In this economy, not even sex sells

WELLS, NEV. -- 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.

"Marisol," one of her regulars tells her, "it costs me in gas what it takes for me to spend a half-hour with you."

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 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. 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.

The women negotiate the price of "parties" and their duration, which the bartender tracks using kitchen timers. Ten to 15 minutes costs at least $100. Customers once regularly paid thousands of dollars for extras listed on a hot-pink "menu" -- but these days, few men desire the hot tub or mirrored fantasy room.

Good business, usually

About a dozen years ago, Arnold plunked down more than $1 million for Donna's Ranch. He's a certified public accountant in Boise, Idaho, and had combed the books of several brothels; buying one seemed business-savvy. He owns another in Battle Mountain, Nev.

"They're easy to run," says Arnold, president of the state brothel association. "If you keep the girls happy, you're done. If the girls are happy, then the guys are happy. I can't think of any other business as good as a brothel, except for a doctor's office -- they're equally profitable."

Billed as the West's oldest continuously operating bordello, Donna's Ranch greets drivers with a sign that depicts a cowboy-hatted brunette atop a truck bed. The single-story brothel is plagued with leaks; a recent earthquake cracked its beige exterior. The women's rooms are small. Most have a double bed, a TV and DVD player, and tables with assorted lotions, sex toys and toiletries.

From 2006 to 2007, the brothel's revenue climbed 7.6 percent, to about $1 million. In 2008, Arnold expects to make about $200,000 less.

Arnold's staff clips coupons to slash the $3,300 monthly grocery bill. He brainstorms other cost-cutting measures. He owns 33 acres in Wells -- enough room, by his calculation, for five to 10 cows that could feed his workers.

"That's what we've come to," he says. "Donna's Ranch could be a real ranch."

Maybe next time

In the kitchen, Amy smoothes her rhinestone-trimmed mini-dress and reddened hair.

She waits for the CB radio to crackle. During even-numbered hours, the women take turns sweet-talking truckers. They cede the odd-numbered hours to Bella's, the other brothel in Wells, a city of 1,300 people. The tactic, which lures more than one-third of Donna's customers, is more vital now that business is slumping.

At last, a trucker grunts through the airwaves: "Where you girls at?"

Amy leans toward a microphone and urges him to pull off at Exit 352.

Amy has worked in brothels, on and off, for eight years. She needed cash to get her own place, but also blames "a broken heart." Her grown son is the only person who has figured out her line of work, something she admits with downcast eyes.

She typically does three-week stints but starts wanting to go home to Utah after two. She used to pocket $6,000 each time -- even after splitting money with the house and covering room and board, condoms, licenses and legally required medical tests. But what she wistfully terms "the good old days" -- when she could meet up to 13 men a day and afford to turn down customers -- are gone.

Talking to the trucker, Amy curls up at a folding table just big enough for a radio and mike, and a white board listing the Ranch's selling points: Free beer. Free chili. Free shower. Souvenirs.

"I'm going to bed," the trucker tells her at last.

"Maybe come here and have a happy ending?" she purrs.

"Tell me what a happy ending is."

"I can't talk about it over the radio."

Silence.

Thanks, the trucker says. Not tonight.