For me, $10 is my limit. I noticed an Atlanta club listed on TUSCL that has no reviews. I tought about making a trip there just to be the first reviewer. But cover charges were $15-25. I am not willing to pay that much for an unknown service.
It seems like a lot of ghetto clubs charge higher prices. They know that you are not gonna spend a lot after you get in because they really have nothing exciting to offer. So they get it when they can.
Anything more than $20 is too much for a cover charge. The most I've ever paid for a cover charge is $20, which was at Fuego in Maryland. That's my all-time favorite club thus far. They have $10, 2 way contact touch dances, so that helps justify the steep cover charge.
I'll find ways to bypass cover (ad cards / flyers, pull the police/fireman/military card, etc.).
Most I've done is some Deja Vu club's stupid $10 "entertainment fee" (that's with the $10 cover waived, so normally it would be $20).
I have paid $20 at the Mons Venus in Tampa - even during the day. That's worth it to me. But that might be be upper limit. Also, soda used to be free..there may be a small charge now.
Having said that - at some upscale clubs such as the Flight Club, with the valet parking, cover charge, and a tip for a booth (before I got knew better), I was well above $35 before I sat down.
I would be distressed to pay anything above $10 at places where they're marking up the drinks a lot. Unless the talent makes it EXTREMELY worthwhile, then $10-20 is a drop in the bucket on what I would end up spending on the girls.
I'm with shadowcat, $10 is the limit anymore. I'll stipulate that a given club might be worth more, but I'd have to be convinced. Unfortunately, an expensive cover means one of two things, IME. Either what's inside is also overpriced, or, as someone else pointed out, there's nothing worth anything at all inside, and the club wants to make sure they get something out of you.
The one exception I've made in recent years is the local Deja Vu club, where the $12 cover at least gets you unlimited soda pop and water. But I don't even go there very often.
@ george & shadow
I'm surprised to hear you guys say that $10 is your limit. You two must be day visitors. I know shadow is, which explains why he's not willing to pay anymore than $10 to get in. I don't know about where you live, but around here, day visits are always $5, no matter the club, because nobody goes during the day. Plus you usually get a free lunch along with it.
All I'm saying is, if you hit a club at night, especially if it's busy, you could easily pay $12 or even $15 just to get in, and I'm sure that's the case for the clubs in your area as well.
Some of the clubs in my area charge a $20 cover with no VIP charge and unlimited nonalcoholic drinks. It's steep, but actually I prefer that to the alternatives. With the I would rather pay a $20 cover than a $5 cover with drinks that cost $6+ each and a $10 VIP room fee. You actually come out ahead if you are staying a while.
I usually pay $0 cover because I do most of my clubbing in the afternoon. A cover of $10 is acceptable but $20 would be my limit. When I was in San Francisco last year, I passed on the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater because it had a $45 cover.
@GV: Not daytime, just spoiled. Even before the fucktard city council pricks stuck their fucking self-righteous noses where they weren't wanted, the most expensive local club was PTs, which used to be $15 on some special Friday and Saturday nights. Now they are $6-10. The best clubs (based on my own, morally questionable, standards), where I usually hang, had, and still have, no cover at all.
I'd say up to $10 represents no barrier. Up to $20 makes me stop to consider what I'll get insides. If it's Mons Venus, then I'm good to go. Anything above $20, and I gotta be really hard up with no other alternatives - e.g., as in Vegas.
Here in houston...i pay 6 before 7pm, then 15 after, then 20 after 12am.
Cover charge does not bother me. I just regard it as the cost for play, like buying a ticket to see my beloved Oilers lose another NHL game.
BUT, those fucking valet parking fees make me absolutely apoplectic!
@george
I guess clubs really do vary a lot from state to state, and I have a lot to learn from veterans like you who have been doing this a lot longer than I have. You aren't a day-time guy, and there are clubs in your area that have no cover charge at all? That's really surprising to me because every club I've been to, I've always had to pay a cover except for ONE club in my area where you can get in for free up until 7PM.
In my area, there are 7 clubs in a reasonable driving distance (30 minutes or less from my crib). Only 1 of 7 you can enter for free, no matter whether it's day or night. Around here, the only way you enter a club for free, is if they have a free admission coupon on their website and only the Paper Moon does and they put a limit on how many free admission coupons they accept per day.
I once went to Lollipop's (a ghetto club in Columbus now closed) to be the first to review it. They wanted $25 at the door so I said no thanks and went away. I think it was a BYOB club. The ghetto clubs in Columbus have a hard time getting their liquor licenses so they are BYOB and have higher cover charges.
I would be willing to spend $20 cover to maybe go to a famous place like Mons Venus but not to any Columbus strip club.
One club I don't like is Sirens here in Columbus. They charge a $10 cover at all times (even during the day at 11AM). It is sometimes dead inside with no dancers. They justify their $10 cover claiming they have free food (cheap gas station quality food like hot dogs, popcorn, chips, and mini-burgers).
$10 would be my limit, but since 99.9% of my Clubbing is done in the afternoon in the Detroit area I typically PAY $0.00!
I'm an afternoon patron because I don't wish to be driving to the Detroit area after the Sun sets. I want to LIVE a few more years. LOL
The free cover at some Detroit clubs can be deceiving because they do have mandatory valet parking at some clubs. $7 fee plus expected tip brings the "cover" to almost $10.
A mandatory valet is an expense I prepare for. By doing afternoon Clubbing I can eliminate one of the expenses of getting in the Club. If the chosen Club doesn't have a valet, well that is all the better.
