Recession

JGaltJGalt
in General

With the current, pretty much unprecedented inversion of the yield curve and the Fed's ongoing attempt to rein in inflation, the probability of a recession in the next 12 months is ominously increasing. I'm curious how members of the cuddling community think this will affect this business. Since consumption in this category is discretionary, will the number of Pros increase or decrease? Will it affect the pricing structure? How will it affect the consumption from the clients? Will it change the logistics of the service framework? For example, while pros have the right to ghost clients at their discretion, don't clients have the reasonable expectation of a timely response if they've formally submitted a request for a booking? Just curious to see if there would be any outlier effects from what would assume to be the normal economic impacts on this service sector.

Comments

  • DaringSprinterDaringSprinter

    This is a UK-based cuddling site that started with no pros at all.

    I suspect it'll be fine whatever the US gets up to.

  • JGaltJGalt

    The UK is in worse shape than the US, so good luck with that.

  • DaringSprinterDaringSprinter

    Well, that's a different subject. A whole different country, in fact.

  • JGaltJGalt

    Brilliant insight. :p

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    @JGalt 🤣🤣🤣

  • DaringSprinterDaringSprinter

    Not a lot to work with here, alas. 😅

    "Say, how do you think possible economic changes in the US will affect this UK-based site that doesn't depend on income from its members?"

    I mean. What response can one give?

  • [Deleted User]WriterGF (deleted user)

    I think it would be interesting to hear from pros on whether they feel business has been impacted by inflation. Does it seem they are getting less business because people have less money to spend?

  • JGaltJGalt
    edited August 2022

    Daring Sprinter - Slow the sprinting down and take time to read my original text. I wasn't asking just how it would affect the site. I was asking how it would affect the habits of the community members. You've misinterpreted the idea if you think that I was attacking the business.

  • ShaneSchruteShaneSchrute

    I wouldn’t make assumptions that cuddling is discretionary or non-essential. To those who use it therapeutically and use it to heal that could be offensive or at least just wrong.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    I agree with @WriterGF . I would be interested what the pros say. I can only say that I am more cautious on large expenditures—I put off a new car for awhile and a major renovation on a couple of rooms in my house—but cuddling I have not curtailed as of yet. I imagine that those less fortunate than I financially have cut back. Makes complete sense. When things are 2 and 3 times more than what we were paying 18 months ago, it is only prudent to exercise fiduciary discipline.

  • JGaltJGalt

    Syins - We all need affection and want to feel loved, so in that sense it's therapeutic to everyone. However, there are quite a few of us that have been surviving without it for some time. We're still alive and kicking. That's why I use discretionary in the economic sense of the term. Not an attempt to offend anyone.

  • JGaltJGalt
    edited August 2022

    FunCartel, WriterGF - Absolutely.

  • netrunnernetrunner Mod
    edited August 2022

    Most Pros of the site do this as a second source of income. If you forget, we just went through and are still going through a global pandemic and during 2020 people meeting in person significantly dropped, with most if not all Pros no longer doing in-person sessions for months. Yes, many did virtual sessions until either they were vaccinated or would meet in person if both the Pro and a Client could provide a recent negative Covid-19 test result. While a significant number of site members are in the US, there are still many in other countries as well who are active and wouldn't be effected by a US recession. Also, while I don't know what the operating costs for the site are, my guess is this is at least a second source of income for the site admins, but that is only a guess.

    To answer your questions though,

    • The number of Pros will always be in flux. Veteran Pros sometimes stop for any number of reasons and new Pros tend to come to the site in waves with most finding out about the profession on sites recommending side hassles saying they can earn on average $100/hour to cuddle strangers. Seeing as most people don't make that much at their current job, $100/hour sounds very inviting and cuddling seems easy enough to do, but everything else that goes into it isn't usually considered. So many new Pros come and go, some only using the site for a month and never returning.
    • This can very. While I can't see the numbers of sessions which happen on any kind of basis to say what the norm is and how much things changed during 2020 and going forward, odds are there will be a dip just like with anything. It will depend on what disposable income people have and what their personal priorities are; Would they rather spend $100 for buying a new video game and DLC, going out to eat at a nice restaurant with drinks, or spend an hour cuddled up with someone to relax from anxiety, depression, or loneliness? Each persons needs and priorities will differ.
    • Nope. Know that Pros, within a couple days of joining the site can received 20-60 messages from different people with several not even in the same city, state, or country all saying hi. Pros typically tend to view and respond to the oldest new messages first, but every time a new message is sent before the previous one from them was read their name gets moved to the back of the in line, so to speak. Like I stated previously, most Pros on the site do this as a second source of income so when they are otherwise working their other job or having a session they aren't going to be on the site. Add to this of having a personal life and they will still try logging in once a day or a couple times a week, but when you have a couple dozen messages of people and don't want to spend hours you might not have to respond to everyone, some people are going to feel they are being ignored or that it's taking awhile to get something set up.
    • Beyond discrimination, Pros are allowed to ghost, ignore, or block people who either are wasting their time (i.e. they just want to talk but have no plans to book a session; this can also result in them being banned from the site), say something which causes them to not feel comfortable meeting them (i.e. start off messaging calling them "babe", "baby", telling them they look sexy, or otherwise making creepy comments), or many other reasons. Also, some Pros don't respond to people who aren't remotely near them unless the person clarifies they will be traveling to their city. If you haven't already picked up on this, Pros tend to have limited time they do spend on the site so they mainly focus that time on people serious about booking a session.

