Work Camping Anybody Doing it or did it.

[scanzel]

Has anyone done work camping ? Good or bad experience ? Might want to try it after I retire next year to get on teh road more but still make a little money too.

[DoubleEagle]

75 reads, and all we hear are crickets. I would like to hear some great ideas too. The only thing I have seen done was the opportunity to be a host in state or federal campgrounds in return for free camping. Not a great deal, but for some people it is a chance to use their social skills, and save a tiny amount.

[LuckyChow]

I came across a work camper channel on You Tube.  Some of the videos are interesting, as they interview different work campers at different campgrounds and national sites.

[typewriterman]

Hi,
I work in a state park in Vermont we call it host camping. If you pass the background check and sign on the offer is hookups free propane, entry into 52 state parks discounts on admissions to recreational opportunities at  particapating place's. You volunteer 20 hour's a week using what skills you may have,
Customer service, riding mower paint splitting wood, cleaning bathrooms Yuk! 😃 or offer any talent you may have. Abusing the public ect. No paycheck but its fun.
Don

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Paul and Becky Lawry wrote an excellent article about Work Camping in the November 2012 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine.  If you were a subscriber you would have seen this article. If you subscribe now you will see another Work Camping article by Paul and Becky coming up within the next couple of months which has even more informaton.  To read their previous article click here and you will see another example of the types of article we run in BCM:  https://dreamscapetravels.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/nov-2012-bcm-paul-lawry-work-camping.pdf

[luvrbus]

You build the rig to travel and for freedom,I really don't see the point unless you plan on being in the area for 3 or 4 months anyway.It wouldn't work for us after no more than 2 or 3 weeks in a area we move on JMO.It's not for everyone but try it you may like it 

[Tony LEE]

It is a good way to build  a "pause" into your travels, especially for full-timers.

We have spent time on cattle stations (ranches to you) in Australia sometimes helping out with whatever is going, or tutoring school kids where they are home schooled because of isolation, or sometimes there just to provide a bit of company for husband and wife who might be 100 miles from the nearest town. Get food and fuel and a new experience or maybe a small wage. Whatever.

Main thing is not to get or feel ripped off by the deal. Some places value your time at $2 an hour while valuing their part of the deal as if it is a five star RV resort. Especially if you have marketable skills (mechanic, welding, building), then your time needs to be valued at something close to market rates.  Volunteering positions are especially liable to inequity because the hours just keep increasing until you put your foot down.

Think laterally in your search for a position and it will bring new experiences to your travels.

[Dave5Cs]

We did it for 2 years and had a lot of fun but found out later that the other 2 couples got everything for free. We worked and had to pay for our spot electric and our own gas. The management was afraid of being replaced so if you asked about any management jobs you were gone. I fixed a lot of the machines that were in need from time to time and the guy that also used and abused most of them would tell me not to fix them otherwise they won't buy us new ones??? On average we worked 35 to 40 hours a week and got $7.00 an hour. The money didn't matter to us it was just that they told us it would only be 20 hours a week and then it keep going up.

The other two couples were stabbing us in the back afraid we would replace them because they told us we were working to hard.
We finally got laid off for the season when I went to the owner and told her about some of the things that were going on around there. I told her I had had a business and would have wanted to know about slackers doing nothing all day and the comments they made about customers. After we left the manager called us and wanted us back and had checked out everything they had been told and are making some changes. They kept the other couples who we caught in the file cabinet looking through every ones records to include our personal info which is in direct violation of all HIPPA laws.

We declined to go back and said we had had enough of that bull. We fixed equipment, Mowed lawn, cleaned cabins and 3 full houses on the property for big groups, remodeled kitchens and baths, Fixed watering systems. I was a certified First responder for the Marina they had there also. Worked the Boat dock fill station. Cooked meals for the thanks giving and Christmas party. And after all this no one else was paying for their stuff.
Check the contract before you sign. Ask to meet the people working there and ask if you have to pay for your stuff or does it come with the deal.
Dave5Cs

[luvrbus]

Not all those jobs are working in campgrounds,there was a recruiter at Quartszite that had plenty of 2 and 3 week jobs outside of working in campgrounds that paid decent money. I couldn't deal with the public working in a campground no way 

[gg04]

Best paying are gate guard jobs.  We normally used three couples a season in the RV parks, 20 hours a week for spot and electric. Rdw

[luvrbus]

We have friends that do grocery and other stores resetting they been doing for about 7 years and like it, they get paid decent,work is not hard and both do it.They just pick out a area they would like to travel too and the company tell them if any resets are in that area. Each job last about a week he says then they fire the bus up and move on when they choose too. Right now they are here doing a reset in Safeway at Ft.Mohave then they going to head Northwest.They stay as busy as they want to sometimes they choose not to work for a couple of months 

[ScharpeStGuy]

Interesting topic. Just an idea but newbies like me could use eyes on the ground to check out buses across the country for us before we fly out. Would be cheaper than a plane ticket and sounds like it could pay better then working at a campground. For that matter for those who build / convert the bus themselves could most likely use your expertise as well from just reviewing the plans, suggestions as to where systems should be located, showing how to do _______, etc....

Now with that said there is a bus in Phoenix I would like checked out a GMC 4905a another in Mohave that Luvrbus installed the engine/transmission (really just need additional pictures and if there was an easy way/area to add three bunk beds, then I have a MCI 102a3 outside Roanoke that needs to be looked at.

All the best everyone

[bronson]

The couple we bought our bus from (Terry and Connie Simpson) did quite a bit of work camping. Terry goes by redbus on this board. He told me they had worked for Amazon one year and I think they provided a free camping spot while employed. His wife is a retired nurse so she has worked as a nurse and Terry worked at a marina- not sure where. They also had worked as gate guards out west somewhere. The gate guard job sounded the toughest because they had to dry camp and man the gate 24-7, so that wouldnt allow any time to go places with wife.  Someday when I retire, I really wouldnt mind working a marina or campground if I can utilize the skills I have.

[Oonrahnjay]

We have friends that do grocery and other stores resetting they been doing for about 7 years and like it, they get paid decent,work is not hard and both do it.

     Clifford, I'm not familiar with the term "store resetting".  Exactly what does that mean and what's the work like?  Thanks.

[luvrbus]

Bruce, they go in and arrange the food in order when the suppliers pay for a different spot on the shelves, you ever notice in stores the goods have been moved around that happens because another supplier paid more for the spot.Very seldom will see a house brand in a prime spot   there is no money in for a store as the suppliers bid on shelving spots once a year so then they hire a resetting contractor .I learn this from my friend that was CEO of Albertson's when we were playing golf and I was ragging on him about changes in our local store