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Re:Gym price discrimination by kijuhygf on Saturday February 13, 2010 @09:28PM (#1124011)
Gyms make all their money from people who never go - that's why they all have 12month contracts and sell 90% of them in January

My local gym does per visit, 10 visit, 1, 3 and 12month with increasing discount - but it's city owned = socialism eh?

Re:Gym price discrimination by byrneseyeview on Saturday February 13, 2010 @09:34PM (#1124016)
I would assume that their profit equation works something like this: they need enough capacity to ensure that during the peak season, nobody is unhappy. If 90% of their contracts are in January, then that peak is huge, so they can't really skimp, even if most of those people never come back. If, e.g., 90% of signups were on the 1st of the month, it would be a lot easier: the peak occupancy would be much lower.