Having read through the dancer fee poll and the discussion around it, I'd like to understand the strip club model better, and how people like me fit into it. As a quick background, I've been going to the clubs fairly often for about ten years, starting first with Barbarella's and then mostly spending time at the Barefax. I'm exclusively a daytime customer.
Based on conversations with strippers, this is how it seems to work:
- The dancers pay a fee to dance at the club, and in return have to do a set amount of stage dances per shift.
- The dancers are not employees of the club.
- The dancers make their money exclusively through private dances.
- The club does not take a cut from those private dances.
- The club makes its money from drinks and associated fees (cover charges at night, etc).
- The initial drink is a necessity before any strippers will come by the table - it's extremely rare to see this rule broken, if it is a rule.
So the clubs want us in there drinking, hopefully in groups, enjoying the stage dances and the strippers going by, staying for multiple rounds. They do not profit from the solo guy, sitting by himself in the corner nursing his drink as long as possible, only there for the private dances. In other words, they don't profit from people like me.
This model made more sense back when I was going to Barb's 7 or 8 years ago - they always had the convention crowd because of all the hotels nearby, so there were usually full tables full of people willing to spend good money on drinks. Barefax on the other hand is much more local - I see the same faces every time I go, and lots of fellow travelers sitting by themselves. I'm sure lots of them are drinking themselves into the ground, but I'm not the only one with a bottle of water (the massive markup on serving as a cover fee, as noted above). I don't really see the profit model there.
Also, I'm not clear on why the clubs have tolerated the increasing "mileage" in the CRs. Back when I first got into it there was plenty of touching but very little else. Now it's normal to be offered a lot more. I don't partake (the ick factor, health risks, etc), but if I wanted to it's all available. Not only are there legal issues, but I don't see how the club benefits from some guy spending big in the back rooms. Is it just a necessary evil, the only way to get guys in there at all in the days of Backpage and multiple local spas?
Based on conversations with strippers, this is how it seems to work:
- The dancers pay a fee to dance at the club, and in return have to do a set amount of stage dances per shift.
- The dancers are not employees of the club.
- The dancers make their money exclusively through private dances.
- The club does not take a cut from those private dances.
- The club makes its money from drinks and associated fees (cover charges at night, etc).
- The initial drink is a necessity before any strippers will come by the table - it's extremely rare to see this rule broken, if it is a rule.
So the clubs want us in there drinking, hopefully in groups, enjoying the stage dances and the strippers going by, staying for multiple rounds. They do not profit from the solo guy, sitting by himself in the corner nursing his drink as long as possible, only there for the private dances. In other words, they don't profit from people like me.
This model made more sense back when I was going to Barb's 7 or 8 years ago - they always had the convention crowd because of all the hotels nearby, so there were usually full tables full of people willing to spend good money on drinks. Barefax on the other hand is much more local - I see the same faces every time I go, and lots of fellow travelers sitting by themselves. I'm sure lots of them are drinking themselves into the ground, but I'm not the only one with a bottle of water (the massive markup on serving as a cover fee, as noted above). I don't really see the profit model there.
Also, I'm not clear on why the clubs have tolerated the increasing "mileage" in the CRs. Back when I first got into it there was plenty of touching but very little else. Now it's normal to be offered a lot more. I don't partake (the ick factor, health risks, etc), but if I wanted to it's all available. Not only are there legal issues, but I don't see how the club benefits from some guy spending big in the back rooms. Is it just a necessary evil, the only way to get guys in there at all in the days of Backpage and multiple local spas?