Lap dance prices are not keeping up with inflation.

"First, there are more and prettier dancers now"

There are those that would disagree about looks.

Lap dances in my area have generally risen from $20 to $25 with the house getting a $5 cut – I have not noticed any club lower its LD prices.

IDK if the extra $5 being passed on to the PLs only goes into the club’s pockets or if it somehow subsidizes dancers’ costs/tip-outs (i.e. tip-outs for dancers being less by way of the $5 PL tax)?

^ btw – my area is Miami, FL

And the problem with this is?

The dancer market is glutted. Too many dancers for a declining base of regulars. The classic free market model is at work, with the supply and demand dynamic, keeping prices low. Younger guys are in clubs just to look. Older guys, retirees and seniors, know how to let dancers know that they will pay only so much.

Guys having less disposable income due to: tax increase (January 2013), many employers are not giving COLA's, the cost of goods is rising, and get ready for health insurance premiums to go up (January 2014). Any club raising dance prices is fucking dumb.

With an atrocious job market for young people, even the ones who went to college, there is no shortage of dancers. The smart ones will work for a little less or give volume discounts to stay relevant because the competition is so cutthroat. Turnover is high according to people in the industry.

I have been to a few clubs recently on the hot nights, Fridays and Saturdays, and was shocked how empty they were. Furthermore, the guys who were in attendance were not spending much money. I remember back around 2007, it was common to see PL's getting into bidding wars at the stage over dancers.

It all depends on the club but it is more common in Ohio to pay a house fee everyday they work and not pay any cut to the house on LDs.
IE my ATF pays her club $30 a day to work there and she keeps all the money she makes on LDs. She only cuts in the club on VIP's and Champaign Rooms.
That way it saves the club from having to monitor and track LD's and gives the girl the ability to set/negotiate her own prices. The downside of this is on a bad night she may just break even or owe the club for working. Last night there were so many girls working she didn't make a dime and believe me she is good and she hustles. Other nights she makes $200-$400 a day (tax free).

Tax free until the IRS catches up perhaps.

If you adjust for 3% inflation, a $20 dance today would have cost you $12 dance in 1999. Or if dances had kept up with inflation then a $20 dance from 1999 should cost $31.50 today.

That's the odd thing about my regular clubs. They all charge a set fee and yet that fee hasn't changed in a long time at any of them. One of my regular clubs experimented with a $30 lap dance price for a little bit and it nearly drove them out of business. Considering there is less demand than there used to be, I suspect prices may remain the same for some time. But inflation will ultimately make them cheaper than they are in real dollars.

Overall, it is great for the customers. For the dancers it means they will have to work more than 2 days a week to make ends meet.

Gee, how awful for them.

How does a dancer know what dancers really made 15 years ago? If she was in the business back then, she's bound to make less due to depreciation of her physical condition.

In the Twin Cities, just about every club charges $20 for a personal lance whether it's a glamorous air-dance at the high end alcohol-serving clubs or a grinding lap per at the juice bar. And it's been that way since the Super Bowl was played here in 1991 (when those.prices went up from $10 a dance). My theory is that they won't jump again until the market can bear $40 per dance simply because of the denominations of bills we carry in our wallets. It's easy for everyone involved to keep track .

Just a few days ago I also was calculating the per-minute rate of strip clubs. Most clubs here hold songs to 21/2 to three minutes, which means for $20 you're paying $7 or $8 per minute. You can get off with online models at a cam show for $2 or $3 per minute with really hot girls charging up to $5 per minute. The trade of, however, is a no tactile experience.

I have to believe with this new sex trade market force, you're not going to see a rise in strip club prices any time soon.

$20 topless and $30-$40 nude seem to be standard over here in Cali for years.

@VH-I remember Cityvibe being out in the late nineties. That might be the first escort site. Not sure.

The fees that the girls pay seem to be going up too. Some clubs in Michigan now charge the dancer $8 on a $20 dance, up from $5. And all those late fees, missed stage fees, out-of-uniform fees, etc were either lower or not there 20 years ago.

For the past 6 years the economy has been in the toilet. Until that changes, clubs are going to be hard pressed to increase the prices of anything. They have also been incentivized to relax their hiring standards in order to scoop up house fees. Until the economy improves significantly, in terms of unemployment, the % of the population actually in the work force and real wages, I suspect that this state of affairs will continue.

Dance prices have gone up in my area. I used to easily get two for twenty. Now it's two for $30 and some dancers ask for more. I do not see that many young and pretty dancers. Maybe they got regular jobs. I see a bunch of overweight dancers or very thin flat dancers or girls with tons of tattoos. I do not see any improvement. I am spending less but it's not as fun either.

My pay hasn't kept up with inflation either. You're lucky if yours has.

I've been a stripper for a while and I think anyone in the industry would agree that strippers make a lot less than they did a decade ago. The industry has changed dramatically. With the internet, men can see naked women any time they want and can usually find prostitutes with minimal risk (through vouch/referral based sites). There is still a market for strip clubs, but not as big a market. This is coupled with clubs squeezing every penny they can out of dancers with higher fees and tip outs and bigger cuts. Lap dances in my area have been almost universally $20, of which we get $10. Obviously, I still love it and find it worth the time, but no one is going to get rich stripping. It's definitely still a fun and lucrative part time job for a young woman though.

Michelle, you should move to Detroit. Dancers keep $12 to $15 depending on the club. But I'm told tipouts and fees are high compared to the rest of the country.

@gerner:
"there are more and prettier dancers now"...
Lucky for you. Most of the places I frequent the talent is way down form a few years ago.

"prices for dances ..."
Supply and demand. If demand is down, prices should adjust down, basic economics. Selling a few $20 dances is better then selling NO $40 dances.

"economy doing ok"
Debatable... but I think disposable income is generally down even for people who have a job, everything else in life has been costing more, so less throw away money for clubbing.

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Excellent points by sinclar. One club in my are has half or fewer customer Fri/Sat nights then just 2-3 years ago.

From my observations, many services and products haven't changed much. An 1/8th still costs the same as it did in '96. Same with the usual hour with an escort. Same with the prices I've paid ITC.

@gerner:

Dance prices not keeping up with inflation???

Surely you are kidding?

Even the most inept dancer in the club should be able to squeeze 3 dances in per hour. That's $60 per hour and even after fees and tipout, the girl is making more than me per hour.

They could always go on unemployment and receive free Obama care.

I haven't been to a club in a long time. I just don't see the value in a $30 lapper any more. At 20/dance, I'd be more likely to hit the clubs every once in a while but C-Bus clubs just aren't worth it any more.