Why do people skip going to the gym?

Why do people skip going to the gym?


I feel like lately all my posts have been about vacations and cheating on your diets :) So today, I have a rant. 


The gym I go to is one of those 24 hours gyms in which members receive a card that they scan in order to get access to the gym. The members need to scan this card in order to unlock the door to get in.


This scan card is also a way for the members and the gym owners to track what days and time a member supposedly goes to the gym.

This is the current gym I go to

The other day, my girlfriend pointed out to me a person who had driven up to the door, scanned their card, opened the door, and then got back into their car and drove away. 


Now this isn't something new that I haven't seen before. I've actually seen it done plenty of times since I've been at this gym. My previous gym was the same type of 24-hour gym and I saw it done there as well.


So why are these people doing this? Well their insurance companies give them a $20 reimbursement off the gym membership fee per month if they go to the gym 12 times a month. I know this because my girlfriend receives it from her health insurance company.


Not only are these people cheating themselves, they are also cheating their insurance companies. This is essentially insurance fraud! They think nothing of it though since they justify it to themselves that's its only 20 dollars.


What really pisses me off when I see this are my thoughts about why they would keep their gym membership? My gym has a month to month agreement so they are not locked into a contract. Why not just cancel your gym membership and stop lying to yourself about having one? You're so lazy to cancel your gym membership that you would rather drive to the gym 12 times a month to save 20 bucks?


Another thing is that the people who I see do this, of course are the ones who look like they need to get into the gym the most! I don't know what's worse, these people who scan their cards without stepping foot in the gym or people who lie to themselves and say they're happy with being fat. They both are lying to themselves either way.


I wish there was a way for my gym to not give these people credit for their scans unless they get in and stay in the gym for at least 30 minutes. This would mean that the video would need to be reviewed to catch these people and that would take too many man hours for the owner to do so.


I think a good idea would be to have separate scanners for coming in and out. The user would need to scan their card to get in and then scan their card to get out. Then if the difference in times is less than 30 minutes, the member gets no credit!


I think this is a great idea :) Too bad I don't know how it would come to realization. It would have to be something the insurance companies initiate since the gym isn't necessarily losing any money from people doing this. Its the insurance companies that are losing money from this (and indirectly me as well as this would lead to increased insurance rates)


Has anyone seen this happening at your gym and has any one of these people ever been confronted?