If Chase Myers can get approval from the notoriously straitlaced Illinois secretary of state’s office, his next set of license plates will say LUBE IT.
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“We were embarrassed, OK?” Myers says. “I came from a farm in northeast Missouri, and Ken came from a fairly small town in Iowa. It was just awkward for us to do this kind of thing.” He says that in close-knit, gossip-filled communities across America it’s hard enough to go into the store to buy sexual aids. It’s even worse if the person working the cash register is, say, your grandmother.
At the time massive amounts of cash were being thrown at–and ostensibly generated by–Internet companies. It seemed everybody was becoming a millionaire overnight. But before the partners could start retailing lubricants and sex toys on-line they had to set up a business account and get credit-card-processing machines. “We didn’t really want to go in and have the banker sitting there looking at us all wild-eyed and crazy because we wanted to open a bank account to sell dildos,” says Myers. “They’re like, ‘Can you take your business elsewhere?’ They don’t actually say that, but they look at you funny. But going in and saying you’re selling body lotion is a lot easier. They’re more willing to accept that. They’re like, ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ There aren’t a lot of questions involved in that one.”
The partners haven’t quit their day jobs, but over the next year they plan to add a new line or two and may even start advertising. The way Myers sees it, there will always be a demand. “I think most of America is kind of uptight about sex,” he says. “And since a lot of people buy lube and condoms on-line, I don’t mind that they’re uptight about sex–I’m uptight about sex, generally speaking. But they don’t want to admit they’re having it, although they enjoy having it. It’s like this dirty little secret–let’s not tell the neighbors. Then they pop out four kids and everybody knows they’re having sex and it’s no big deal.”
