Cost-of-punting crisis
I've just joined this forum as I wanted to get something off my chest (bear with me, as this post is a bit long). I've been punting in Wellington for nearly 17 years now, and it's only in recent years that I've seen prices at the cheaper end of the market soar to the point where punting is almost completely unaffordable.
Now I get it - inflation in the past few years has been high, and I accept that when prices for everything go up, wages don't usually keep up with them. Since the pandemic I could expect that like with food, petrol etc, sexual services would climb by about 20-30% in price, in line with living costs. But, at least in Wellington it seems, the prices of escorts at the few agencies who are still around have almost doubled in 10 years, and those entering the market are starting at even higher rates. In other words, whereas I used to be spoilt for choice for say, a one-hour sensual massage for under $160, now I'd be hard-pressed to find anyone offering one for less than $200, and even those who are will inevitably be (with a couple of exceptions) the touring Asian B&S (BS?) escorts who hardly speak a word of English and are probably working illegally.
To put it in perspective, in 2015 I used to be able to punt twice a week keeping my spending to a maximum of $200 each week. Back then I could get a half-hour nude sensual massage at Pillow Talk for just $80 or even $120 for an hour. And while the quality varied, I nonetheless recall some very satisfying encounters with ladies who seemed happy to work there. Now, its $150 with no guarantee it will even be nude. Total Relax, Intimate Touch, Velvet Massage, Misschief Massage, Goddess Collective, Diamond Girls, even Paradise Club all offered wonderful, highly erotic hour-long services for less then $200, and some providers, depending on the mood they were in, even gave complementary extras like kissing and a second handjob.
There were also full-service providers such as The Kensington, First Impressions, Asian Haven, even Dreamgirls had a brothel upstairs. All of the examples I listed offered sessions for less than $200 pre-Covid, and all of them have gone now. The only agencies left that come close to affordable are Pillow Talk, 1 Night Stand and iEscape, and it can be hard to book anyone on the weekend at any of them. There are also the independents at The Apartment, but again, you're looking at a standard $220/hour for a vanilla massage now.
Yet another thread informs me that the escorts are struggling to get clients despite the seeming reduction in supply. Obviously us clients are also doing it tough so I would have thought the prices would reflect demand. So clearly it is becoming very costly to do business in the sex industry now. The question is, who is to blame for this?
Now I get it - inflation in the past few years has been high, and I accept that when prices for everything go up, wages don't usually keep up with them. Since the pandemic I could expect that like with food, petrol etc, sexual services would climb by about 20-30% in price, in line with living costs. But, at least in Wellington it seems, the prices of escorts at the few agencies who are still around have almost doubled in 10 years, and those entering the market are starting at even higher rates. In other words, whereas I used to be spoilt for choice for say, a one-hour sensual massage for under $160, now I'd be hard-pressed to find anyone offering one for less than $200, and even those who are will inevitably be (with a couple of exceptions) the touring Asian B&S (BS?) escorts who hardly speak a word of English and are probably working illegally.
To put it in perspective, in 2015 I used to be able to punt twice a week keeping my spending to a maximum of $200 each week. Back then I could get a half-hour nude sensual massage at Pillow Talk for just $80 or even $120 for an hour. And while the quality varied, I nonetheless recall some very satisfying encounters with ladies who seemed happy to work there. Now, its $150 with no guarantee it will even be nude. Total Relax, Intimate Touch, Velvet Massage, Misschief Massage, Goddess Collective, Diamond Girls, even Paradise Club all offered wonderful, highly erotic hour-long services for less then $200, and some providers, depending on the mood they were in, even gave complementary extras like kissing and a second handjob.
There were also full-service providers such as The Kensington, First Impressions, Asian Haven, even Dreamgirls had a brothel upstairs. All of the examples I listed offered sessions for less than $200 pre-Covid, and all of them have gone now. The only agencies left that come close to affordable are Pillow Talk, 1 Night Stand and iEscape, and it can be hard to book anyone on the weekend at any of them. There are also the independents at The Apartment, but again, you're looking at a standard $220/hour for a vanilla massage now.
Yet another thread informs me that the escorts are struggling to get clients despite the seeming reduction in supply. Obviously us clients are also doing it tough so I would have thought the prices would reflect demand. So clearly it is becoming very costly to do business in the sex industry now. The question is, who is to blame for this?
