Planet Fitness Comes to Canada
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Found the article. That was a great chuckle.
Honestly, I've read some stories about some PFs where they have a good lifting set up and don't care if you lift or make some minor noise so long as it isn't blatant screaming. But I've seen more stories about how some folks are told not to run on treadmills or exhale while lifting.
To be honest, if I had a PF gym nearby that charged $10/month, had a good locker room, a decent weight set up and didn't judge me for lifting or running, I would be fine with that.
But yeah. If I had the cash, a basement gym would definitely be my preference.
And to be frank, I'd definitely go to PF on a pizza day, grab a slice, sit on a chair (not a machine or bench) and just watch the shenanigans. Sounds like fun. Planet Fitness' business model is something I can definitely get behind - they've found a good niche, cornered it and done well.0 -
chivalryder wrote: »Planet Fitness isn't in the business to make you healthy. They're in it for the money.
Which, frankly, is brilliant.
This is precisely the type of gym chain I'd like to open one day. They've found a good formula, and I respect them for their business acumen, and ability to fleece people with savvy marketing strategy.0 -
They have no reason to tell them.I wonder if they informed people signing up that there were that many members, and if they have a cut off??? Seems like they are counting on a good portion not using it on a regular basis.
also, rest assured there is a significant amount of analytics going on, from mixture of machines to layout. They know pretty well just how many of those 6k will use in a month, and I'd bet the number is sub 5%.
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I'd bet the number is sub 5%.
That is why the don't want bodybuilders or "Lunks" joining. They target their advertisement to the type of person who will join and not show up. The low price is also factored in to likelihood of attendance. Most people don't feel compelled to use their membership if it is only a waste of $10. A higher price would bring in more money but more people would actually be showing up. Their business plan is a delicate balance of getting the most members to join without having to expand the size or number of facilities.0 -
I'd bet the number is sub 5%.
That is why the don't want bodybuilders or "Lunks" joining. They target their advertisement to the type of person who will join and not show up. The low price is also factored in to likelihood of attendance. Most people don't feel compelled to use their membership if it is only a waste of $10. A higher price would bring in more money but more people would actually be showing up. Their business plan is a delicate balance of getting the most members to join without having to expand the size or number of facilities.
They're planning on opening 80 within the Greater Toronto Area.0 -
LifeInTheBikeLane wrote: »Have you ever been into a planet fitness? It's not a bad gym. My local planet fitness is filled with heavy lifters. It's huge and at the right time you can go in and find some massive men and women lifting weights. The difference is they aren't making it a point to show off. They are actually there to work out.
It is cheap. Where as most gyms (at least where I live) are $40-$50 a month for something the size of my office with far less things to use. They aren't judgemental. They are very nice to everyone and even walk around and help people who are lifting.
Wow.....just wow.
They aren't judgemental....Lulz. Have you seen their business model?
If PF's business model wasn't to caricaturize the fitness enthusiast and capitalize on the stigma that the gym is full of "Judgment" (when it's not) by selling their "judgment free zone" (when it's not...oh the irony) they would catch far less flack on boards such as these, and really just be another 24/7. You know what they say about publicity though, right? They're getting their publicity and that's what they want.
This is worth linking to again.
http://milkandcookies.com/link/2675920 -
kellyann2001 wrote: »Its a business. They need to make money to stay open and pay overhead and grow.
Right, but not all methods for making money are ethical. That's the problem that critics have with PF.0 -
kellyann2001 wrote: »Its a business. They need to make money to stay open and pay overhead and grow.
Right, but not all methods for making money are ethical. That's the problem that critics have with PF.
How are their methods unethical?
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LifeInTheBikeLane wrote: »Have you ever been into a planet fitness? It's not a bad gym. My local planet fitness is filled with heavy lifters. It's huge and at the right time you can go in and find some massive men and women lifting weights. The difference is they aren't making it a point to show off. They are actually there to work out.
It is cheap. Where as most gyms (at least where I live) are $40-$50 a month for something the size of my office with far less things to use. They aren't judgemental. They are very nice to everyone and even walk around and help people who are lifting.
Wow.....just wow.
They aren't judgemental....Lulz. Have you seen their business model?
If PF's business model wasn't to caricaturize the fitness enthusiast and capitalize on the stigma that the gym is full of "Judgment" (when it's not) by selling their "judgment free zone" (when it's not...oh the irony) they would catch far less flack on boards such as these, and really just be another 24/7. You know what they say about publicity though, right? They're getting their publicity and that's what they want.
This is worth linking to again.
http://milkandcookies.com/link/267592
Wow, was she a puppet or what?
"All the animals can be in their cage".....wows.
You can always rely on the daily show for that indepth, hard hitting reporting.
