? Becoming a KOA Work Kamper for $

From experience...Work camping is a great thing, if you have patience and enjoy the public. If a person is lacking in either of those two areas, it's is misery.
If you are in a government park..state or federal, there will be a time expectation, usual;y of 3 months.

As a rule..the more money you are being paid, the more responsibility and hours expected. Work-Camping in a state or federal park and many county ones, is a trade. You get your site and whatever amenities are available, such as power, water, etc. In return you will have shifts and usually 3 days off. You might work the office, or just out in a golf cart selling firewood and answering questions. Yes, bathrooms might fall into your work routine.

The upside? is that once you have a history of being a good Host..you can criss-cross the country, as many many do, staying in wonderful parks, almost anywhere you want to be, for 3 months.

I think the most common complaint from Work-Campers is not knowing what the job entails. Like bathrooms. Do the E mail thing...get the commitments in writing. And sometimes, there are personal classhes...you 'can' just up and leave. No one is going to chase you down. Try not to do that tho..you need good references to get the good parks.

There is an interesting side-bar to work-camping. ANY park where you get your site in exchange for doing something. The IRS views the trade as having a value. If that site is rented out for XX dollars, and you are getting it free, in trade...that is a taxable benefit. They have never been known to go after anyone but..keep receipts, to prove your trade value. And that is why you cannot work-camp in another country.or people from another country, cannot work-camp in the US, unless one is paying income tax to the IRS, of course.

Gary Haupt

I would do these for free as volunteer at Yosemite.

Again, if you are having fun with it and doubles the enjoyment of doing camping and being paid for it is a bonus.

I have a friend who bought a semis to go around and see the country after he drop off his load. He says all his earnings go straight to the bank as he is living rent-free and minimal overhead.

B.O. Plenty wrote:
Add up the hours worked X even minimum wage. There is no way you can come out as a workamper vs a minimum wage job working anywhere else and just paying for you site out of your earnings. No cleaning toilets, nobody knocking on your door after your work hours, no unreasonable management, no extra hours without pay.
B.O.

We pay wages from hour one. Plus, you get a site, you get electricity, water and cable TV. Plus you don't have to commute to and from work. What minimum wage jobs offer a better deal? Most minimum wage jobs do require doing a few less than glamorous duties, some even include cleaning toilets.
BTW, cleaning toilets isn't all that bad a duty. No one bothers you. It's out of the weather. You move at your own pace and you don't have to do it with bare hands.

fj12ryder wrote:

B.O. Plenty wrote:
Add up the hours worked X even minimum wage. There is no way you can come out as a workamper vs a minimum wage job working anywhere else and just paying for you site out of your earnings. No cleaning toilets, nobody knocking on your door after your work hours, no unreasonable management, no extra hours without pay.
B.O.

Apparently your experience is different from many others. We have friends who have done it for 4 years and love it. They don't clean toilets, no unreasonable management, site is supplied, propane and electric is supplied, all they have to do is man the entry booth for a few hours several days/week.

You must have picked the wrong park to work in.

Hey - there's good deals - and bad deals!

You couldn't pay me enough or offer enough "perks" to "man the entry booth" at some parks. Fee space = no thanks. Ex: CampLand in San Diego, AKA The San Diego Zoo.

Slow park (the entry booth) or busy park.
Kinda like the gate guard jobs in TX at the fracking sites.

Whatever rings your/their chimes.

:W

B.O. Plenty wrote:
Add up the hours worked X even minimum wage. There is no way you can come out as a workamper vs a minimum wage job working anywhere else and just paying for you site out of your earnings. No cleaning toilets, nobody knocking on your door after your work hours, no unreasonable management, no extra hours without pay.
B.O.

Apparently your experience is different from many others. We have friends who have done it for 4 years and love it. They don't clean toilets, no unreasonable management, site is supplied, propane and electric is supplied, all they have to do is man the entry booth for a few hours several days/week.

You must have picked the wrong park to work in.

PatJ wrote:
I have a $100,000 check sitting here with your name on it. If you will just pay me the transfer fee of $100, I will release it to you. Guaranteed!

Just send me $20. for "shipping & handling" and the transfer fee will be sent ASAP via FedEx.

BTW - years ago (in So. CA) there was a guy ("Joe Karbo") who extensively (full page ads) advertised his paperback book, "The Lazy Man's Way to Riches" - for $10.

Keep it for 30 days, and if you're not satisfied - return it for a full refund.

No, I didn't bite - but "Joe" had an address in Huntington Harbor, Huntington Beach, CA. One day while doing inspections - "we" (a Fire Engine Company) met Joe purely by accident. He was getting his (mega) yacht ready for an ocean voyage to Hawaii.

Nice guy - and *HE* found the "Lazy Man's Way to Riches" -
which, by the way, was just basic (factual) info on investments. Info that was readily available anywhere.

At $10 a pop -even "back when"- not many buyers bothered to return his book for a refund.

$ Legal - Ka-ching $

:W

Add up the hours worked X even minimum wage. There is no way you can come out as a workamper vs a minimum wage job working anywhere else and just paying for you site out of your earnings. No cleaning toilets, nobody knocking on your door after your work hours, no unreasonable management, no extra hours without pay.
B.O.

The workatkoa.com program is for working only at KOAs. There are advantages to working with the same reservation system and basic procedures used at all of the 500 plus KOAs around the US and Canada. You can use the free web sites but I found just working one season at a KOA, more than pays for the cost of the service in free camping going to the next KOA. As with anything, you will need to try things out to find out what works for you.

I have a $100,000 check sitting here with your name on it. If you will just pay me the transfer fee of $100, I will release it to you. Guaranteed!

dcmac214 wrote:
Posting here thinking the workamping section has too limited views.

Becoming a KOA Work Kamper - worth the $35?

Is it any better, more convenient, easier, etc, than going to one of the online sites to find positions?

Retirement coming soon - less than 2 years - and the idea of workamping sounds real good. Just discovered that for $35 (plus tax of course) I can join the KOA Work Kampers. You don't work directly for the larger KOA organization, you basically contract with whatever KOA affiliated campground you choose to work.

To me it makes more sense to join https://workamper.com/ unless you want to only work at KOA really, really bad.