From what we've seen you can rest assured the usage rate Phoebe is talking about may have been once upon a time long ago, but during the day FS seems to be extremely thin. At night, then things kick off.
We talk to people who are in the AMP, R and T and FS business and everyone is doing it tough. In WA the fact that everyone spent like a drunken sailor during the boom and didn't save for the current deluge has left a very downbeat sense. A lot of qualified and skilled people don't have jobs, but I guess still have itches which are being self-fulfilled.
Like I said before, cut your spending to suit the times and income, offer the best you can, build a client base even if it's a small one and when times improve, you'll be looking good.
One thing some people may not get is that when a girl does a job and earns 50% of the money, that often goes straight to the spend pile. There may be no deduction of the GST which you should have over $75k income, a lack of tax return "fact" and a spend and live now attitude which will leave you short when times are tough. I am not implying for one minute that anyone here is doing that but it's a fact of the industry.
The parlour has to pay the GST, the lease, power, water, gas, telephone, advertising, capital repayments etc etc, so often the parlour makes less than any one girl worth a pinch who is working there.
Cutting prices from a parlour perspective is easy to say, but impossible to do as the girls just jump ship.