SQ, WTF was the traffic light on the wall for?0 -
I'd bet the number is sub 5%.
That is why the don't want bodybuilders or "Lunks" joining. They target their advertisement to the type of person who will join and not show up. The low price is also factored in to likelihood of attendance. Most people don't feel compelled to use their membership if it is only a waste of $10. A higher price would bring in more money but more people would actually be showing up. Their business plan is a delicate balance of getting the most members to join without having to expand the size or number of facilities.
Well, entering a new market the plan is to add a lot of facilities, but essentially... yes, what you wrote out is the strategy, and it's a good one.
MAximize membership while minimizing actual facilities wear and tear costs by ensuring the cost is so low that no one goes.
Essentially the members who are absent are paying for the members who do go.0 -
chivalryder wrote: »
They're planning on opening 80 within the Greater Toronto Area.
The new facilities are not to accommodate the number of existing members, but to move into additional areas to sell more memberships. The square footage will be large enough to be attractive but not large enough for the amount of people that they plan on signing up.
Read the article http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/12/30/373996649/why-we-sign-up-for-gym-memberships-but-don-t-go-to-the-gym0 -
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First off, you won't find one gym whose goal isn't to make money. That's every gyms goal- not just PF.
PF is cheap because they don't have PT's and they don't have a juice/smoothie bar like most gyms do.
I have three gym memberships… The Y (costs me $100 a month), PF ($10 a month), and my school's gym ($30 a month). PF has equipment the Y and my school's gym doesn't. And the Y and my school's gym have equipment that PF doesn't.
There's no reason for all the bashing against PF.0 -
Gyms have smoothie bars? I need to find that. There's times after a workout when I just want a big ol cup of carrot and wheat grass juice. Oh man.0
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FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »First off, you won't find one gym whose goal isn't to make money. That's every gyms goal- not just PF.
PF is cheap because they don't have PT's and they don't have a juice/smoothie bar like most gyms do.
I have three gym memberships… The Y (costs me $100 a month), PF ($10 a month), and my school's gym ($30 a month). PF has equipment the Y and my school's gym doesn't. And the Y and my school's gym have equipment that PF doesn't.
There's no reason for all the bashing against PF.
Most do?
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FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »First off, you won't find one gym whose goal isn't to make money. That's every gyms goal- not just PF.
PF is cheap because they don't have PT's and they don't have a juice/smoothie bar like most gyms do.
I have three gym memberships… The Y (costs me $100 a month), PF ($10 a month), and my school's gym ($30 a month). PF has equipment the Y and my school's gym doesn't. And the Y and my school's gym have equipment that PF doesn't.
There's no reason for all the bashing against PF.
Most do?
Most gyms have personal trainers, yes.
I didn't mean most gyms have juice/smoothie bars. Should've put that in a separate sentence. But I have been to gyms that have juice bars. The gyms in my town have juice bars, but then again, I live in an extremely affluent area so it's no surprise.
Point is, the more amenities a gym has, the more they have to charge.0 -
I have a juicer. Bought it right after I saw that juice-umentary, Fat Sick and Nearly Antipodean.0 -
Retro Fitness has smoothie bars. Not having one would not make membership cheaper? It turns a profit. I workout at a Retro for $20 a month. I am one of the people that go consistently and it comes to about $.20 an hour for me to use the facility. I am all for cheapo corporate gyms. The problem I have with PF is they purposely target the consumer that will join and not come and exclude anyone that looks muscular or lifts heavy using the excuse it intimidates other members. In actuality, a hard lifting muscular people is more likely to come more often and crowd the gym. That would make selling memberships to the 'less likely to show up people' harder.0
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FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »First off, you won't find one gym whose goal isn't to make money. That's every gyms goal- not just PF.
PF is cheap because they don't have PT's and they don't have a juice/smoothie bar like most gyms do.
I have three gym memberships… The Y (costs me $100 a month), PF ($10 a month), and my school's gym ($30 a month). PF has equipment the Y and my school's gym doesn't. And the Y and my school's gym have equipment that PF doesn't.
There's no reason for all the bashing against PF.
Most do?
Most gyms have personal trainers, yes.
I didn't mean most gyms have juice/smoothie bars. Should've put that in a separate sentence. But I have been to gyms that have juice bars. The gyms in my town have juice bars, but then again, I live in an extremely affluent area so it's no surprise.
Point is, the more amenities a gym has, the more they have to charge.
Yes, in many cases the more the amenities the more you pay (In many cases the gym itself doesn't pay the trainers...the client does). However, that doesn't seem to be the case in this instance. I believe it was shown previously in the thread.0 -
How is this different than every other gym?chivalryder wrote: »My biggest beef with PF isn't that it's a gym, it's not that it has a judgemental 'judgement free' zone. It's not that they offer free pizza one a week or month. It's not the lunk alarm or that there are no free weights. It's not that the CEO doesn't use his own gyms and works out in his basement.
