Comment by JumpCrisscross
5 days ago
> They lose insane amounts of money on subscription plans
Do we know this? I’ve seen evidence they lose money on heavy users. But so do gyms.
5 days ago
> They lose insane amounts of money on subscription plans
Do we know this? I’ve seen evidence they lose money on heavy users. But so do gyms.
How do gyms lose money on heavy users? A heavy gym user isn’t really costing the gym anything extra as far as I can see.
> How do gyms lose money on heavy users?
Most gyms sell more subscriptions than they can fit under their roof at one time. If a gym only sells to heavy users, it will either be constantly turning members away or have to buy more equipment. Its equipment will wear off faster. Depending on amenities, it will go through towels, soap, water, et cetera faster, too.
Gym equipment lasts 10+ years in a commercial gym, at $50/mo that's a minimum of $6k paid from a single person.
Unless they're really, seriously wasteful with the soap.. there's no chance a gym is losing money on a heavy user
3 replies →
>I’ve seen evidence they lose money on heavy users.
Where?
There are tons of blog posts where folks work out the API cost of their usage and find it well above subscription cost.
That doesn't mean the company is losing money in aggregate on these subscriptions. Buffets are still in business even though some people gorge themselves silly at them. The incremental cost may exceed the incremental revenue for a particular person or minority group, but that's not how these businesses measure profitability.
There is a difference between making less profit and losing money. Comparing to API cost can only show the former.