A study of 7,752 members across three US health clubs found that people on flat monthly contracts paid more than $17 per visit on average, when a pay-per-visit pass at the same clubs cost only $10, and forgo about $600 in savings over their membership

People who signed up for a flat monthly contract, paying more than $70 a month on average, went to the gym about 4.3 times a month. That works out to more than $17 per visit, at clubs that also offered a pay-per-visit pass for $10 a visit. Only 24 percent of monthly members paid less than that $10 rate. The pattern only makes sense if a meaningful share of monthly members kept expecting, month after month, that they’d cancel soon, and kept not doing it. Members frequently kept paying for a period of time after their last actual gym visit before formally cancelling their membership, rather than cancelling right after deciding they were done going.