Is the cost of living affecting your punting choices?

[Private Member]

As the title of this post says - Is the cost of living affecting your punting choices?

We're all being squeezed financially, unless you're lucky enough to have more than enough money.

With less disposable income, and the fact there also seems to be punting inflation with a lot of providers putting up their rates - are you having to make 'difficult' punting choices?

I get that SPs have to pay higher bills too - but to me many of them are pricing themselves out of the market and could end up with less custom as a result.

So the choices I see are between reducing the number of punts, reduce the time of punts (i.e. 15 min P&D), reduce the paid extras within a punt or look for cheaper providers...Of course the other option is to cut back on monies spent on non-punting things!

After much 'soul-searching' I've decided to try and maintain the number of punts that suits me, but to look at cheaper options with more limited services if necessary - e.g. no 'OWO'. I know that comes with risks of a poor service, but there are a couple of providers out there that at least provide the minimum I require at a fair price.

Just thought I'd put it out there to see how others are making these decisions

[stewpid]

At the moment it's not affecting things too much as long as average rates don't go much higher. I am spending more on average per month this year than previous years but this is also because I've started to go up to £200ph on some occasions (would rarely go above £150ph before and highest was £180 a couple of rare times) for single girl sessions and have also had a duo booking this year. Definitely fulfilling some 'fantasy' punts to purely entertain myself and tick a few things off the bucket list as the last few years have generally been miserable.

Sadly punting is my only real entertainment and hobby expense at the moment, as my clubbing days are behind me and I'm not into sports and holidays have been a no-go for the last few years, so I have the disposable income for it and I've been lucky in that I put away quite a bit over the last 2 years and my wages have increased somewhat.

However if things begin to bite more in daily expenses and WG rates go up then I would look to reduce my punts and would certainly concentrate on cheaper providers with the days of 'fantasy' punts a thing of the past. It is a luxury expense at the end of the day and there's no point ever getting yourself into debt for pussy.

[Watts.E.Dunn]

Round our way Mid Anglia its more of a "do i want to spend this money for a not so good indiffernt service"?, which is all to often the norm now:-(...

[Coriniumstud]

Not so much the rates that the wg are charging but the price of petrol

[Watts.E.Dunn]

Not so much the rates that the wg are charging but the price of petrol

And that too! used to once drive down to the Cloisters in Sloane ave but not anymore, costs more there to fill her up with Diesel than the girl with Jizz;!!

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[Billy no mates]

Reducing my punts, I haven’t been prolific since before covid anyway, but now picking and choosing and generally being more cost aware

To be fair this applies to other hobbies, and things I enjoy as well.

[pantywetter]

I have reduced my punts but more because the girls are charging more for the same or worse service rather than general cost of living.

I want to know what Rishi is going to do about this cost of whoring crisis!

[willie loman]

no real increase up here in the saunas, 75 for 30 mins, noticed a girl on aw, she has gone from 60 to 100 back to 80, ex sauna girl as most of the anglophones on edinburgh are.

[lillythesavage]

And that too! used to once drive down to the Cloisters in Sloane ave but not anymore, costs more there to fill her up with Diesel than the girl with Jizz;!!

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Before all this Ulez crap, I had a V8 Discovery running on LPG, now I could have jumped through hoops and maybe got it cleared to use, could have paid a TFL crook too. As I travel into London, I swapped it for a 2001 V6 Mondeo, which pollutes more, costs more for the RFL because it does, yet is ULEZ compliant 

The car averaged 18/20 mpg, gas was just over half the price of petrol, so 35 is a safe equivalent mpg  number to use.

Today I noticed it is way less than half the price, which would make the the old Disco a very economical option, as it was over 20 years old, a green option too, especially on gas which has very little shite out the back with a 40 plus mpg equivalent .

The carbon footprint of building new cars with a short shelf life is not taken into account 

[lamboman]

I have reduced my punts but more because the girls are charging more for the same or worse service rather than general cost of living.

Same for me,I am baffled by some of the pricing in my area.

[DastardlyDick]

I want to know what Rishi is going to do about this cost of whoring crisis!

With his money, he won't be worried about that!

[sparkus]

I've had some health issues of late in any case which has cut punting right back but I am otherwise being a lot more cautious about TOFTT etc than before.

