Many people choose losing weight and being healthier as a personal goal, and figure that if they sign up for a gym membership they’ll solve all their fitness and health issues. However, most people aren’t motivated enough to actually use their gym memberships once they get one, and those one or two year gym membership contracts can be hard to get out of once you sign on that dotted line (I would know- I was a gym membership coordinator for years). Should you get a gym membership, or just save your money? This article is aimed to helping you make the best decision for yourself, so you can get the most out of your fitness goals and save money at the same time.
The first thing I would ask potential gym members when they would hit my office was how often they planned on working out or coming to the gym in a single week or month. This is pertinent information, as a person who plans on coming in once or twice a week or less than 10 times a month is likely better off getting a 7 or 10 use pass rather than signing up for a year or so membership. Why? Say a 2 year membership (the longer you sign up, the cheaper your rate is) is $50 a month for a single individual, while a daily rate is $10 without a membership. I would create a column for potential members based upon their admission of how often they would use their gym membership had they signed up. On one side I would write down their costs if they paid a daily entry, on the other I would write down their monthly cost if they signed up. A person coming in once a week would pay $40 a month paying daily rate, or $50 a month for a monthly rate (with a contract, don’t forget that- it must be paid every month, regardless of if you actually use the club or not). In cases where you just want to swim once a week, a daily rate saves you money, and no contract to worry about.
Likewise, a person who is planning on coming in twice a week or so would likely benefit from purchasing a 7 or 10 use pass, which allows a user to come in the appropriate number of times on a punch card that typically does not expire for a set price. Say a 7 use pass is $45, or a 10 use pass is $60. This makes a daily use on a 7 use pass about $6.50, and a 10 use pass $6.00. If you come in 8 times a month on your 10 use pass, then you are spending around $48, with 2 uses left for the following weeks. Why not just get a monthly gym membership then? Because think of this- as a casual gym goer you are more likely than not to lose interest in the gym within a month or so, and if you buy passes for the gym rather than just sign up for a gym membership, guess what? When you get bored, you can simply toss your punch card in the trash and call it a day. With a gym membership you have to pay every month until your membership “expires” (they don’t truly expire- once you hit your contract goal, you go into a month-to-month you still have to pay for until you cancel, just like a cell phone plan).
Many people who would sign up for a gym membership through me would be knocking on my door in 3 months begging to cancel their 2-year contract, either due to loss of interest, job loss, or needing to cut corners on their expenses. But canceling a gym membership is tricky. What most gyms do is take your length of time into your contract at your discounted rate (say, $50 on a 2 year contract) and then compare it to a monthly rate without a contract (which is say, $85). Then they make you pay the difference between what you WOULD have paid without a contract and what you have been paying with a contract for however many months you have been a member. There is also usually a cancellation fee in addition to the prorated fee, typically between $50-$200. If you are a member of a gym for 3 months on this calculation and then want to cancel your membership, you will pay the difference between your contract rate and the monthly rate without contract for the last 3 months, then the appropriate cancellation fee on top of it. The longer you are a member, the more expensive it is to get out of your contract. I would charge people cancellation fees of enormous amounts, upwards of $800 in some cases. Why do gyms do this? Because it will be so expensive to “buy out” your contract, that you will likely continue just paying it until you can cancel it without huge fees whether you use the gym or not.
My recommendation to anyone who is considering a gym membership is to get a free pass for a week prior to buying, and then purchase a punch card first to see how much you will actually use a gym membership before you lock yourself in. Punch cards are absolutely cheaper than doing a month-to-month, unless the gym you are considering is a gym that does not do contracts and has a fair rate. Find a gym membership coordinator and have them make you a chart of costs based upon a daily rate versus a contract rate based upon your honest assumption of how often you will use the gym. And DON’T let the gym membership coordinator talk you into a membership before you are ready- they work on commission and want their money out of you. You have every right to “try out” the gym before you sign a contract, which is better for you in the long run. And trust me- if you aren’t going to be in the gym every single day, odds are, there are better options out there for you rather than signing up for a gym membership.
Source:
personal experience as a gym membership coordinator and helping people choose a membership (or not)
