There is no sex in here…
Due to the falling US dollar and the rising Canadian dollar, strip clubs on the border are seeing some migration. US strippers are working up north and Canadian customers are heading south for fun.
So strip clubs make the WSJ again. (And this isn’t the first time in major media for Robert Katzman. I need to make him my publicist.)
I wrote about strip clubs using the $2 bill and its effect on the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing (the Mint).
According to a Newsweek article this week about the declining use of actual currency, notes that in 2006, all US currency totaled $784 billion with an estimated $400 billion in actual circulation. This article also stated that in 2007, the government will print about 9.1 billion individual bills, 95% to replace worn currency.
According to the article referenced in my previous post, in 2005 the orders for $2 bills totaled $122 million (and the number is expected to rise). That’s not a significant percentage of the amount of currency in circulation, but I’m betting it’s a significant percentage of the bills to be printed. I wish I had access to all the numbers and information I want to be able to accurately determine the effect of the adult industry on the US Mint, but that probably won’t happen.
It’s fun to speculate, though.
People often want to know how stripping and escorting affected me. I think I have enough distance from both to be able to begin to answer the question. Since stripping came first, this post is first.
The immediate effects of stripping were obvious: crippling knee problems, back aches, secondhand smoke, plenty of firsthand smoking, too much drinking, constant colds and coughs. And because I was never a good hustler, the constant rejection ruined my self-confidence. I was just too real in the clubs, too much myself. I never built the armor some other girls seemed to have. Of course, I also met plenty of girls who had the same problems I had. Stripping is not a job for everyone. (In escort work, my realness was an asset, not a liability.)
On the plus side, I was in great shape without having to work out and my skin was perfect all the time because of my constant care. I was the master of small talk, could out-dance anyone in a regular nightclub and learned a lot about music and rhythm. I loved having my daytime free.
I went right from stripping into escort work. Still, some things from stripping stay with me.
There are 2,762 strip clubs in the US (my informal tally from TUSCL.com). Enough money flows through these clubs that the Federal Reserve has taken notice. Not because of anything illegal, but because strip clubs nationwide have started using $2 bills. According to this article on CNN Money, depository institutions ordered $122 million in $2 bills in 2005 alone. That’s more than double the average yearly amount ordered from 1991-2000.
Strip clubs aren’t responsible for all the $2 bill usage, but they’re responsible for a large portion of it. Anyone who’s visited the Baby Dolls clubs in the DFW metroplex knows that giving change in $2 bills is a tradition. It’s fairly well-known in Dallas that if you have a pocketful of $2 bills, then you were in Baby Dolls. Of course, this reputation impels men to rid themselves of the pesky bills before they leave the club, which makes life a little better for the workers in the club.