As others have said, the decision has been made for us anyway by such poor offerings out there at the moment.

[lillythesavage]

I've had some health issues of late in any case which has cut punting right back but I am otherwise being a lot more cautious about TOFTT etc than before.

As others have said, the decision has been made for us anyway by such poor offerings out there at the moment.

Hope your heath improves quickly  .

There has been so much said about prices, supply, demand and across the AW and seeking threads. Like everything punting evolves.

Going to throw another theory into the mix, which probably applies more to independents.

Low prices will attract back to back bookings and loads of dross dreamers taking up your time, if they can increase prices, see less people, get less dross to wade through and end up with a similar total pay day, then it makes a lot of sense 

There has been lots of reports of fluctuating prices, they need to find a balance between getting bookings , what the market will pay and keeping earnings to the level required, the only way to do that is test the market.

I doubt there is a single one of us that would say no to less working hours for the same money, most would jump at the 4 day week being touted around now.
Some places are rolling it out, my mate starts a new job in a few weeks, Tuesday to Friday for the same job and same money as the job he is leaving, the contract states he must work Good Friday, for which he is paid double time.

Just a thought.

[alabama1]

As the OP mentioned, i will be reducing the amount of punts, and also the time spent there, i.e. more 30 minute punts, as opposed to an hour.

[willie loman]

ive mentioned this before, but surely most of the more mature punters own property? it goes up in value more each year than you can actually spend on sex, no pockets on a shroud, most ignored advice ever. inherited a bit of money from a mean religous bigot, enjoyed the irony on spending it on hookers.

[lamboman]

Hope your heath improves quickly  .

There has been so much said about prices, supply, demand and across the AW and seeking threads. Like everything punting evolves.

Going to throw another theory into the mix, which probably applies more to independents.

Low prices will attract back to back bookings and loads of dross dreamers taking up your time, if they can increase prices, see less people, get less dross to wade through and end up with a similar total pay day, then it makes a lot of sense 

There has been lots of reports of fluctuating prices, they need to find a balance between getting bookings , what the market will pay and keeping earnings to the level required, the only way to do that is test the market.

I doubt there is a single one of us that would say no to less working hours for the same money, most would jump at the 4 day week being touted around now.
Some places are rolling it out, my mate starts a new job in a few weeks, Tuesday to Friday for the same job and same money as the job he is leaving, the contract states he must work Good Friday, for which he is paid double time.

Just a thought.

I'm really not sure particularly considering experience suggest most WGs aren't good at maths.
I would think the extra cost would put off more punters than the extra cost would make up for.

[lillythesavage]

I'm really not sure particularly considering experience suggest most WGs aren't good at maths.
I would think the extra cost would put off more punters than the extra cost would make up for.

You would think that, but it has been some time of increases now, not much sign of it coming down again, they cannot all be bad at maths 

[Dweeby]

My take is that whatever the cause (and there are lots, COVID, inflation, etc), 'the market' can stand higher punting prices. If not, then prices would drop. I don't go with the 'work less, earn the same money' theory, cheaper girls would fill the gaps, except that there aren't any. It's just market forces, and I fear it's here to stay.

COVID changed things. I punt less, initially due to the risks, then the lack of girls due to (maybe) quitting due to covid. And there could be a Brexit effect, less freedom of movement.

But to get back to the point, I'm just starting up again and have slightly less disposable income to pay the higher prices. So I want to ensure each punt is a good one, I don't want to shell out higher rates for a poor punt, I'm looking for quality at the expense of frequency (not that I was ever prolific). Having said that, trying to get quality by paying more doesn't always work, as we know. If anybody has any tips, I'd be grateful.

[Colston36]

Not really.

The longer I have been at this the more precisely I have defined what I want.

Also the older I have got the less I can manage! I can't really cope with more than two a week, and I don't know many that really excite me now.

[Private Member]

As I eluded to at the start of this post I've tried to find ways to cut my cloth accordingly....and this has meant looking at cheaper options, but ones that have some kind of track record - i.e. based on reviews on this site.

To help with conversation when we first meet I have a set of stock questions I ask, and one is 'have you been busy lately?' - and more now than before the answer is No. So I do suspect SPs are getting less punters over their thresholds these days. That, or their regulars are less regular. Of course they could just be saying that so I don't think they have a conveyor belt policy, but on the whole I doubt that