In this economy, even sex can’t sell
The women at Donna’s Ranch are crowded around the kitchen table griping about depleted bank accounts. At this northeastern Nevada bordello, they woo grizzled truckers and weary travelers for a single reason: money.
Lately, the women don’t go home with much.
Amy, 58, once bought a $32,000 Toyota Tacoma in cash; now her $1,200 mortgage saps her dwindling pay.
Marisol’s daughters think she works at a resort; she struggles to keep up the ruse. It now takes months, not weeks, to bring $5,000 back to Southern California.
Signs of the economic free fall have cropped up in many of Nevada’s 25 or so legal brothels.
The Mustang Ranch, for example, has a steady stream of customers, but the number of women vying for work has soared. Even a 74-year-old applied.
This summer, the Shady Lady gave $50 gas cards to those who spent $300.
The Moonlite Bunny Ranch offered extras to customers paying with their economic stimulus checks.
Donna’s Ranch, 180 miles west of Salt Lake City near Interstate 80 and Highway 93, has seen its business plummet nearly 20 percent. More than three-quarters of its customers are long-haul truckers, and high fuel and food prices have drained them of “play money,” says Donna’s owner Geoff Arnold.
That cuts into pay for his 10-member staff and the “working girls.”
The brothel’s woes start with the barflies, who are hoarding what little money they’ve saved. Tonight, two of them slouch in their stools and bemoan the economic slump. The bartender, Gayle Salinas, is pinching pennies too. She used to take home $50 in tips. Now she might pocket $12. Her pay is linked to how much the prostitutes make—and customers aren’t choosing their most expensive offerings.
Damn, times must be sure hard if American brothels aren’t doing much business, but then economic decline hits those with the least cash the hardest, and one thing we can all be sure of is even if brothels go out of business, the trade wont.
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