Gate Attendants versus Campground Hosting

I have volunteered and have been a gate attendant. I enjoyed both, the volunteer position provided a site with full hook ups with a requirement of a minimum of 20 hours per week. Needless, to say if you are enjoying what you are doing, more than 20 hours is a breeze.

As a gate attendant I was contracted and required to bid on each season, Summer April 1-September 30, Winter October 1-March 31. The hours were 6 am - 10 pm, working four days and off four days. A full hook up site was provided. The hours were long, but during the summer it was busy, so time went by quickly. The winter days were much slower, so needless to say much longer. However we had a wonderful gate house to work in that had bathroom, kitchen and a large room with TV.

I do not know that I would ever do the gate attendant job again, but would definitely volunteer.

Dog Folks wrote:
The OP here:

Thanks for your input SCR. We have already completed the paperwork necessary to bid on other COE positions, in the past, but have not bid. We also have a Dunn and Brad Number and a SAM number .

We drove through the proposed campground today and have decided to remain as volunteer hosts, in the park where we are now. The advantages of what is important to us, outweighs the disadvantages by a wide margin.

Thanks everyone for your input, the posts have really helped us make our decision.

Contact Park Attendant positions are not for everybody. The perception that we sat there and waved at people as the primary responsibility is far from reality. Perhaps my post will shed some light on the positions to others.

I couldn't agree more that what is important to you is without exception the route to take. On this we are alike in mind.

Be well.

The OP here:

Thanks for your input SCR. We have already completed the paperwork necessary to bid on other COE positions, in the past, but have not bid. We also have a Dunn and Brad Number and a SAM number .

We drove through the proposed campground today and have decided to remain as volunteer hosts, in the park where we are now. The advantages of what is important to us, outweighs the disadvantages by a wide margin.

Thanks everyone for your input, the posts have really helped us make our decision.

My wife and I were contract Gate Attendants for 16 years and successfully completed 24 contracts, for a while we worked summer and winter contracts.

If I had to say what the one biggest draw back to our contracts was it would be the hours required in the gate house. Most required 16 hours a day and a four day on four day off cycle. While the contract did not specify that both of us had to be in the gate house at the same time, except at busy times, we found that both of us were in there 80% of the time. I should add that this requirement was clear in the contract and we were well aware of it. The need for this was also crystal clear.

During your 8 hours out of the gate house in the 4 day cycle you were on call for emergencies, customer problems and answer the phone. This can cause a real problem trying to get some sleep.

As it was a bid situation I can not complain about the net amount per hour the going successful bid produced but rest assured minimum wage hourly positions would have been higher in most cases. It should be noted that there are definite tax advantages to being a contractor as opposed to an hourly employee. One should also consider the cost of the site when looking at the net income for your efforts as it is free when you are on your duty days as well as off.

There is a myriad of paper work necessary to get started. Registering for A Dunn and Brad Street number is mandatory, no cost involved. Registration with several government agencies was required but they have just recently reduced this to a couple with Sam.gov being the minimal required, again at no cost. Others are for the checking for available bid opportunities. Then there is the submitting of bids. We can't say this strongly enough, Read The Contract!. We have run in to a few that did not and bid entirely to low. There are other expenses involved like purchasing money orders, postage and fuel. Sometimes office supplies are supplied sometimes not. A few require the successful bidder provide equipment like lawn mowers and other outside tools, but not many. You will be required to have bond for both of you and vehicle insurance and vehicle to meet the contract requirements. At the end of each 4 day cycle you will be making a deposit. The way the deposit is made varies from district to district. Reports are required which for the most part are computer generated. Computer skills are mandatory.

We have always said that as a gate attendants you are one of two things:

1. Bored out of your mind.

or

2. Busy beyond belief.

You can be both in the same 16 hour day.

We have never bid maintenance contracts so we won't address them other then to say we ran in to several people that under bid and it ended up costing them money to complete the contract.

