I used to teach grad school Economics and one of the first and abiding principles one learns is the law of supply and demand. This operates in any free market, and the SW market on the Ave is no exception. I was out and about yesterday and found as many SW dates as I could handle. They were all SWs I have previously reviewed, so, rather than give you reprise reports, I was thinking about why I always seem to have so much success finding talent on the Ave during the day (and even the early morning) when there are clearly many more on the street in the early to later evening. The answer seems to be pretty simple: there are far fewer mongers during the day as well. I have the flexibility to do that more often than not, and most mongers only have the after workday and evening time options available to them on a regular basis.
There are pluses and minuses to daytime mongering. There are fewer SWs but they tend to be available longer on the street, often long enough to circle around the block, or even come back 15 minutes later after you have checked the vicinity for other alternatives. I have had evening experiences where a monger makes a wild U turn right in the middle of K just to make sure he beats everyone to a SW he wants to pick up. That's just ridiculously unsafe from many angles, but reflective of the fact that many know from experience that if they don't take advantage of an opportunity right away that it will be gone very shortly thereafter because of the heavier monger traffic in the evening, and knowing that the one-ways and triangle street configurations off the K make it very difficult sometimes to make a simple turn around the block. In the evening (after rush hour) the traffic is far less and you can traverse the stroll in about half the time or less than in the day. But LE presence is much higher and you stand out more when trolling to LE posted on and watching the Ave, not to mention undercover. And you are much easier to tail in that light traffic, and observe picking anyone up on the Ave. During the day the vehicle and pedestrian traffic is much higher, it takes longer to travel the stroll and/or travel to indoor places like the Carlysle and to spot SWs among the civilians in more crowded areas (like around Somerset). And it is much more difficult to find a convenient open parking spot if you decide to do a little exploring on foot. But during the day it is easier to blend in both driving and walking, it is easier to be inconspicuous picking up a SW (many civilians are picking up friends, etc, from the many stores on the Ave), it is somewhat safer in those neighborhoods, and you feel more assured parking your vehicle and knowing it is likely to still be there when you get back to it.
On balance I prefer daytime mongering, which is why I do it so much. The biggest drawback is variety. Many SWs who like days stick to them and vice versa. And since there are many more SWs in the evenings, you are more likely to experience a greater variety when you are lucky enough to find any. The day-timers include quite a few suburban gals who drive down to the Ave, leave their kids with Mom or a sitter, and are just looking to make some extra cash. They tend to be prettier, less hardened, more of a GFE and not hooked on drugs. The hardened druggies are apt to be out until all hours of the night and wee hours of the morning and are sleeping in until late afternoon or even later. There are some SWs who are out at all hours of the day and night, but it is the exception rather than the rule.
I don't feel that this report will open the floodgates of demand and ruin my good daytime gigs on the Ave. Most just don't have that kind of work/leisure flexibility. But if you have a day off sometime, try sampling from the other side of the buffet. It can be pretty appetizing.
