Mini Episode 12 - Why do I keep paying for a gym membership I never use?

Richard from Annandale wants to know why his wallets getting a bigger work out than his gym membership

Dan: (0:17)
Welcome to Bad Decisions. It is good to be back, 2022. We are still in mini episode format, but I have on very good authority that Dr. Mel will be returning to the fray very, very soon. In the meantime, we have a few more of your curly, wonderful, interesting questions to answer. And today's comes to us courtesy of Richard, or dare I say Richo, from Annendale. What you got, Rich?

Richard: (00:40)
Hey, Dan. The other day I was regrettably looking through my bank statements and I was confused about this cost that kept coming. And then I noticed it was my gym membership and I haven't been there in so, so long, but instead of calling them up to quit, I just haven't got around to it. So I was wondering, why do I keep paying for this gym membership that I'm never using?

Dan: (1:01)
Oh, Richo, my man, I feel you. And, I too, have asked myself on occasion, how did it come to this? I mean, what once was this enthusiastic commitment to a better body, a better life, a better you is now nothing more than a monthly reminder on the credit card statement of just how far we have fallen. But, chin up, mate. Honestly, it's happened to the best of us and it might not be a gym membership. Maybe it's that Foxtail package you signed up for in 2007. Maybe it's the dentist that you can't stand, but also can't break up with, or maybe just that weird tendency to just say, "Sure" whenever we're offered expensive sparkling mineral water when we sit down at a restaurant. Of course, none of these choices really make any sense, especially when, in the moment of making them, the better course of action is very, very easy for us to see.

Dan: (1:50)
See, the thing we're dealing with here is really powerful. It is something called the default bias. The default bias describes our tendency to just accept preset or default courses of action rather than carefully weighing up all of the options available to us. The reason that defaults are so powerful is because, fundamentally, we are busy and when it comes to making decisions, we are lazy, right? We make thousands and thousands of decisions every day and if we stop to consider each one of them in the detail that they deserve, we would honestly never make it past breakfast. One of the most interesting real world examples of just how powerful default options can be comes to us from the world of organ donations. Now, as you may or may not know, many European countries, so places like Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, these guys are the rock stars of the organ donation world.

Dan: (02:42)
Their organ donation rates are 98% percent or higher. And, in fact, in some of these places, they're actually at about a hundred percent. In Australia, by contrast, our organ donation rates are a horrific, embarrassing, terrible 33%. And that is despite almost three quarters of us actually being in favor of donating our organs once we die. The difference is not in the people. The differences in the process. You see, in Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, as soon as you get your driver's license, you are now an organ donor unless you specifically decide to opt out. So in these countries, donating is the default. In Australia, it is the other way around, right? The default is we're out unless we specifically decide to opt in. And this tiny difference, the small difference in the way that this choice has been architected, has created a tremendous tragic gap in how many lives are saved each year.

Dan: (03:39)
Because of their power, the default options we provide for a meeting time, a serving size, a contract end date, or a life-altering medical procedure can often have far greater implications than we ever could imagine. Like throwing away thousands and thousands of dollars on a month-to-month gym membership that we know, in reality, we will never actually use. For brands, there are so many ways to leverage the default bias. So they can do it in thinking about how they suggest or recommend different options for key decisions that customers need to make, giving people really easy ways to reorder their last purchase, suggesting that this belt might go with that bag, offering people fancy mineral water to start, right? All of these things are options that people are likely to say yes to just because it's too hard to think about what we should be doing instead.

Dan: 04:26)
So, Richo, I hope that answers your question on why you cannot cancel your gym membership. If it is anything like the last time I tried to get out of a gym membership, which was back in the early 2000s, you are going to need to fax them a letter suggesting why you want to get out of it, then attend a meeting between 10:00 AM and 10:14 AM on a weekday and plead your case for why they should let you out of this deal.

Dan: (04:47)
So hopefully it is easier than that these days. If not, the other alternative is you could just start going and your body will thank you. The other thing. Not your body, but somebody else's body might thank you for, is becoming an organ donor and if you are in Australia or really anywhere in the world, I highly recommend you do that. It only takes a minute and can make a huge difference. If you've got any questions about the weird and wonderful things you've observed in human behavior, feel free to send them through all over the Internet at Dan Monheit or you can get me on email at askdan@hardhat.com.au. We'll see you next time.