You must not be very business minded. No offense, but that is not the reason for being a specialist. Specialists need to compete with other specialists if they want to strive above one another just like anything else unless you only want to work 2 hours a day and just get by. One specialist could charge significantly lower prices then all the other specialists and choose to work harder. In return he or she will have a higher income, more clients and perhaps he/she will be able to higher specialists as employees and start his/her own business. Apart from that she will be helping a lot of people and create lots of value. I think the demand is pretty high for chess coaches, but not to pay $50 an hour or more. I think there is a lot of room for improvement in the marketplace which will evolve over time.
I think you answered your own concern. One specialist "could" charge less and work harder. But do you see that happening? Your concern seems to be that many coaches charge too much and work too few hours. But that is the point of being a specialist. Candidate35 is right, there isn't much point in complaining about what others charge. If you think it's "insane" then either go somewhere else or start your own chess coaching business and charge less than everyone else. Afterall, you say there is plenty of demand for chess coaches, just not at the price you consider sane. I know where I am there is almost zero demand for chess coaches. I helped teach a chess class at our primary school, with a total (for the whole school) of 23 students. Out of those 23, one had parents with a desire to hire a chess coach. We are not talking about tennis or golf (I'm trying to help SilentKnight steer the analogies to golf). Demand for chess coaches is low, which is why prices are so low. If you think they should be even lower, you are going to have to figure out a way to do something with the existing demand.
... I think the demand is pretty high for chess coaches, but not to pay $50 an hour or more. I think there is a lot of room for improvement in the marketplace which will evolve over time.
If you are correct, high demand will tend to drive rates up, in general. If a coach sets a rate and doesn't change it, then apparently they have found the correct level for themselves or at least one that provides what they want.
There are already coaches all over the price spectrum. If I was of master+ strength, there is no chance I would charge less than $20/hour and that is if I was just trying to supplement my income. If I had to replace it, I would charge more to cover other associated costs.
$20 an hour is respectable, but there are lots of coaches in the coaching section... (most of them) charge $50 - $150 an hour... It's insane.
My coach charges $65/Hour. Some think that is ridiculous, but it works for me. And its my money :-)