This article from Athletic Business (Andrew Cohen, October 2008) makes an argument that the elasticity of demand for health club membership is not high enough to make it worth cutting prices. "A lot of health clubs closed this summer. A lot of health clubs close every summer. The summer of 2008, though, with its backdrop of unprecedented fuel prices and a mortgage lending crisis, seemed particularly troublesome to many in the club industry, even to club owners who have endured the regular ups and downs of the economic cycle like so many arm curls. Current and potential customers were tighter with the purse strings — potential members didn't join, old members cut back. Or so it seemed. Club owners dealing with a shortage of dues-paying customers have many options at their disposal, but there is at least one — cutting prices — that ought never be tried, according to health club management consultants."