Another try...fees and all

A few years ago, Erik and I had a membership to the local gym. I went faithfully everyday during my lunch hour for probably a year or more; it might have been two - I can't really remember. Then, for some reason that completely escapes me now, my attendance dwindled. Erik's did, too, so we finally decided - after about six months of paying for something we weren't using - to cancel the membership.

After a year of trying to loose "that last 10 pounds" from having a baby (If you're still trying to loose it 2 years after the fact, can you still call it baby weight? Yes? Ok...thanks. That makes me feel better about it.) and not having much success with motivating myself to work out at home, we reinstated our membership last night. To my fellow gym-goers: anyone interested in doing Boot Camp?

What gets me about any sort of "membership" is the initial fees they hit you with. Luckily, working for the University has its perks since we don't have to pay the annual membership fee; we only have to pay a discounted version of the monthly dues. But even with the prorated membership for the rest of October, we ended up paying a full month's membership anyway just from the fees they tacked on.

Sign up fee? Are you serious? They should be paying me for signing up. After all, thanks to my signing up, they will be getting a monthly payment.

Card fee? Can you honestly tell me those cheap plastic cards with a bar code cost $10?

And even though we don't pay it, what's the deal with a separate annual fee and monthly dues? Why not just be blunt and tell me what it's actually costing me a month. I wonder if they think it's easier to swallow if you see it as two separate numbers: Look, your monthly dues is only... and you only have a small annual membership fee of...

But I fully intend to get the most for my money. At least until my attendance, once again, starts to dwindle...