What costs more? Something that applies to many,
 

Including myself.

What costs more; a gym membership that you never use or an expensive clothes hanger of an exercise machine? I've had both and say the gym membership with its intiation fee plus monthly payments costs more. Exercise machines you can sell on craigslist or ebay but you can never get your money back from the gym.

I went to the gym religiously for about 6 months then started going less and less until no more. Got my money's worth for about 8 months and now I'm just helping the owners pay their lease.

i've never understood how gym's can get away with it
how folks sign up for things they can't get out of, knowing there's a high degree of chance they will not see it through

Why not buy a pair of running shoes and use them?

I like the people who don't show up to the gym--they keep the membership cheap for me.

A gym membership is more expensive, but it also means that I have dedicated time to a workout and physically moved myself away from distractions. My workouts are 1-2 hours long. At home, I'd be lucky to go 15 minutes before getting distracted.

I've made sure to get more than my money's worth out of the three different gym memberships I've had. I use my home dumbbells for doorstops. Most gyms will discount your monthly rate the longer term you sign up for. They're not getting away with anything. They can't exceed a certain number of members or it would be too crowded. It's your problem if you sign up and don't use it. Just like it's your problem if you buy a weight machine and use it to hang clothes on.

I hate the gym I signed up twice but ultimately ended up bored and quit. My current "gym equipment" includes a mountain bike, a whitewater kayak and a snowboard. If I could stop eating garbage food and lose another 10lbs I would be in great shape. I need to dedicate more time to getting out on the bike and doing some distance rides.

I'm out running every morning at 5:30. Not much to look at at 5:30 on the trail. If I was in a gym at least I might have some eye candy to look at. :D

One of our biggest clients is a major chain gym. Yes, they very deliberately go out of their way to ensure that as many people as possible either prepay or sign up for automatic recurring billing. They BANK on about 90% of the people who come in the door never going for more than a month or two. Free money. The remaining 10% are maybe 50/50 dedicated guys and "gym rats" that live there (you know the type).

New Years is a time of year the gym owners look forward to every year. They line up the lemmings "resolving" to get in shape and sit back and collect checks for nothing after about February/March in the vast majority of the cases.

Best "gym membership" is a pair of running shoes or a bicycle. No recurring costs.

I used to be a gym rat and always hated Januarys. That's when everyone makes a new year's resolution to get back in shape and the gyms always get really crowded, for about three weeks ;)

To answer your question the gym membership is much more expensive if you don't use either.