The Rising Cost of the Hobby and Rate Increases

[Workingman]

 

[minutemenX]

When young people are complaining on this board of high SP prices, they perceive that previous generations lived in a golden age and boomers had it easy. Not at all. SP service was not in the realm of my youth not because I did not need it or did not know about it. The back pages of the local press were full of tantalizing SP advertising. I was simply too poor barely having money for food and lodging (and not always) to afford it. It does not mean that I did not have sex, but it required effort and inventiveness to get girl into bed. So go for free hunting when still young. It is good for you.

 

[Fradi]

View attachment 85850

Young man is pissed at the cloud because it rains on his parade and it isn’t gold that he can spend without having to do shit for it.

 

[Mod21]

Folks,

Please get back to the original topic or the thread will get locked. There is already one for random musings.

Thanks for your collaboration.

 

[envelopes]

When young people are complaining on this board of high SP prices, they perceive that previous generations lived in a golden age and boomers had it easy. Not at all. SP service was not in the realm of my youth not because I did not need it or did not know about it. The back pages of the local press were full of tantalizing SP advertising. I was simply too poor barely having money for food and lodging (and not always) to afford it. It does not mean that I did not have sex, but it required effort and inventiveness to get girl into bed. So go for free hunting when still young. It is good for you.

False. They absolutely had it easy. I started hobbying a while ago when I was very very young. Even my broke ass could afford it. I make 5x what I used to make and it's harder to afford it now.

This is objectively false. Cost of living has gone up and wages have stagnated. Nothing you wrote is true.

 

[EagerBeaver]

When young people are complaining on this board of high SP prices, they perceive that previous generations lived in a golden age and boomers had it easy. Not at all. SP service was not in the realm of my youth not because I did not need it or did not know about it. The back pages of the local press were full of tantalizing SP advertising. I was simply too poor barely having money for food and lodging (and not always) to afford it. It does not mean that I did not have sex, but it required effort and inventiveness to get girl into bed. So go for free hunting when still young. It is good for you.

I think the young members on the board should heed this comment. Economic pain and suffering while young is a good thing. It builds character and work ethic. There is too much a sense of entitlement - that they are owed something. Work hard and save. Whining and complaining that you should get something for nothing isn't going to change the market. It's not even going to move the needle. So go out there and make more money.

 

[hob12]

I think the young members on the board should heed this comment. Economic pain and suffering while young is a good thing. It builds character and work ethic. There is too much a sense of entitlement - that they are owed something. Work hard and save. Whining and complaining that you should get something for nothing isn't going to change the market. It's not even going to move the needle. So go out there and make more money.

ok boomer

 

[urquell]

Damn Millenials, all walking around and mouthing off like they rent the place.

 

[Sylar]

Damn Millenials, all walking around and mouthing off like they rent the place.

I can’t even afford my rent. At the end of every month I make a hard choice between seeing an SP and living on the street or keeping my room in the shared home with my millennial friends.

 

[talkinghead]

I can’t even afford my rent. At the end of every month I make a hard choice between seeing an SP and living on the street or keeping my room in the shared home with my millennial friends.

You have room in a shared home with friends? LUXURY. Woulda’ been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! Room!? Hmph

Actually, not kidding, I've got a good friend who, when he was a teenager south of the US border, collected bottles and scrap metal to pay for his SPs. They don't make an app for that!

 

[Mandouke]

When young people are complaining on this board of high SP prices, they perceive that previous generations lived in a golden age and boomers had it easy. Not at all. SP service was not in the realm of my youth not because I did not need it or did not know about it. The back pages of the local press were full of tantalizing SP advertising. I was simply too poor barely having money for food and lodging (and not always) to afford it. It does not mean that I did not have sex, but it required effort and inventiveness to get girl into bed. So go for free hunting when still young. It is good for you.

Indeed. I got the old outhouse on the farm with a good old copy of Larry Flint's Hustler (scratch and sniff edition) from the mid-70s to entertain me in my formative years, acapella, of course.

