Are $10 Lappers a "Good Deal"?

avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
Miami, FL (or the nearest big-booty club)

I would venture to say most custies would feel it's a good deal.

But I am wondering if it's a good deal for dancers?

I would think most dancers would scuff at $10 lappers right off the bat? But I wonder given the way business/economics works; if dancers may perhaps actually make more via $10 lappers?

As has been discussed in various threads w.r.t. the current state of SCs – I wonder if $10 lappers would boost the SC scene and also allow dancers to actually make more $$$?

I've read various reviews of clubs which have $30 and even $40 lappers and the reviewer stating he passed on the lappers or just got one lapper and also witnessing most PLs at the SC just chilling and not buying lappers presumably b/c of the high cost.

I've also read reviews of clubs with $10 lappers where the reviewer was more apt to buy LDs from various dancers b/c of the low entry point.

I also believe just as expensive lappers ($20, $30; $40) will serve to chill a custie's desire to take the LD plunge; $10 lappers may serve to warm him up and thus get him to keep on buying b/c he got warmed up (turned on)?

Thoughts?

44 comments

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avatar for SlickSpic
SlickSpic
11 years ago
$10 lappers are a great introduction for sc novices. They get to see and feel what a dancer is capable of. From there, they can proceed to more expensive options.

For us weekly cats, I think that $10 lappers are great, too. We'll keep spending money because if the deal you get. I think that for us cats that look for ITC, then OTC possibilities, that $10 lappers are great. Why waste money on a couple of $20-$40 dances then head into the VIP when you can get $10 dances then VIP.

For the dancers themselves, I feel that $10 lappers are great. They're making money and building up clientele at the same time. Win-Win for everyone.
avatar for GoVikings
GoVikings
11 years ago
I think they're a great deal.

The last time I clubbed, I bought 5, $10 dances from the same dancer. I didn't bother opting for the more expensive dances because the $10 dances at this particular club are good mileage considering that you're only paying 10 bucks per dance

Also, at most of the other clubs I've been to that offer $10 dances, the mileage has been good. Like Follies in Atlanta, and Fuego in Maryland, etc. But I have been to a club where the 10 dollar dances sucked, so it's not always a good value. But in my experience, most of the time it is.

I can't comment on whether it's a good deal for the dancers, because I have no idea how much they get to keep and how much has to be given to the club
avatar for sharkhunter
sharkhunter
11 years ago
I used to get $10 one way contact table dances all the time at one club. Management changed and the dancers said those dances were restricted. They are like half air, half minor contact. I never buy table dances anymore. I think what management doesn't realize, a lot of customers spend more if the price is lower and they might get warmed up enough to want regular lap dances. I used to spend $40 to $60 on table dances. Now I occassionally spend $25 on the two for one if the right dancer comes along during the announced two for one song time. Once every few months I hit things off well and spend $50 by getting another 2 for one. I'm not going to buy half air half light contact dances unless the girl is super hot or a 10 or completely nude.
avatar for sharkhunter
sharkhunter
11 years ago
The clubs regular dance price is too high for most wanting lap dances.
avatar for ime
ime
11 years ago
$10 lappers at Follie's are better than most VIP or CR i have been in at other clubs
avatar for jack0505
jack0505
11 years ago
Depending on the club. A place where there are plenty of customers paying $20 and the lap dance spaces are full, having $10 dances probably won't help. Other places, where the strippers are not doing many dances anyway, then $10 might increase volume to lead to more profit.
avatar for dallas702
dallas702
11 years ago
Personal opinion only: at any price a lapper is only a bargain IF you are getting a good or better dance for a great price. I have had $10 lap dances that were total rip offs. I have also had fantastic lap dances from a $1 dance, tip parade. A $10 lapper could be a bargain but, as others have said, the price is probably better for the club than the customer.
avatar for lopaw
lopaw
11 years ago
Sadly most dancers are lazy and want to do as little as possible for as much $$$ as possible. Just mention dropping dance prices to $10 in some clubs and the dancers will bite your head off. They don't understand basic economics and supply/demand so they can't wrap their little brains around the fact that if dance prices were lower, more people would buy them, so they'd make more money in the long run. All they think is "I'd have to do more lapdances that way!". Dumb as a bag of hammers.
avatar for samsung1
samsung1
11 years ago
Akron Ohio has $5 dances at most clubs
avatar for BagBoyJames
BagBoyJames
11 years ago
It's ok but full sex $5 is better
avatar for carl95
carl95
11 years ago
Basically they have $10 dances at the club I normally go to. Day shift dances are 2 for 1 $20 topless, $40 full nude. So topless is $10 a song but you have to get 2 songs.
avatar for Estafador
Estafador
11 years ago
It definitely makes them work hatder for sure. And if they get denied their dances, especially after the first dance, then they can most definetely tell its a problem on their end and not your own. And if they actually work hard, within an hour they can easily bank 300. I feel its a good experience for those that are doing poorly and must resort to extras if need be. On the flip side, the experienced hustler dancer who knows how to really bring in the bacon within the night, will lose out because either now their supurb dances must go above and beyond their usual Grade A or the hustle without the bustle just won't work anymore.

