Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Some questions are hard to answer, but that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s fun to try to find answers anyway.
This week, Ashkahn and Graham tackle the question, “How many float centers are there in the USA?” While the amount is constantly changing, their attempt to pin down a number opens up a fun discussion about the recent growth of the float industry.
Show Resources
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: So, today’s question is, how many float centers are there in the country? Which I assume, means the United States.
Ashkahn: I feel like pretty much all our episodes start off with us saying that we really don’t actually have a good idea of what we’re talking about.
Graham: I mean, all of our episodes so far have started that way.
Ashkahn: So, we don’t really know. We don’t really know how many float centers there are. I guess, first thing we should clarify is what counts as a float center?
Graham: Also, nor does anyone.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: It’s not just us, I actually think there’s not a single person that could give you a totally accurate count of float centers in the United States.
Ashkahn: Maybe the government, you know?
Graham: Definitely not the government, there’s ten, there’s ten float centers out there.
Ashkahn: So, what counts as a float center, I think is the first thing we need to answer for this.
Graham: I would say anything that’s open, available commercially to the public, right? If it’s a float tank in someone’s house, that doesn’t count unless they’re also running paid floats out of there.
Ashkahn: So, maybe we should just say our best guesses at the same time.
Graham: Okay.
Ashkahn: You ready? One,
Graham: Two,
Ashkahn: Three … 350.
Graham: 500.
Ashkahn: 500?
Graham: Oh no, sorry, I was thinking of the U.S. and Canada, I was thinking of U.S. and Canada. I was thinking of U.S. and Canada. Okay, ready to do it again for realsies this time?
Ashkahn: Okay. One, two, three.
Graham: 483.
Ashkahn: 83? You think there’s 13 float centers in Canada?
Graham: Sorry. I wanted to say 383, I just got excited. It think there’s above 350. I think there’s somewhere …
Ashkahn: Like, 400.
Graham: 383 is my guess.
Ashkahn: 383, okay. Yeah, 350 to 400 is my best guess. But I don’t know, I mean it’s …
Graham: I did a really bad job there of the guessing game. Immediately forget what we were guessing about. Okay, bringing it back in.
Ashkahn: I mean, it’s hard to know what these numbers are from the past, as well. When we started up in 2010, I had the feeling that there was like 80 places across the U.S., maybe a 100. But a lot of those, when you actually looked at them, were a float tank that was a part of a much bigger spa, or a float tank in someone’s apartment. Or when you’re actually thinking of a business on a retail street that has four, a number of float tanks, stuff like that. There was just a small handful back then.
Graham: When we opened in 2010, we do know the number of 4-tank centers that there were in the United States, and it was nothing bigger than that. In the U.S., right? So there was four, 4-tank centers, is that right?
Ashkahn: Um so, there was us, there was …
Graham: Use the word know loosely here.
Ashkahn: Kinda know. Maybe I’ll count off and we can take our guesses at the same time.
Graham: 383.
Ashkahn: There was TrueRest, there was iFloat in Connecticut, and Space Time.
Graham: And then we opened up.
Ashkahn: Yep.
Graham: And so yeah, when we popped up, we were the fourth 4-tank center.
Ashkahn: I believe so.
Graham: And the other two had only opened within a year prior to us. So if you were taking 2008 numbers, then that would be only be Space Time tanks that had four tanks.
Ashkahn: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Graham: So, fast forward to now, I still have no idea how many four tank centers there are.
Ashkahn: No, it’s hard to count now.
Graham: But it doesn’t take a lot to realize that there are a lot. I mean, they’re popping up all over the place, and much bigger centers too. Six tanks, seven tanks, eight tanks.
Ashkahn: 11 tanks.
Graham: Yeah, they’re getting really big. And that number I think, is almost more interesting to look at too. If you look at the industry report from Float Tank Solutions, you’ll see from 2016, that that number of new centers who want to start with more tanks is only going up too. It’s kind of turning from what may be used to be more of this cottage enterprise with a tank and a spa or a tank in a house, and we’re counting those as float centers too. Now, if you’re opening a float center, it means you’re opening a three to six tank kind of big deal, and oftentimes five or six tanks too.
Ashkahn: Yeah, even just like depending on when you’re listening to this episode, if it’s been a year since we recorded this, these numbers are probably wrong at this point. Everything’s growing at a really tremendous rate. It’s hard to keep up and really have a good finger on the pulse when everything’s changing so quickly.
Graham: All right guys, hope you enjoyed our meandering through today’s question and we’ll see you tomorrow.
Ashkahn: Chicka boom.
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Latest Blog Posts
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Opening up a float center is a lot like climbing a mountain. Even if you can see the peak, it’s a lot further away than you think, and when you finally get there, the journey and the destination usually end up being different than previously assumed.
In this post we’ll lay out a general process and timeline of what you may encounter on your path, from initial idea to actually operating a center.
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So you’re thinking about using volunteers in your float center?
Before we clarify what a “volunteer” actually means, we’ll first explore why a float center might be considering them in the first place. While it can be a way to provide floats to people who are otherwise unable to pay, the impulse to bring in volunteers can also stem from a desire to get some sort of free labor (later in this post we’ll dive into why you can’t actually do this, but it’s important to recognize that the instinct is understandable, especially when you have someone lined up and willing to work for free).
In addition to a desired boost in overall productivity, it’s also a way to invite more people into your center to experience what you do. Some customers actually want to help out and see what happens behind the scenes at a center.
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One of the beautiful things about the float tank is that it serves to rejuvenate the whole person. — the body, mind, heart.
Broadly speaking, it’s a tool for homeostasis, an ideal environment that supports balance, health, and growth. This piece will look specifically at floating and athletics. For anyone who defines themselves as an athlete, or as a general pursuant of athletic endeavors, the float tank can be a powerful asset.
In this post, I’ll discuss individual athletes who float and how to look at this from a marketing perspective. I’ll also discuss past and present research, and share some thoughts on how the relationship between the athletic and floating communities might continue to unfold.
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I think it’s time we addressed the giant metaphorical elephant in the salty metaphorical room — there are lots of exaggerated and untrue claims about the benefits of floating being spread around the industry.
Some are anecdotal, some are only half true, and some are just patently false. Floating has historically had a strong oral tradition tied to it — the practice has survived through word-of-mouth, one passionate floater teaching another everything they know. The unfortunate thing about this is that the information disseminated can’t be reliably tested or shared with others on a broader scale. You can’t use “my buddy Chris” as a source for a health benefit of float tanks in a newspaper article, much less for a research paper.
Now that we’re becoming a bit more mainstream, we thought it would be nice to add some clarity to what we should and shouldn’t be telling people about these difficult-to-understand, saliferous containers.
