Would you skip going to the gym if you knew you’d have to pay a penalty? In the past gym goers might get a discount from their health plan when they go to the gym regularly. However the motivation to work out may be that much stronger if you pay for the days you don’t show up.
Harvard economics students Yifan Zhang and Geoff Oberhorfer are currently in January trials with a handful of Boston area Planet Fitness locations to charge based on the number of times members don’t visit the gym. “The concept is simple and effective. Gym-Pact works with local vendors to offer our members discounts on local gyms, dance centers, yoga studios and other fitness centers in exchange for making a commitment to attend these centers a certain number of days a week,” it says on the Gym-Pact website.
When you join you commit to a certain number of workouts, say three times per week. You’ll be docked as much as $10 for each missed day. Gyms often gain new memberships in January due to resolutions, and then never see their new members again. Those that do go to the gym benefit from having an empty gym. And a gym that’s often stocked with new equipment. In this new economy where you pay less for actually going to the gym, will there be more lines for machines? Will classes have to turn away people who want to participate? Will people walk into the gym to swipe their card and then leave?
We hope the plan works. We just wonder what it will do to the gym-going population.
via [PSFK]