It evens out the playing field but makes it a bit unfair for those 10 dancers who did excellent without it and now lose money. Of course there's variables like whales and such but you understand the general conception. This is for the dancers point of view. No need to discuss the patron point of view since cheaper is alwYs better. Am I right fellas (for lap dances I mean)
avatar for jester214
jester214
11 years ago
Are they a good deal? Sure, especially compared to $40 lap dances.

Are they a good deal for dancers? They are unless she can sell more expensive ones instead. Most of the time that's not the case.

avatar for Club_Goer_Seattle
Club_Goer_Seattle
11 years ago
@ Slick and GoV: Allow me to add to your comments. I've only had one strip club conveniently available to me in my club-going career that had $10. dances--The Strip Joint, in Pomona, CA. (Slick, you should try it sometime.) They have $10. bikini dances in a very dark area. A lot of dancers get away with more, though.

As for what affects dancers: At the "Joint" they get to keep all of the $10. for each dance. The club, only collects a cut of their dances in the VIP. As a customer, I was far more likely to get a lot of dances there, because when a dancer would ask if I'd want another, I'd think, "It's only another $10. Yeah, go ahead, I'll do one more." And often more after that. (Not $20, $30, or $40 as in other clubs), so I'd often get more dances that because of that price structure.

In the RTRCs for the Strip Joint, I recognize names of at least three dancers who have been at that club for ten years, now.
avatar for jackslash
jackslash
11 years ago
In the Detroit area, Bogart's has $10 dances on Tuesdays. I've stopped in a few times looking for a bargain, but the girls were not a bargain at any price. I looked and left and went down the street to the Flight Club, where I paid $25 for dances with hot girls.
avatar for kittykate
kittykate
11 years ago
I like the $10 dance, usually. I think I discussed this in another posting and people got mad. But they are easy to sell and are usually shorter songs. For some reason, it's harder to sell 2 $20 dances than 5 $10 dances. I don't know why. But guys always think they are getting a great deal with the $10 dance. And that makes my job easier!!
avatar for DandyDan
DandyDan
11 years ago
For the dancer, it probably entirely depends on how much they get to keep of the $10. But not that many places have $10 lap dances, and those that do are probably at the low end of the strip club scale. I do know that at 2 of the 3 places I've been to that have them, they keep all of it, and I assume they do at the 3rd place as well. But they are all done out in the open and the girls probably view it as an appetizer for the VIP room or perhaps OTC.
avatar for jestrite50
jestrite50
11 years ago
At local clubs in the Akron Canton Ohio area where they offer $5 barside Lappers on the barstools ($5 a song) some girls are making $400 a day and get to keep it all. One girl told me she makes better money than when she worked in a "so called Gentleman's Club" where they charge $20 a song. There she was happy to make $100-$200 a day. Also clubs that offer $1.00 dances seem to do well for the ladies. If they do a good $1.00 dance they can up sell the guy to VIP. Its all about customer satisfaction.
avatar for snowtime
snowtime
11 years ago
When I first visited Platinum plus in Columbia,SC. several years ago, most dancers offered 2 for $20 lap dances. At effectively $10 per dance the lapdance room was always full and the dancers were making very good money. For some reason, about a year ago, they raised the prices to $20-$40 each. Ever since, the club has seen a distinct drop off in business. Also the quality of dancer has declined since the dancers don't make near as much money as before. Hopefully they will realize the foolishness of the price increase.
At Follies in Atlanta, the dances are still $10 and the place is always full. The attractive dancers at Follies can do as many dances as they want since the demand is always there. At any given time in the club there are 10 or more girls giving lap dances.
Simple ecomomics 101.
avatar for Joe from NJ
Joe from NJ
11 years ago
There are 2 clubs that I frequent that have $10 dances.