I later graduated to get friendly with the ladies of the night on the Lower Main in Montreal, that was a real eye-opener and a great learning experience about rates and the fine art of negotiating. Man, I learned a lot, not only about the art of the deal but about the perfidiousness involved in dealing with these ladies. Tough as nails and the company they kept always kept you looking over your shoulder for what was coming next.

Then as you have stated the back pages of the Indy newspapers arrived and that was the beginning of the move towards the end of the street walker era and shortly thereafter the advent of the computer sealed the street deal.

I can honestly say that I learned a lot and would not change a thing. With the rising rates of SPs, perhaps another great option would be to have another mint condition scratch and sniff Hustler, that would be a godsend. Does anyone have one for sale?

 

[Fradi]

Lived in refugee camps in Yugoslavia with 5 hundred other families in the same tin barn with bunk beds, rats lice etc…
Place was surrounded by machine gun toting guards. Men still managed to sneak out during the night through cornfields to sell watches jewelry to buy food that you could actually eat.
Not much need for SP at the time for anybody nobody worried about rising costs just having something in your belly and not getting shot.

Canada and the rising cost of whatever is a godsend and a piece of cake.

 

[minutemenX]

False. They absolutely had it easy. I started hobbying a while ago when I was very very young. Even my broke ass could afford it. I make 5x what I used to make and it's harder to afford it now.

This is objectively false. Cost of living has gone up and wages have stagnated. Nothing you wrote is true.

So, you say “they”. Thus, you definitely do not belong to the boomers’ generation. Then I agree, after us you had an easier life.

 

[Workingman]

False. They absolutely had it easy. I started hobbying a while ago when I was very very young. Even my broke ass could afford it. I make 5x what I used to make and it's harder to afford it now.

This is objectively false. Cost of living has gone up and wages have stagnated. Nothing you wrote is true.

It's like I always say you make your own luck in life. You need to work harder and stop slacking off. Stop blaming the world for all your problems and earn your way like the boomers before you.

 

[Workingman]

I didn't miss any point. My comment had nothing to do with the cost of a SP. Read the posts she was replying to for clarity

The point is still there bright as day, but you can't see it. No biggie.

 

[CLOUD 500]

But you were set before the cost increase. 6 years ago the economy was much better, one could get a house at a reasonable price, the banks handed out mortgages easier, lower house costs equals more fun money. A majority of the younger generation will not have the disposable income for SP's.
My son is 34, can't see him getting escorts and not due to the cost, he goes out and actually meets people, many ladies out there looking for a dude to be with. Helps that he has my charm and sense of humor

Do not forget all those so called social programs is costing money. Trudope put the country in so much debt that the younger generation will be paying that for decades. I do not see a reduction in the cost of living for several years. Shutting down immigration will take some time to have an effect because Trudope brought in an enormous amount of people plus it will take decades of austerity to balance the budget somewhat. People will be on tight budgets for many things including escorts.

 

[Fradi]

But you were set before the cost increase. 6 years ago the economy was much better, one could get a house at a reasonable price, the banks handed out mortgages easier, lower house costs equals more fun money. A majority of the younger generation will not have the disposable income for SP's.
My son is 34, can't see him getting escorts and not due to the cost, he goes out and actually meets people, many ladies out there looking for a dude to be with. Helps that he has my charm and sense of humor

Yes way before 6 years ago.
My children also in their 30s could afford SP if they wanted to, they are happily married with families they don’t need SP just like I didn’t need them until cancer took my wife.
I could easily find a girlfriend now if I wanted too also just not interested in women my age or even 10 years younger and don’t want any longterm relationship, much better of with regular SP, for now it suits me they are friends but without any commitments on either side. I am happy spending most of my time with family, friends, grandchildren and yes I have a lot of free time and can see SP if I want or go on vacations.
Yes the younger generation have it harder generally speaking, but they don’t even come close to what I went through but I won’t get into details.
Bottom line is all is achievable just need to make the effort instead of whining constantly.
Canada with all its faults is still one of the best places in the world to live.