You just have to factor in these added expenses like cover charges & be prepared for them. If a person is annoyed or pissed about the "extra" expenses, well that person may have to find a Club free of them or find a Club where the expenses are at an ABSOLUTE minimum!
cover under $5 is perfect and over $5 is fucking insane
I prefer $0 but I've seen paid a lot more. Generally if its more than $20 it better be a damn special show.
$20 is usually what I consider the upper limit on a reasonable cover, but...
I think it depends a lot on the club. A $20 cover with free beer on tap isn't a bad deal if you're going to drink. $15 is a rip off if the club (literally) next door has better dancers and only a $10 cover.
I could also accept a 'downtown' club in a big enough city having a higher cover becasue it's just more expenisve in the city compared to a rural club. However, at least where I live, city clubs tend to have lower covers but charge for alcohol.
Bottom line it all depends. If the mileage is good enough why sweat a fee bucks on cover?
I agree that $10 is a very reasonable limit. I also find that most of the better strip clubs (as opposed to Gentlemen's clubs) offer a small cover since they know you are going to spend a lot inside. Three of the most popular clubs on TUSCL are Baby Dolls in Dallas, Follies in Atlanta, and Platinum Plus in Columbia. All are good, high contact clubs, and all have $5 or less day cover. Anything higher should be a warning of possible ripoff. The one exception, as noted above, is Mons Venus which was $20 the last time I went. It is in a class by itself and the cover is warranted, given that the club derives virtually no income from drinks.
For an unknown club, $25 is the most I'll spend to get in. That includes parking, cover and tips to both. I typically go during the afternoon, so its not an issue. A lot of clubs here are free to enter during the day, or if they have someone at the door its a buck to get in.
I've spent $50 to walk in to the Rhino in Vegas and I don't see myself ever going back.
I look at the overall amount of money spent on a club visit vs. what I receive in return. One club I go to is has a $25 cover, is BYOB, and offers relatively high milage laps. Another club I go to has no cover, sells alcohol, and you need to pay for a VIP room to get similar milage. At the end of the visit, with similar time & milage, I end up spending pretty much the same amount of money. The way I see it, the clubs get their money one way or another.
I personally don't worry too much about cover, although I wish all of the Iowa BYOB places I visit would stop calling it a "parking fee" and call it a cover. If you have a group which comes in one vehicle, everyone has to pay it, and it's usually $20. I don't mind paying it for those places, since they can't make money on alcohol sales and I do wish for the continued existence of those places. Then again, in Iowa, those BYOB places aren't strip clubs, they're "theaters".
The highest I ever paid for a cover is $25 for the Admiral Theater in Chicago, the last time I ever went there. Now that is one experience I don't wish to repeat.
The clubs in Las Vegas have high cover charges $30-50 but often have some sort of way to waive the cover by calling the club for a limo ride over there.
I prefer to pay no more than $10. Back when The Penthouse Club opened in Detroit, I didn't mind paying it. One night I walked in around midnight and found they raised it to $15 later in the evening. I paid it as I wanted to talk to one babe that night. These days, I'll walk in to a place just before they institute the cover charge, if need be and hang tight until I spot a suitable babe. Mons is Mons, as noted before, they don't serve alcohol so they have to make money somehow. The $20 is more expensive than I want to pay, but I'll pay it to experience the "Mons Venus" experience.
Covers (door charges lol) bother me for some reason. Even though as has been said it's often a trivial amount compared to what I pay for drinks, lap dances, and sometimes a champagne room fee.
$10-15 is OK if it's a top tier club with plenty 'o hotties and I know I'll stay awhile. As was also mentioned if it's BYOB I don't mind paying $20 again if I'm going stay awhile and have a few.
Most I've paid is $30, more times than I care to in Vegas. Again, small amount of what I spend overall but it bothers me. I think the reason is that 10+ years ago at OG cover was $15 but included two drinks. And OG was more fun back then. I almost always drive or have a stripper friend drop me off. While OG and Spearmint Rhino used to still charge me $30 as an out of towner regardless recently they've backed it off to $20. One newbie door girl at OG asked for $30 awhile back and when I began to squawk she rapidly backed it off to $20.
My main club here I bought the membership and continue to renew. Haven't paid a cover in years.
@GV: "You aren't a day-time guy, and there are clubs in your area that have no cover charge at all?"
I'm not exclusively a day-time guy. I'm a diurnal, nocturnal and crepuscular pervert...
Most of the local clubs are no cover. I can think of four off the top of my head that charge a cover. Two are mostly worth it, PTs and Trixie's. Two others, Godfather II and Deja Vu, have not demonstrated, lately, that they are worth more than an occasional, i.e. once or twice a year just to see what's changed, visit. All but Deja Vu are under $10, even on a Friday or Saturday (special events, e.g. Derby, Farmers, basketball tournaments, etc, notwithstanding).
$10-15 if I know what I am getting. Time of day is also a factor. Christie's in Tempe/Phoenix charge $7 to get in during the day when just about every other club in PHX doesn't have one (there are 1-2 exceptions).
It would depend on the club and location. TX clubs routinely charge more than AZ clubs, but IMO are worth it. Cover charge does not bother me. It is a cost of the eveneing.
I don't go clubbing to save money, I go to have a good time.
I toss together the cover and any required drinks. If the combined cost is $20 or more I am thinking about elsewhere.
$10 is the most I would pay but I've never paid a cover. My friend used to sell cars to the club owner who gave him (and by friendship, me) free passes. Then my fave gave me about 50 free passes I use there or another club I visit (since they honor competitor passes). I refuse to pay cover on principle.
Being the cheap pr#ck that I am - I refuse to pay cover to any SC....Most of the time - I'll find my way in, talk my way in, whatever - but I won't do it....Clearly, it's me....