Sliding Scale Review | 1 Year of Accessable Piercing Programs

We are approaching the one-year mark of my offering my sliding scale program in it’s most robust form, and I wanted to discuss what that has looked like for us at Nexus! I was first inspired to do a sliding scale after seeing many tattoo artists and hair stylists offer something similar, as a way to help those with lower incomes or different living situations still access safe services. This resonated with me heavily in a world where many of these service industries are becoming increasingly too expensive for many consumers. Piercing in particular, with its deep cultural and ritual history, seems unfair to price many people out of. So, in comes the sliding scale program.

Through our sliding scale program, we have assisted 83 people in being pierced this year, and saved them a total of $8,057.25, making that an average savings per client of nearly 100$. That also means that it has cost the business 8,057.25$ to operate the sliding scale program this year. But numbers don’t tell the only story.

From the very first sliding scale appointment I did at Laughing Buddha, I knew this was going to be something special and meaningful for me. The first one was emotional, the client kept saying over and over “I've never been somewhere that looks this fancy, I’ve never been able to afford coming to a place like this”. In the back, we discussed how most of her piercings were self-done, as she’s never been able to afford a professional piercing. Not only was I able to create a safe, memorable piercing experience and help her feel seen and valued, but through our interaction, I was able to connect her with a low-cost dental clinic to get some necessary dental work done. We cried, hugged, and the whole experience left me feeling a strong sense of purpose. These types of interactions are what I love about piercing, and here was a concrete way for me to create more of them.

This continued to be the theme of these sessions. Emotional, connective, and powerful. I pierced federal workers laid off in the shutdown, disabled clients who can’t even save up for a piercing without risking the narrow margins on their disability, I pierced poor students, mothers who signed up not for themselves but for their child, who has been asking for piercings her parents can’t afford for months.

Often, I hear piercers lament how do we stop people from piercing themselves at home, from going to the mall. Here was a real way I was able to do this- by extending an affordable way to access my services, people who often otherwise turned to self-piercing or cheap mall stands were thrilled to seek out safer services, at a price point they could actually afford.

And yes, the cost was high. 8 thousand dollars in a small business's opening year is not a small amount. That’s an entire, robust jewelry order for us. That’s payroll. That’s rent for a few months. That’s a second autoclave. That’s a lot. I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. And if we were running this business with a focus only on profit, this would be a foolish program to offer.

But something else also happened. We were booked. We were busy. In a time when even established studios in the area were posting about same-day openings and empty weekdays, we were booked out almost a month. Clients who got sliding scale services were suggesting it to their friends. At the time of writing this, over 1/3 of our “how did you hear about us” waver answers are “referred from a friend”. One client who got a sliding scale came back and asked for flyers and stickers to put up at events her band plays. Another asks me for more cards every time they are in- they hand them out at the library they work at.

The word of mouth from this program was huge. I watched, humbled and honored, as we were suggested again and again in forums and Facebook groups, often mentioning by name our sliding scale program, and the accessibility of coming to see us. The response has been overwhelming, in the best possible way.

So yes, it’s expensive for a studio to run a sliding scale program. We do lose money doing so, especially when doing one that offers enough slots to be impactful on the community. But we gain a large amount of referrals, recommendations, and word of mouth from our community. And we aren’t a studio focused only on profit. Profit is a part of any business, but we are equally focused on accessibility, community, and creating safer spaces. And this sliding scale program has shown us that this is one meaningful, accessible way to do it.