My beef with PF is that they advertise themselves as a gym for people to get healthy when really, that's the opposite from their real goal. Their real goal is to lure people who don't go to the gym to give them $10/month, every month. There is one, count it: ONE Planet Fitness in Canada so far that opened not long ago. It already has 6000 members. That's $60k in their pocket EVERY MONTH. I'm willing to bet most of those people will only go once or twice, yet they will never cancel their membership.
Planet Fitness isn't in the business to make you healthy. They're in it for the money.
Which, frankly, is brilliant.
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laurajo521 wrote: »I go to Planet Fitness, Gold's Gym and a local community center. Say what you want about Planet Fitness, but no one ever judges me there. There are some pretty heavy lifters at PF, and Gold's has a lot of the same policies that PF does (dropping weights, etc). Last night I went to Gold's and I got disrespect from patrons and a couple of workers. People at PF are much more encouraging. Every gym is what you make it. PF has weight machines, treadmills and stretching cages, so I don't really worry about the rest. Gold's has those things, but I feel like if you aren't at their level, they see you as an annoyance. I don't let it slow me down. In fact, it pushes me harder.
Every gym has the dropping weights rule, because the weights can break if they're dropped.0 -
For me no Squat Racks / Power Cages / Half Racks = No good. If those pieces of equipment are not in line with your goals then I guess it is ok. From the couple times I have been they just seemed to lack equipment for strength. IMO their focus was just the average Joe. I don't want to be average... I want above average so that is why I am not a member. I will say if that was the only option I had available then I would have to make due.0
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Danny_Boy13 wrote: »For me no Squat Racks / Power Cages / Half Racks = No good. If those pieces of equipment are not in line with your goals then I guess it is ok. From the couple times I have been they just seemed to lack equipment for strength. IMO their focus was just the average Joe. I don't want to be average... I want above average so that is why I am not a member. I will say if that was the only option I had available then I would have to make due.
This is why serious lifters don't go to a gym like PF which only has basic equipment.0 -
FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »There's no reason for all the bashing against PF.
Would you still say that if they were to ridicule fat people instead of bodybuilders in their ads? This is a serious question.0 -
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If you've never seen planet fitness trolling on youtube you really should! Its from user kanevskyfitness and they are really funny! I'm giggling thinking about it0
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I'm in Canada and I've never heard of Planet Fitness before, but if I could get a second gym membership for $10 a month that was closer to home, for the 2 days a week that I don't need to commute downtown, I would JUMP on it! I'd save double that on gas alone, and would probably add in a few extra workouts here and there on days that I was bored and wanted a double.0
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How is this different than every other gym?chivalryder wrote: »My biggest beef with PF isn't that it's a gym, it's not that it has a judgemental 'judgement free' zone. It's not that they offer free pizza one a week or month. It's not the lunk alarm or that there are no free weights. It's not that the CEO doesn't use his own gyms and works out in his basement.
My beef with PF is that they advertise themselves as a gym for people to get healthy when really, that's the opposite from their real goal. Their real goal is to lure people who don't go to the gym to give them $10/month, every month. There is one, count it: ONE Planet Fitness in Canada so far that opened not long ago. It already has 6000 members. That's $60k in their pocket EVERY MONTH. I'm willing to bet most of those people will only go once or twice, yet they will never cancel their membership.
Planet Fitness isn't in the business to make you healthy. They're in it for the money.
Which, frankly, is brilliant.
Simple. Other gyms offer equipment for someone who is more likely to frequent the gym, and other gyms are more like $50+/month, not $10.0 -
I think the prices are higher in Canada then the US. Also, specific to the area in the US you live in. In my area, $35 is probably average, although I pay $20 for Retro. in the more wealthy areas you'd probably see $50 more often.
I think there is an assumption that if you're not lifting weights like a bodybuilder then you're not frequenting the gym. Or, if you're not paying more money for a membership, you're not using they gym.
I don't think that's necessarily true, just as many people go to my gym that just use the elliptical and leave. I think PF appeals to those type of gym-goers more than one with a big weight floor. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll go less often.
Additionally, if it was intentionally appealing to those who would not use the facilities, as far as ethical concerns, I think the responsibility is more on the person who signed up and didn't use it than the gym. If anything, they're getting more people in the door initially who wouldn't otherwise be going to the gym, and hopefully some of them stick around and get benefit out of it.
When I used to sell memberships (not at PF), we were trained that the best customer is one who doesn't show up, so that's not at all just a PF business move.0
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