jplunkett
Virginia
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Joined: 04/04/2008
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Seems a bit out of place to me that an apparent labor organizer is looking for a reason to mount a crusade in an RV/Camping interest group space.  Very few individuals give up their time unless they feel they are getting some form of pay-off in the end, and the pay-off need not be cash. The best is personal satisfaction and enjoyment of the experience.
safe travels,
John & Elizabeth Plunkett
Louisa, Virginia
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GeeksRUs
Sundre Alberta
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Joined: 06/17/2003
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If you don't like the compensation that work camping provides, DON'T work camp!
It sounds like you have TOOOOOOO much time on your hands... find a hobby & get off this crusade!
EH!
GeeksRUs
2008 Big Horn 3400RL
2003 F350, PowerStroke, 4x4, SuperCab, LongBox, SWB
RV Home Base @ Coyote Creek, Sundre Alberta
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MI Director
Michigan
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Joined: 03/03/2007
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You have two ends of the scale from just a site in a great park with so many hours required per week by a government agency to a full resort with pay and others goodies. It's called free enterprise for the individuals who work camp to decide what they want to do and if they want to get paid for living in a place they've always wanted to. You have individuals out there, that all they do is volunteer at Parks across the country season after season for just a free camp site for the experience to be in that area for a short time to take in what our Country Parks and Campgrounds have to offer both them and other individuals who they meet along the way.
If it's all about the money then you don't understand what work camping is about. It's something inside a person when you help someone get parked, the view outside your camper in the early morning, being in an area you've always want to camp in and most important doing something you love to do.
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Drifter_59
Mooresville, NC
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Joined: 11/30/2006
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Joe,
It's time to change the water filter again.
Chris
Enjoying Life with the 4 legged pal, Dexter (boxer/lab mix).
The Mule - '06 Chev 2500 HD, CC, SB, LT2, 6.0L, 4.10, Bilsteins
The Wagon - '07 JayFlight 30.5 RLS
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firedude
On the road
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Joined: 01/21/2003
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beaverdance wrote:But please, if you receive noncash compensation (like a FHU site), calculate the full retail value of that in your answer.
OK I did. My answer is I get full HU site for 20 hours per week. Plus, I am paid with great adventures, happiness of living where I want, meeting some great people, enjoying the land of never ending sunsets. I feel my "compensation package" is unbeatable! What's it worth? I did the calculation and it wound up being about a million bucks! Pretty good comp package if you ask me!
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JoeGood988
S.Dakota
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Joined: 03/04/2005
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Everything is a choice....when a campground owner tells me what the "perks" are, I can take it or leave it. I can rewrite the contract and tell them this is my offer to work for you, take it or leave it, more or less. None of the work campers I've encountered were forced to work for something they didn't agree upon. I make sure I don't clean restrooms, cut firewood, dig dtiches and other tasks I don't want to do....do they need us or do we need them?
2003 3330 Jayco Legacy
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beaverdance
Corvallis, Oregon
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Joined: 03/19/2008
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DianneOK wrote:beaverdance...I suggest that you get rid of that sizable chip on your shoulder.....it will take some weight off your mind.
As far as wanting personal info...what is it you really want?
DianneOK, moderator
OK, I'll spell it out---I don't care about "personal" info. I want to assess my chances of being able to negotiate a decent wage for workamping the following winter and spring. If I can't even make McDonald's wages, then I won't be able to do it--I have some basic expenses that I have to meet. Now, virtually no one has actually supplied that information, but the attitude of the responders has been that I am some kind of jerk for suggesting that workampers get paid at least minimum wage. So, if that is the prevailing attidue, and representative of the workamper cadre as a whole, my question is answered.
And I would gently suggest that if I DO have "a sizable chip on my shoulder", I ain't the only one here who does--not by a long shot. Read some of the responses!!
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mommag
Thornton, Colorado
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Joined: 06/26/2008
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IN response to you beaverdance
I do not currently workcamp, however would be interested in doing so after retirement. That being said..... I would set down with our budget and figure out what $ is needed above and beyound what income we all ready have comming in ie SS or IRAs etc. I would then resharch the area we would like to visit and see if they have a work program that would accomodate what we needed and tasks needed for said "job". This is something you would do for a "normal" job. You wouldn't take a job that underpaid what your needs were would you? And, you need to keep in mind (from what I have gathered here) that work camping is a way of life and from the sounds of it a suplement to other income. So, with that said, it will be your personal choice as to what, when and where you decide to work camp and what "perks" or "pay" you will want or need.
2005 F250
2007 Pilgrim FW
1 (all I need) Wonderful (most of the time) DH
Life is to short to sweat the small stuff.
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Horsedoc
Dixie --- N. Georgia
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Joined: 09/30/2002
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I don't believe that workcampers try to live on just the wages they are paid. We did some pretty good planning years ago and now it is paying off when we want to go some place and stay for a few weeks or months. The costs of just a place to park for that long would stop us from doing that (I try to be pretty close with the budget) so we try to find a hosting job. That way we get to stay there for no real exchange of money. If I priced my work at a CG from what I am used to making, the CG would never even look twice at us - they could not afford us.
Part of the 'package' - for want of a better word - is the area you stay in. Florida for the snowbird types for example. We like cool weather and mountains, so we look for the area we want to visit first, then at someway to stay there at a minimum cash flow.
The other side of all this is that it is fun to do and new things happen every day.
So what is is worth to look up and see a snow covered mountain as you sit outside and have morning coffee? Or to be able to take a short drive and see grazing buffalo and elk or have a deer walk through your campsite? Or have a get-together occasionally with people who have the same interests and ideals?
It is not just the amount written in the dollar amount space, all the other things come into the picture as well.
Trying to put a dollar figure on every thing and every minute will just make you disgusted and mad. If you cannot understand this, then you probably will not do well workcamping either.
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Bluebird Bob
Livingston, Texas
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Joined: 07/28/2003
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We presently have a workcamping couple that clean the bathrooms here in our park once a week for 2 hours.
For their 2 hours a week, they get a site valued at $600 per month. That's what the public would have to pay.
Pretty good value for the money, don't you think?
We get our site by working for 24 combined hours a week. Same deal.
Would have taken the bathroom detail if we had wanted to, but didn't.
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