The Inner Room in Coco Beach FL is always $10. The girls are very busy and they say that them make more money than at the clubs a few miles away which charges $20. Inner Room is in the top 20 clubs on TUSCL top club list. So it's confirmed to be a good buy.

The other $10 club is Cheetahs in LV. During the days it's $10 a dance (they say $20 for 2, but most will do $10 for 1.) A great value for LV.
avatar for Joe from NJ
Joe from NJ
11 years ago
I'll correct myself, I just looked. It is #6 in overall and #2 in value.
avatar for SlickSpic
SlickSpic
11 years ago
After getting $10 lappers, I follow that up with a $5 foot long and dub sack.
avatar for motorhead
motorhead
11 years ago
Papi, you are right

Anyone who has ever taken an introductory class in managerial accounting understands the concept of capacity utilization. However, there are two problems.

(1). Capacity utilization is difficult to measure in a service organization

(2). Most dancers would say, "what is managerial accounting"?
avatar for rickdugan
rickdugan
11 years ago
Until a recent trip to Cleveland, it had been a couple of years since I saw $10 LDs and I'll admit that I'm much more tempted at $10 than at 20+. For the first time in quite a while I actually purchased a few.

From the dancer's perspective, it is hard to say how good a deal it is. She has to do twice as many dances as the number of $20 dances that she could otherwise sell just to make the same money, so I guess it all depends upon her particular circumstances (area, club, her personal sales skills, etc.). I can tell you that most dancers I deal with would lose their minds if they were told that they had to sell LDs for $10.
avatar for Estafador
Estafador
11 years ago
Don't come anywhere in ny for that shizzle
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
11 years ago
I pretty much have to echo what snowtime said. I used to drive 240 miles to the Columbia Platinum Plus, once a month, and stay 2 nights. Now I only know a couple of dancers there that will still do 2 for $30. So I have reduced my road trips to only when I need a change of scenery.

Follies is definitely where it is happening. It is obvious by the number of reviews that it gets.
avatar for rickdugan
rickdugan
11 years ago
@esta: Ain't that the truth. Though I will say that most NY clubs have kept the price at $20 for quite a long time now, which is surprising in and of itself. In a number of places that I have been frequenting more recently, LDs run at $25 and $30 and I've been in places where they are sold for a ridiculous $40. Why deep south clubs in depressed areas put such a premium on them while NYC clubs sell them for $20 I'll never know, but there it is.
avatar for Dolfan
Dolfan
11 years ago
Is it a good deal for dancers? For most (90%+), yes. Assuming the club takes $5 of the $25 and $0 of the $10, there are a only few dancers in most clubs that will take less than a 50% hit in utilization at the higher price point. Even in those cases where the hit is 50% or marginally higher, I'd be willing to wager the opportunity to upsell CR's or similar more than compensates.

My experience tends to align with this. The SR nearby tried to do away with its $10 dances and move to $25 during the day shift. It turned into a ghost town in there almost overnight. A few weeks later they moved to $15 and its still hasn't recovered - a year later. I'm not 100% it wasn't just a loss in its competitive edge that stopped bringing in customers, but all the girls said they made much less and most left in short order. They still have $10 dances one day a week. It usually the busiest day/night of the week, and usually has the best girls. Comparing it to Sunday nights, when prices are $25 and they have the advantage of other clubs being closed I know I spend more when I go on Tuesdays than I do on Sundays - and Sundays are happy hour drinks all night. If I'm spending more overall, and less on drinks - the girls have to be making more.

