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Comment by konschubert | Hacker News Reader

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konschubert·

Or maybe there would be fewer of them, and the people who use them would pay a bit more.

While the rest would enjoy the freed up real estate and the money saved.

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10x more.

It'd basically put the industry out of business.

Are gyms really that costly to run that they can't sustain on a moderate paying userbase? I'm talking basic cardio and weight gyms, not the mega gyms with a pool and massage. The property might be prime but a lot of that comes to the choice of LA Fitness, 24, etc. choosing to build their own custom building in prime areas. Smaller gyms like Planet Fitness tend to use otherwise empty storefronts.

I think the idea is that if they had to build for their actual peak capacity, i.e. everyone showing up at once, they would not be economical. Of course, this is a silly hypothetical - the legislation is about making it more convenient to cancel your membership, not a guaranteed set of barbells whenever you decide to come in.

This could be fixed by "prime time" membership fees, vs off hour fees.

Lots of ways to work it. EG 1/2 price for off hours membership! Act now!

This is one of those problems with liquidity. You are buying a subscription plan that tells you can come at any time. The business can't plan ahead because you haven't committed to a fixed schedule. If your subscription plan was locked to specific time slots the gym could do much better capacity planning. However, such a subscription model is less liquid which means customers want to be compensated for giving up their freedom to pick an arbitrary time slot with a discount.

It's kind of weird how liquidity is such a general concept that goes way beyond money.

There are already gyms that do not cater to the people who buy memberships and don't show up. Bodybuilding and powerlifting gyms, for instance. They cost about 2 to 3 times more from what I've seen.

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