Having completed several winters as a volunteer fee hosts we found the paper work excessive, no computer. The hours required in the gate house, five to six per day, were also excessive. Even when not in the gate house we were required to address visitor issues, emergencies and answer the phone 24 hours a day when on duty. The on duty cycle was either four on and four off or seven on and seven off. Basically a paid gate attendant position with ten or eleven hours less in the gate house without pay. Deposits were handled by the Park Rangers. A bond was necessary but in most cases the cost was reimbursed. The vehicle requirements and associated costs were the same as a contract position. While this type of position is fine for some people it wasn't something we wanted to continue.

We retired last year and are now strictly security and fee compliance hosts. We have very little contact with customers and we're getting 8 hours sleep a night. Our winter position is seven days a week our summer position is four days a week. Hours required are whatever is needed to complete the assigned duties. While there is no pay involved a full hookup site is provided. We consider this as income as we do not have to spend the money for a nice site and no taxes are involved. There are costs associated with these positions as well, mostly fuel to perform the patrols.

If you have specific questions I would be glad to attempt to answer them.

square dancers wrote:
We were Gate Attendants for the COE at a swimming beach, Thursday though Sunday 12pm to 6pm, could rant about the lack of professionalism by the COE Rangers but I won't, suffice it to say we won't do that position again.
We did have a position working directly for the COE out of the CORPS Office, DW was the main desk receptionist and I did park maintenance where I was given an assignment at 8am out in a campground and told not to return until 4pm, make it last. We worked 16 hours a week.
We were Volunteers at a COE Visitors Center and worked with Camp Ground Hosts, from that we learned that the bid process and the hours were not for us and the Park Rest Room Cleaners also bid for their positions and have to provide all their supplies for the position, this is not for us either.
We did enjoy our time as Hosts and Guides at the Visitors Center.

Thank you for your "on topic" response. It helps

We were Gate Attendants for the COE at a swimming beach, Thursday though Sunday 12pm to 6pm, could rant about the lack of professionalism by the COE Rangers but I won't, suffice it to say we won't do that position again.
We did have a position working directly for the COE out of the CORPS Office, DW was the main desk receptionist and I did park maintenance where I was given an assignment at 8am out in a campground and told not to return until 4pm, make it last. We worked 16 hours a week.
We were Volunteers at a COE Visitors Center and worked with Camp Ground Hosts, from that we learned that the bid process and the hours were not for us and the Park Rest Room Cleaners also bid for their positions and have to provide all their supplies for the position, this is not for us either.
We did enjoy our time as Hosts and Guides at the Visitors Center.

stickdog wrote:
We were volunteer fee attendants at a COE day use facility last summer, very boring sitting in our little 6x10 fee station. That said, we had a beautiful site in a secure volunteer village with 5 other volunteer couples.

Thank you for your "on topic" response. It helps.

We were volunteer fee attendants at a COE day use facility last summer, very boring sitting in our little 6x10 fee station. That said, we had a beautiful site in a secure volunteer village with 5 other volunteer couples.

In my experience, gate attendants have to put in time on the gate whereas hosts are just expected to make rounds a couple times a day, collect fees if there is no gate attendant, keep an eye out for loose pets and trash, sell firewood, and keep toilet paper in the bathrooms.
Volunteers get a site, mostly full hookup, close to the shower house whether they are paid a stipend or not.
all are given a couple days off a week, but not on the weekends.

Camp hosts can be moderately friendly and helpful or overly friendly (yakkity yakkers). Some are knowledgeable about the area...some don't know much at all, but have the brochures and maps.

cyntdon2010 wrote:
We have visited many campgrounds whereby, The Host never show his face or interact with campers.. where are the friendly camper host?

When traveling, I have noticed that also, but as a host, I always thought I was being too "sensitive."

As host, we make four rounds of the campground each day. Being visible allows us to help answer questions and I believe, encourage campers to follow the rules.

We try to be true hosts, helpful,friendly and welcoming. Works for us.