Down the street a dive, they still do $10 daytime dances till somewhere between 4-6. After whatever time that is, girls won't even bother asking for a dance. They all make 99% of their money on the $10 dances and CR's. They're obviously not the top notch girls though.

avatar for inno123
inno123
11 years ago
The thing about $10 dances is that they are easy to sell, which means that the dancer can spend a greater percentage of her time earning. Sure a $40 dance will make her more money, but if it she has to spend several more songs working several guys to hustle one she has earned less money. When dances cost $40 guys tend to sit on their hands until the management offers a special, and the dancers usually take a lower cut of that anyway. With a $10 dance there is rarely ever a need to offer a special.

$10 dances are economical to the dancers if they sell a lot of them quickly and use them as a tease to upsell to the more expensive dances or to get tips.
avatar for inno123
inno123
11 years ago
Frankly I am advising a owner opening a new club that has to build a clientele in an established market. My recommendation is to offer a $10 'Sample Dance' (one song, topless only, light contact only) and then to offer a coupon for a 'Free Sample' with each paid admission. There would be no other specials offered by the club at all (but dancers could make their own deals). The goal of course is that at the end of the sample dance the dancer will have the guy in the right place to sell the 'real' dance. The plan would be to have the dancer's profit from the sample dance be low but her profit from the 'real' dance be much higher.
avatar for Gucci_Mane
Gucci_Mane
11 years ago
$5
avatar for Rod8432
Rod8432
11 years ago
$10 lappers do seem to hit a sweet spot between too cheap and too expensive. It doesn't represent an entry barrier for that first dance, but it does put some significant dollars into the g-string of the dancer.

In an hour's time, there's roughly room for 20 songs at ~3 minutes per. At best, if a dancer moved from song to song, she could make $200 gross at $10/song. Of course, figure a third of that period is downtime in reality, even for the best dancer, so the take goes down to ~$130.

At $20/per, if the frequency of dances held up, she'd double her money, but we all know that's not the case. I definitely think about that $20 more, and once in, get fewer dances. It easily cuts my # in half, so if that roughly holds for others, then the girl's dancing less, but presumably making about the same money.

BUT, that's assuming customers are even there. At my favorite Atl club, the place is jammed every single day in the afternoon, because the $10 LDs are so good. We all know a bargain, so we're there in spades. AT $20, far fewer of us would make the effort, and we'd spend less once there. So really, the dancer's take goes down two counts - fewer customers and fewer dollars/customer for the ones who are there. Plus the club is not entry fees and selling drinks (supposedly the highest profit item) to the guys who aren't there.

So, it seems to me, maybe high-traffic places like Vegas could haul guys in anyway, but most clubs hurt themselves with higher LD prices (just as with high door prices). The goal is to get us in the door, and there's no better way for a SC to do that, than to give us the one thing we want for a killer price - nude grinding girls. They can save the free buffet, for all I care. I don't drive an hour one way for the food, the drinks, or the ambiance.
avatar for Player11
Player11
11 years ago
I really like clubs that have $10 lappers. Imperial theatre on Anaheim is one. The girls are Hott - a lot of them are cheerleaders at local colleges. Had a young blonde housewife cutie 21 OTC for 200 at my motel room a couple notes im row.
avatar for motorhead
motorhead
11 years ago
The price at the Hip Hugger in Kokomo, IN is $10.
No tiered pricing. Everything is $10

But it is kind of a unique club. No DJ / no tip out.

Dancer keeps the entire ten bucks. No house cut. No house rent. Dancers love zero payouts. They drive from as far away as Columbus Ohio and Chicago to work weekends.

