretty efficiently.

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#48

Post by SoftTalker »

asylteltine wrote: post #40

The best thing I ever did was invest in some quality gym equipment at home. I have a power rack, tons of weights, bars, etc. treadmill, TVs, speakers, whatever. Never going back to a gym again.

I'm pretty introverted but even I find that working out with the "regulars" I know at the gym helps a lot with motivation. If I go at a time when they aren't there, it's definitely less fun. I've had home fitness equipment but never consistently used it.

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#49

Post by Popeyes »

swamp40 wrote: post #22

"The founder of Colman’s Mustard used to claim that his fortune was based on the bit of mustard that everyone left behind on their plate" Wow.

I haven't read the article but the move to squeezy ketchup bottles was because parents didn't like kids messing with the glass bottles, and kids were the ones who would dump a load of unused ketchup on their plates meaning parents would buy more.

Re: How Gyms Make Money (2015)

#50

Post by topkai22 »

kgdiem wrote: post #37
voisin wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s bizarre that consumers collectively agree to these terms. If I started a business that was this anti-customer, I would assume there would be zero customers willing to take that deal. Moreover, why hasn’t anyone introduced a brand that doesn’t have all these awful features?

There are a few gyms that let you cancel online. If you know of any other chains that require certified mail/hard to cancel requirements let me know. I recently had to add a signature feature to my app for Retro Fitness! # Require certified mail (100% sure on these) - LA Fitness - Planet Fitness - Gold's Gym - Retro Fitness # Let you cancel online / do not require in person or certified mail (From memory based on my…

Orange theory requires in person (at least my franchise does.)
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