I spent many years early in my career working in store operations for a major apparel retailer. One of the lessons I learned is the strategy for item pricing. The specific price tag on an item was deliberately designed to support an intended sales strategy. You've seen this, I'm sure. But you may not have realized why. For example, an item that should be priced at $30.00 will be tagged as $29.99 because the merchandiser thinks that they will increase sales to people who don't want to spend "over $30" for that type of item. You've seen the ads for "Now less than $30!".  Or an item will be tagged at $45.00 and then the tag will be marked down to $28.00 in red. The actual targeted price was always $28 of course. But the mark down makes it look like a great deal.  

 
So a previous post on tipping got me thinking about this concept in the hobby space: Do providers think strategically about how they set their prices? I'm not talking about the magnitude of her rate (i.e.:  the 1st number in a 3 or 4 digit prices like 200 vs. 400). I'm talking about the last 2 digits, (the tens or ones). Could careful pricing drive more revenue without necessarily increasing number of sessions?  

 
Some examples, and how they may have affected my behavior in past sessions:  
1. Price is $300/hour. I'll usually bring an envelope with all 20's, or a mix of 20's and 100's.  
2. Price is $325/hour. I'll usually bring an envelope with $340 in all 20's as ATM's usually don't dispense 5's and I'm not stopping at a gas station for change on my way to the location.  

 
So by pricing at a rate that requires more than 20's or 100's to pay, I tend to round up to the nearest $20.  Is that a tip? Sure it is. But did I do that because I felt the service was "above and beyond"? Well no, since I added the extra before I'd even met the provider.  

 
So my question for clients is: Do you take the time to bring exact change?

 
And my questions for providers are: Do you think about pricing in rates that are not divisible by 20? And do you see any positive results from doing so?

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

I identify myself as a monger.  Particularly one who enjoys the company of fiery spirited kgirls.

 

I've paid in $5 bills before...

 

I am into service kgirls.  We in Nor Cal have arguably top shelf talent at bargain basement prices.  I hear with the Pandemic in full effect that many a monger are sitting out and the kgirl's dance cards aren't as full as pre-Pandemic.  I'll pay for the value I receive.  Tipping is not my style.

 

 
YMMV

I don’t see any posts where someone is trying to talk others into tipping. So, I’m guessing the point you’re trying to make is that tipping is not required. Or are you just putting your hand up so somebody can take some sort of count for K-girl forum tippers?

 
Not trying to argue here. Just trying to figure out what the goal is.

My pre-session preparations include putting the correct amount into the envelope.  I have used a $5 bill when needed to make the correct amount (only happened once).  I don't "stop at an ATM on the way".
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Tipping cash is carried separately as I decide that option after service and by default do not tip.

Actually, I thought I was posting this on the GD board.    

 
But it works here as well... I am generally not a regular tipper, mostly because I don't want to be carrying around more cash than I need, especially if I'm going to a location for the 1st time.  

 
I recently booked a 90-miniute session with a well-known KGirl in West LA. (I really wish I could find the same level of service and price in the west Valley, but that's a different post.) Anyway, the session was priced at $480. I put $500 in the envelope - based on the past reviews and my desire to ensure an enthusiastic performance. I was not disappointed.  

 
So that's the background... not really fishing for how other's approach tipping. Just wondering how prices not divisible by $20 are handled.  

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

and secondly, unless her rate is $301 and all I have is hundreds I really don't bother with getting "exact change"  

 
As for "ATM" money, sometimes I use an ATM, but if I have been to a casino recently and not lost all my cash, other times I will have a few thousand, mainly in hundreds and I use that cash until it runs out, which means I won't have a lot of twenty dollar bills on me. Of course I can't EVER remember seeing a provider who charged $325 lol

Maybe it's a WC practice, but I think I've only seen 1 k-girl that actually counted the money at the beginning of the session (she left the room to do it). Most of the girls I've seen don't even acknowledge the envelope apart from the occasional thank you.

I prefer to have planned all the details beforehand so I can maximize my enjoyment of the moment.

 
For me, this means I always bring exact change for first appointments. I don’t plan on tipping for a first appointment. But I (almost) always carry some extra cash for things like that great bowl of pho at a place that doesn’t accept any form of electronic payment. On those wonderful occasions that a first appointment truly goes well past normal expectations, I generally have enough to show my appreciation monetarily.

 
Paying cash always reminds me of this hauntingly slim and lovely Viet girl I used to know. I swear she got wet whenever I handed  her cash. Money was her all access pass and the only lube she ever needed. With her I got in the habit of always carrying both the exact amount and some extra just to see and feel her reaction to getting paid more than she expected.

 
But, back to cash for k-girls, one time in recent memory I carried only the exact amount for the first session. It had been a while since I’d paid a tip for a first session and I’d gotten a little complacent about it, I guess. And, of course, she was one of those girls I would have made a point of tipping.  

 
Still in the end (and no, her tight little hind end wasn’t available) it had no impact on her service or attitude.  

 
With most k-girls I believe it is completely OK to pay them the exact amount and that’s it. Though not to the extent of my former Viet girl, extra cash does work as a lubricant with k-girls as well, in my opinion.

But I almost always carry extra cash with me. Usually a couple of grand or so, "just in case" Just in case I end up in a card game, or at the track, or anywhere else that I might need an extra couple of bucks in cash. lol  

 
And yes, I can always get a couple of grand off of an ATM card, but I like the security blanket of having a few extra bucks in my pocket, so having enough cash on me to leave a hooker a tip really isn't anything I worry about. Of course that is just "one more" reason to have some extra cash in my pocket. lol

 
BTW I do NOT use an envelope, I find it just as easy to put the donation in one pocket and the rest of my money in the other and it's actually LESS incriminating to simply have cash in your pockets in the unlikely event you meet up with LE than it is to have the EXACT amount of cash in an envelope as the amount the hooker you are going to see has as the amount of her donation. No, it doesn't keep you out of jail, but still.....

5 years ago, and nothing I said then has changed.  (Link below).  This was written at a time that the prevailing rate in LA was $250, so adjustments would need to be made to bring the numbers current.  The last paragraph is right in line with one of Herb's points in the OP, about tipping a little on spec.  Its interesting that five years ago, any posts that advocated tipping got massive pushback from the old guard here who NEVER tipped a Kgirl.  Their attitude was that "repeating" without a tip was the best tip.  Most of those guys are gone now.  For me, that makes no sense.  Lol   It seems now, a mere five years later, there are far more tippers than non-tippers seeing Kgirls.  I think that's what keeps the quality of the service up that we all enjoy.