Peloton To Invest $400 Million To Build Its First US Manufacturing Facility In Ohio (cnbc.com) 34
Peloton said Monday it will invest $400 million to build its first factory in the United States to speed up production and delivery of its popular cycles and high-end treadmill machines. CNBC reports: After vetting a number of locations, it selected a 200-acre site in Troy Township in Wood County, Ohio, to construct more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing, office and amenities space, the company said. Peloton expects to break ground later this summer on the project, which should bring more than 2,000 jobs to the area. The facility should be up and running by 2023.
Potential customers will be able to visit the Ohio facility to view its products or schedule tours to see the cycles and treadmills being made, the company said. The site will also have a fitness center for its workers. According to Foley, the extra space also means Peloton will have room to manufacture additional products in the years ahead.
Potential customers will be able to visit the Ohio facility to view its products or schedule tours to see the cycles and treadmills being made, the company said. The site will also have a fitness center for its workers. According to Foley, the extra space also means Peloton will have room to manufacture additional products in the years ahead.
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Peloton + gun rack = Merika.
They ought to invest carefully (Score:4, Interesting)
Peloton, like a lot of other companies that unexpectedly started profiting massively from COVID-19 due to the stay-at-home nature of their products, might be in for a rude awakening when confinement orders end: people will ditch anything electronic, go outdoors and socialize in-person like there's no tomorrow. And the sales might slumps quite hard for those companies.
This kind of reversal effect is not new. Take the baby boom for example: when the war ended and people stopped worrying, they fucked like rabbits. This is a know effect and it WILL happen when COVID-19 ends. If I was Peloton, I'd invest in camping equipment and build outdoorsy facilities instead.
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> people will ditch anything electronic, go outdoors and socialize in-person like there's no tomorrow.
Hahah, Slashdot satire.
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Hahah, Slashdot satire.
Is it? I mean we're talking about fitness here...
Aspirational fitness is a safe market (Score:5, Interesting)
I know dozens of peloton lovers. They are all fairly fit, fashionable older adults who also happen to drive nice cars and buy the latest wares from Apple shortly after they're released. Most have tight demands on their schedule, typically due to kids, so working out at home is more practical than going to the gym (you need to get dressed and go there when they're open).
A bunch of others buy the bikes in winter thinking THIS IS THE YEAR I will finally get in shape. I think most Pelotons probably have about a dozen outfits draped on them.
So, like most exercise equipment, you buy it and use it as intended or you bought it because you aspire to look like someone who uses it as intended. I think the difference with Peloton is that it's designed to be superior to the gym experience. You buy it because you want to work out in your home, on your schedule and not worry about getting dressed. I think a huge portion of their userbase didn't buy it because they couldn't use their gym, but instead as a replacement for the gym. It's also a status symbol, so I think many women who are on the fence about it will lean towards buying it.
Home exercise equipment is typically far inferior to the stuff at the gym. Sales of free weights will plummet once the gyms are open, for example. However, I think Peloton will do quite well. If anything COVID as a booster for all those who were thinking about quitting the gym and getting a peloton and this nudged them to try it out.
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Peloton isn't superior to the gym experience: it's ordinary treadmills and indoor cycles, the kind of which you can buy from the shopping channel, with a screen tacked on and an overpriced subscription plan to watch videos or other people sweat in real-time. What's superior is their TV ads: they clearly spent money on that.
If you're a runner or a cyclist, the idea of running or cycling indoors is ghastly. Sure there are plenty of gym-goers who purchased Peloton equipment in order to stay in shape at home du
Are Beats by Dre superior or just status symbols? (Score:4, Interesting)
Peloton isn't superior to the gym experience: it's ordinary treadmills and indoor cycles, the kind of which you can buy from the shopping channel, with a screen tacked on and an overpriced subscription plan to watch videos or other people sweat in real-time. What's superior is their TV ads: they clearly spent money on that.
If you're a runner or a cyclist, the idea of running or cycling indoors is ghastly. Sure there are plenty of gym-goers who purchased Peloton equipment in order to stay in shape at home during the confinement. But those people will happily return to the gym as soon as it reopens, to meet their gym buddies again, and most importantly to work out somewhere other than in their drab homes that they've seen enough of for 2 years.
You're not their market. :) It's just like Beats By Dre, Grey Goose Vodka, or a Lexus or a Gucci handbag. It's a luxury status symbol. I greatly prefer the gym myself. However, I have been going reliably since college (until the pandemic shut my local one down). You and I are not their audience. Just like I am not a the audience for most Apple products or luxury cars. I do my research. I am a rational buyer. If something doesn't provide value to me specifically in proportion to its price increase, I won't buy it.
Top fitness enthusiasts won't do peloton, but I know a ton of milfs who swear by it and happily pay their fees so they can firm up their ass while their baby is sleeping. However, as you stated, it's an ordinary overpriced piece of equipment. Those who know their way around fitness equipment wouldn't buy it, even in a pandemic.
Also, I am a cyclist...not hardcore, but I bike to work every day and bike all around the city as often as I can...I'm the kind with lots of ad ons, but no spandex. I bike on an exercise bike all the time. I force myself to use it when I watch TV or play video games...it works for me...it's not for everyone. It's not a replacement for outdoors activity for me...just something to do when I'm too busy or it's too cold outside. Not their target audience, but I have found ways to make it work for me.
