y natural instinct is to just say "what the hell is there to even think about?" ... and just roll with it.

For me in my current position, the SB's asking price is almost trivial. From her position, I represent sort of a compromise between a traditional relationship and a purely financial one.  

So she basically has two other options: 1) Shoot for a higher allowance; which means she most likely settles for someone older or less attractive, more desperate. 2) Go for a traditional relationship. Maybe find someone she likes only slightly more than me, and get no financial compensation.

Either one of those scenarios I would be totally fine with, and I would wish her the best of luck. It's happened to me twice before, and while it was a little inconvenient to go through the whole process again ... I eventually found a replacement. Might even say I upgraded. So when I say that this is what the market is bearing out for me, I'm taking it all in to account and viewing all options as commodities more less -- as heartless as that sounds.

Now why even consider talking to the provider? Well, I guess it would just be on the off chance that maybe I could fall within the same category as I do with my SBs? I don't think it would be preposterous to think that my provider's position might be "I enjoy seeing him just enough to where his lowered asking price might still be worth my while when all other factors are weighed." Meaning if it's just 3 or 4 hours out of her week, and the other options she might do with those hours would include either hanging out with a slightly hotter guy and not getting paid, or getting paid more to hang out with an older/fatter dude with ED and thinning hair.

I mean ... when you break it all down, we're all people and we all have to make the same kinds of decisions about our time, don't we