# Why are many fitness clubs cagey about their rates?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-many-fitness-clubs-cagey-about-their-rates/632852>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 27, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-many-fitness-clubs-cagey-about-their-rates/632852 "2012-08-27T20:13:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-many-fitness-clubs-cagey-about-their-rates/632852/41 "2012-08-30T19:26:45Z")

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> [@brad\_d](#):
>
> . . . A word of caution to those following along at home: That Costco 2-year membership is an all-club **Sport** level membership. In other words, it will get you into any 24 Hour Fitness facilities at the “Sport” level and below. (They have a really weird labeling scheme for their [tiers of facilities](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hour_Fitness#Club_levels).) If the particular club you plan on frequenting is a “Super Sport” or one of the rather rare “Ultra Sport” ones, then the Costco-purchased membership won’t get you in. . . . .

Good catch. I forgot about that part.

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**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-many-fitness-clubs-cagey-about-their-rates/632852/42 "2012-08-30T19:37:15Z")

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> [@filmore](#):
>
> I’ve read that no gym could survive if every member regularly worked out. They would need to build the gym 10x larger. But if they built the gym 10x larger, they wouldn’t be able to afford to run the gym on member fees.

I suppose a more charitable way to look at it is like monthly flat-rate Internet service: if everyone used as much bandwidth as the heaviest users, the system would not be able to handle it. Same with an all-you-can-eat buffet: the lighter eaters effectively subsidise the chowhounds to get more than their money’s worth. Or you could even look at it as being like insurance.

So I don’t really have a problem with that per se; the difference though is that those other businesses will at least provide their pricing information online or over the phone.

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