    So yes, some things on the site might change, but others wouldn't. What those changes would be one could only guess until it actually goes through them. My guess is it would be similar to what happened in 2020 when the US shutdown and many people lost their jobs. Eventually things started to return to some level of normal, but there would be a definite drop in booked sessions.

  • zerocantaloupezerocantaloupe
    edited August 2022

    We just need to calculate Marginal Propensity to Cuddle. Macrocuddlenomics.

  • AGnihonAGnihon

    I bet that more pros will join actually because with inflation, this is a very good option because of how profitable it can be especially if you are a young, relatively attractive woman. I've seen people with over 20 Karma despite charging $160 an hour. That shows just how high demand is. However, the number of clients on here, that might go down and this will only cause professionals to charge an even higher rate because they are getting less offers. This will start a vicious cycle that could lead to less and less clients being willing to pay and eventually that could be a big problem. This would be my take on it. However, I think inflation will come down soon and with the number of jobs being gained, I am not sure there will be a recession. Even still, there are always going to be enough relatively well off people willing to pay.

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    We’re already in a recession, and we won’t know what will happens with the site and prices until it happens.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    @AGnihon While that is true about cuddlers charging 150 or more and having over 20 karma, I have known and cuddled some of them…when they were charging 70 or 80 an hour. As their popularity increased, so did their rates. So the number of karma was not necessarily at that price point and the karma was accumulated over years.

  • Minestrone101Minestrone101

    The economy will always go up and down - massage therapists, dance teachers, and cuddle pros need to pay bills too. We can't expect anyone to give a break - I'm not going to Starbucks to ask for free coffee or Target to ask for discounts on fruit snacks.

    While customers and demand influence prices, they cannot demand or force prices to be changed.

    Imo,Cuddle Pros are a mix of small business owners, entrepreneurs, and contracted workers. While some of their hourly rates are high, they're not exactly booking 8 sessions a day and making $8000 a month.

  • bekah_cuddlesbekah_cuddles

    @JGalt

    For example, while pros have the right to ghost clients at their discretion, don't clients have the reasonable expectation of a timely response if they've formally submitted a request for a booking?

    Submitting a request for booking is often not enough. I recently had a guy send me a proposal without any message whatsoever, so I of course declined it. If you have sent a respectful message, outlining all the details that the pro might request in their profile (name, photo, date, time, duration, location, vaccination status, etc), and they still don't respond, it could be for many reasons. They may no longer be active on the site, they may not actually be a professional, they may be busy or on vacation, they may not be sure yet whether they're available the date/time you requested, or maybe they just got a bad vibe. As @reurbo said, this is not the primary job of most pros, so there will have to be some flexibility.

    In regards to inflation having an impact on these services, I personally haven't noticed much of a difference. What I have experienced is that the clients that reach out to me usually come in waves. I'll sometimes go a month without anyone contacting me, and then the next month three different people will be trying to book me the same week. Often times, this is around holidays or the changing of the seasons, or maybe folks just got their paycheck or a nice bonus.

  • [Deleted User]WriterGF (deleted user)

    The one thing I would note is that if there is a recession (and there might be, but with 3.5% unemployment, I don't think it can be said we are in one now), the odds are it will be global, not just US-based.

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    Recession equals 2 straight quarters of negative GDP, which we have just had. But anyway if people can’t afford prices anymore and professionals see less bookings then prices will come down as is the case with other services.

  • JGaltJGalt

    @bekah_cuddles
    That makes sense. A lot of the pros in my area don't seem that active.

  • Midnight01Midnight01

    Lol, we’ve been in a recession dude.

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan Mod

    @WriterGF the employment/unemployment rate is a lagging indicator, it tells you about what happened last year or the year before that. It doesn't tell you much about what is happening now.

    I agree that this slowdown is a global phenomenon. Here in the UK we've got some nice juicy stagflation coming our way.

  • JGaltJGalt
    edited August 2022

    @WriterGF
    At least you Brits are being honest about it. In the States we've gone from rephrasing "recession" as "transition", and qualifying inflation as "transitory" to optimistically "peaked". We'll see about the latter tomorrow.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel
    edited August 2022

    @jgalt I think you might be mistaken. @WriterGF is a New Englander, but an American nonetheless.

    All of this depends on who you believe. I hear the doomsday economists and then there are some that say we are headed towards deflationary pricing in the next month or so. It all depends what media source the “experts” are speaking through or what snake oil they are pitching.

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan Mod

    @JGalt I think you'll find what is actually happening is

    Positively directed price optimisation (inflation)
    and
    Economic realignment and stabilisation period (recession)

    🙄

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    @JGalt @CuddleDuncan Lol. What y'all said.

  • JGaltJGalt

    @CuddleDuncan
    :p Well said.

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