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The idea of going to a gym is ghastly to me. All that time getting there and back, dealing with locker rooms and such... ugh. Even when I had one in my building I felt it was fairly inconvenient to go.
So, I actually turned down an offer from Peloton a bit over 4 years ago. I thought it was a fad, I didn't like the group fitness cycle classes I took at Soul Cycle that my wife asked me to join her in. I really rolled my eyes when in November 2019 my wife said she wanted to get one. I thought it would be a clo
Re: Aspirational fitness is a safe market (Score:2)
Re:Aspirational fitness is a safe market (Score:4, Interesting)
That's the problem. Peloton without a subscription is just a really expensive piece of exercise equipment. They may be nicer or better built than normal exercise equipment, but otherwise nothing special.
And it's obvious Peloton is basing their income not on nicely made exercise equipment, but on subscriptions. You can justify expensive equipment with "Made in the USA!" but Peloton is counting on subscriptions.
Subscription lapses are going to hurt big time because they're a key part of Peloton's success and income. Perhaps what Peloton needs to figure out is how to get their equipment transferred from one user to another as quickly as possible and to let their equipment change hands - it does no good to have unusued equipment lying around - they need subscriptions and if they can get their equipment from people who don't want it anymore to those who want it means subscription revenue.
I'm sure Peloton makes more money in a year's subscription than in profit making the equipment.
It's also why Peloton fought the CPSC so hard - because a "do not use" order means people are more likely to cancel subscriptions on their useless equipment. Recalls hurt, but if your main revenue stream of subscriptions halts because no one wants to pay for something they can't use, it hurts even more.
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I think the production facility in the US is just part of the marketing for this https://www.onepeloton.com/dig... [onepeloton.com] The Peloton Digital Membership costs $12.99 per month plus tax and accessories and apparel.
I own an elliptical trainer (cross trainer) pretty good all body workout but I could not imagine paying a subscription program to be told how to exercise.
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I know many people in NYC that pay $30+ for each individual class they take. Peloton is a bargain for them.
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As a side note: I'd agree they would be hurt but I remember my wife going to spin classes at the local gym and needing to get a ticket for the class. Why? The classes were full. So she and her friend would end up going a good 30-45 minutes early to
Intorvert rising (Score:4, Interesting)
This kind of reversal effect is not new. Take the baby boom for example: when the war ended and people stopped worrying, they fucked like rabbits. This is a know effect and it WILL happen when COVID-19 ends. If I was Peloton, I'd invest in camping equipment and build outdoorsy facilities instead.
I think the goal of the peloton is to fuck nicer looking rabbits. :)
However, I know many introverts who felt their deep desires validated by COVID. I know MIT PhDs who plan on never working in an office ever again or rarely setting foot in a restaurant...getting everything delivered, presumably rarely changing their underwear. We were already seeing trends of introverted behavior in young adults since smart phones became mainstream.
The difference between now and the 40s and 50s are that there are a million great things to do indoors. You can see new movies streaming...I think that trend will continue...even if it doesn't, you can stream a 6 month old movie without leaving the house, get every grocery delivered, etc. You can even get laid on various apps without leaving the house. About 95% of what you and I do can be done by someone without leaving the house with ease.
I love going outside, but half my cohort really really thrived with the pandemic. I think many of them are not going back to the old normal.
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However, I know many introverts who felt their deep desires validated by COVID. I know MIT PhDs who plan on never working in an office ever again or rarely setting foot in a restaurant...getting everything delivered, presumably rarely changing their underwear. We were already seeing trends of introverted behavior in young adults since smart phones became mainstream. The difference between now and the 40s and 50s are that there are a million great things to do indoors. You can see new movies streaming...I think that trend will continue...even if it doesn't, you can stream a 6 month old movie without leaving the house, get every grocery delivered, etc. You can even get laid on various apps without leaving the house. About 95% of what you and I do can be done by someone without leaving the house with ease. I love going outside, but half my cohort really really thrived with the pandemic. I think many of them are not going back to the old normal.
This is how you get Caves of Steel.
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I like real work (Score:2)
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Go outside (Score:3)
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It's much more fun and costs nothing.
That depends on your definition of "fun." It's only May, but it's 99% humidity outside right now, and it's going to top 80 F. Did I mention it's only May? Did I mention the mosquitoes? Did I mention the lack of bike lanes or sidewalks? In much of the U.S.A., there are maybe four months of the year with nice outdoor weather for exercise. The rest of the year it's either freezing cold or running in soup, and you're surrounded by idiots in cars, trucks, and SUVs who are distracted by their mobile phones.
Being
Re: Go outside--reviving a classic (Score:2)
You're new here, aren't you
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Not a great option for many people.
Imagine living in an apartment in a big city. If you want to go out to ride it will have to be on the road or on the pavement, which is risky and stressful either way. In the UK they are many places without good options for cyclists.
It also requires a bit more planning for routes and the like, and it can get boring where as at home you can watch TV or the screen built into the bike.
Finally Peloton has motivational stuff on the screen which people find helpful. Again, not e
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Obstacle Course (Score:4, Insightful)
That's what the sidewalks will look like in two years as overweight people swerve around abandoned Peletons with 'Free' signs tacked on them.
sounds about right (Score:2)
yeetee (Score:1)
Peloton (Score:1)
UNPOSSIBLE (Score:2)
I keed, I keed. Don't take it seriously, just a joke.