 

[Jordd]

There's very little correlation to rates vs performance, so there's no real reason not to go downmarket if you're a little strapped. The difference tends to be in environment and occasionally but not always somewhat on looks, but there's little or no correlation to looks vs. performance either. Men always seem to think that booking a dime will result in way better sex and a better experience, and that's simply categorically untrue. The basis for spending your cash should always be performance and attituide rather than looks, 100% of the time. Of course, everyone's standard is different, and there's always a minimum level of attraction for each guy, but there's always a scale to work with, and what's objectively more attractive usually costs more without necessarily being any better. I think the guys that only chase eye candy are cheating themselves, but hey, that's just my two cents. Similar services are available all up and down the line unless you're getting into some of the specialty kinks.

So, go downmarket, go less often, or go somewhere else. Montreal is my home town, and I love the city, but I've lived in a bunch of places, and I know it shortcomings as far as mongering goes. When I started mongering it was here, picking up SWs on the street at a relatively tender age. I have since run the gamut of types of places all over the world and have come to understand that there's a lot of ways of doing things. The disappearance of SWs pushed everything upmarket a bit, but not everything and not entirely. As wolfie mentioned, the system is either breaking or broke here now, depending on who you talk to, relative to what it used to be. It is what it is. That doesn't mean that fun can't be had here, but it's not the same. Yes, I know some guys are going to come storming in here to say that's it's just as vibrant and fun and crazy as it ever was, blah, blah,blah, but it's just not, by any objective measure. This is true of a lot of places, actually, including some of my old favorite haunts. Things change. If you don't have to always indulge yourself then you can only indulge yourself occasionally here and spend your cash elsewhere in more concentrated but separated doses. Without taking travel costs into account I can monger for a week all day and night, with sex, social time, drinks, company, conversation and massages for what a 2hr session costs here. The service offering abroad is so far superior abroad to what it is here that it feels bad to come home sometimes, but hey, again it is what it is. Wolfie said he likes Europe better, but I tend to prefer latin america or Asia over Europe too. Notice I don't say that the women are better people or better looking, necessarily, but simply that the culture differences allow for a better service experience abroad. So, if you can limit your mongering to a handful of times a year then even including travel costs it's cheaper and better to travel, with perhaps an occasional indulgence here, plus you get that vacation feeling and you get to hang around with lots of like-minded guys in many of the more popular places, which you can't really here. That's a really big bonus if you've never experienced it before. If you can't travel or don't have the time then obviously this isn't for you. If you're American and drinking in the benefits of foreign exchange then maybe what Canadians are complaining about doesn't apply because of the relative currency value.

No matter what, there are a great variety of options that can be explored, even just locally. The guys here seem to like to compare agency rates as a go-to measure of relative cost, but agencies are far from the only option here locally too. You just need to open up your mind a little to explore some other possibilities.

Agree there is no correlation between rates and quality.

For my information, what is downmarket?

Could you provide examples of the different options locally?

 

[Jordd]

I understand that rising costs are just reflecting the cost of living. I thought the big change was pre and post COVID. I noticed providers who were willing to risk continuing to do business started charging more, and Lo and behold, clients were willing to pay more. And, as others have pointed out, if a beautiful woman can get clients who pay more, why shouldn’t she?

But I came into The Lounge hoping to find a thread with a more useful topic: “Have any of you found a hidden gem who’s charging a bit less?”. Maybe I’ll start a thread like that. Or if anyone knows of such a thread, please direct me to it!

I started a thread called “Current gems”, but it’s gone dormant! Haha

Feel free to revive it:

https://merb.cc/xenforo/threads/current-gems.229023/

For me a “hidden gem who’s charging a bit less” is Li-Anna. Although, she’s not so hidden, as well reviewed here. And she recently increased her rates (well-deserved) so not much less anymore!

 

[Jordd]

Read up on the econolodge, have recently heard about them but the reviews look pretty good for some and they seem to he busy.

I never understood the Econolodge. Do they advertise? Is there a website? Pics?