This model - the $10 dance works.
avatar for SuperDude
SuperDude
11 years ago
Would a dancer prefer no dances at $25-30 each or 4 dances at $10.00 each. If a customer sees the first or second dances as just warm-ups, then $50.00 takes care of that part of the LD. Is there more money after that. Probably not. So why pay $50.00 for warm-up dances. If the goal is 5 or 6 dances, then $10.00 each makes sense to the customer because that might cover warm-up to happy ending.
avatar for Clackport
Clackport
11 years ago
I can tell you I would be getting a LOT more dances if dances were 10 bucks in my area.
avatar for sharkhunter
sharkhunter
11 years ago
I don't think it would be very hard at all to get a measure of capacity utilization in a strip club and other financial numbers if a manager was on top of things. Just take a count every 15 minutes of vacant to used couches in the lap dance room or rooms. You could even do estimates every half hour during a study for approximate vacant seats in a club or vacant tables to used tables. You could collect data on beer sales by day and even by type of beer, etc. After collecting data and looking at the results, you notice the lap dance rooms are mostly empty except for announced two for ones and that beer sales are low except when a special runs or that the club is packed full but no one s buying dances, you could raise cover charges but drop beer prices across the board a little bit but enough to be noticed. You could allow dancers to offer two for ones anytime if a customer doesn't want to pay the regular price.

I predict capacity of the lap dance room would skyrocket, cover charges income would jump if the club was a popular destination, beer sales would jump with customers thinking they are getting a better deal. I would have to monitor drink prices to total sales to see if that paid off, possibly without changing other variables.

Of course if your goal is to maximize utilization of the lap dance room and increase profits on drinks and cover charges, you would have to factor in how much sooner chairs and sofas need to be replaced to keep customers happy.
avatar for Corvus
Corvus
11 years ago
Nearly every club I frequent offers $10 lap dances on the main floor, even Bourbon Street Circus in Phoenix. Sometimes the girls push hard for the $20 dances in VIP, but $10 dances are available. That is also the standard price in most/many clubs in Tucson and Albuquerque as well.

Unless I find a new potential favorite girl I'll get $10 dances all night long.
avatar for sharkhunter
sharkhunter
11 years ago
If I was managing a strip club and customers couldn't get lap dances because there wasn't any room left in the lap dance area and this was routine, then a slight price increase in lap dances or better yet, another lap dance area would be good. This is assuming either a club is getting a cut in the dances or a cut in the number of dancers working in a club. More customers buying dances allows more dancers to work in a club, if the club is big enough. Usually more customers is better for business I would think, up to a point.

If customers aren't buying drinks because the waitresses are super slow or not getting dances because the prices are too high, that can be fixed.
avatar for chandler
chandler
11 years ago
Here's where $10 high mileage dances are not a good deal: If you care about hot young dancers staying at the club for longer than a few weeks. Burnout happens. They get sick of cheap fuckwads expecting to finger them for only one or two $10 songs. For that level of mileage, a lot of girls would probably rather do fewer dances at $20-25.

At my regular club, many of the hottest girls have left in recent weeks. The ones who remain tend to be older, skankier, not such a good deal even at $10.
avatar for ilbbaicnl
ilbbaicnl
11 years ago
Lap dances should be sold by the minute, not by the song. During peak times, dancers lose a lot of money waiting for a new song to start. The custy should pay the club either $1 or $2 per minute of lap dancing, or a flat fee that's good for the whole evening. Lap dances should be prepaid, the dancer should set her own prices. The dancers would be happier, and the it would be a big step in turning the fiction of dancers not being legally employees into fact.
avatar for Estafador
Estafador
11 years ago
@Rickdugun By goodness are you serious there ol' boy? And hear I bitch about NY so much. Like they always say, somebody always have it worse than you. At least NY is consistent. I'm still gonna be on the lookout for dives btw.
avatar for LeeH
LeeH
11 years ago
Didn't read every last comment, so apologies if this is a re-run. As has been said before, $10 per is a good entry price, so I am much more apt to gamble that it might suck.

But here's the additional thing for me that's advantageous to the dancer: if she's good, the little head starts doing the thinking and I'll get more than one (in a row) from her.
avatar for SlickSpic
SlickSpic
11 years ago
I want this to coincide with the songs getting shorter. If the clubs shorten the songs too much, then the price should also drop. $10 lappers for 1-2 minute songs.
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