I can chime in and say I have definitive proof cold approach doesn't work. I approached over 2,000 girls and had roughly four girls come back to my place and I had sex with none of them. Part of it could be attributed to the fact that I may have lacked skill in being able to seal the deal, but regardless, those are horrible numbers, and all in all the endeavor was a tremendous waste of my time. And for your reference, I am good-looking and rated about 8.5 on photofeeler.
Other guys in my area who I have approached with almost never get laid as well. A lot of them are delusional copers and talk a big game about how big of a player they are, but at the end of the day, have nothing to show for it. Cold-approach is a terribly low ROI activity. You will be demoralized with rejection from aint-sh1t-bitches who are well below you on virtually every meaningful metric and will reject you with a level of indignation that is almost incomprehensible. You will post on cold-approach forums and will be told by guys that you're doing this and that wrong when in reality their advice has no impact on producing results.
I am now strongly of the opinion that cold-approach is cancer. It also inflates the egos of bitches who are undeserving of having their egos inflated.
The dating market in the US just sucks man, I don't know what else to say. I guess you can settle for a less than good-looking chick... It's always something I've considered beneath me, since I am in shape, fashionable, and good-looking, but I recently read a book indicating that scientific data suggests that how good-looking a girl is has no bearing on how happy/satisfied you are with the relationship. It's food for thought, but I want a girl that's at least 1 point below my looks level, but apparently, even that's asking for too much.