Hours for Site?

My personal opinion on this subject falls in line with the ones that mention monthly rents (not the daily rent multiplied by 30) in the area calculated by an average wage.

I actually think it is silly to expect someone to work 40 hours per week (no matter the type of work) in exchange for a FHU camp site. IMO that is abusive. Really, would you work at a sticks and bricks job for wages that were only equivalent to your rent and utilities NOT including the structure?

Personally I feel that 20 to 25 hours per week no matter where and no matter if there is a pool or whatever other amenity is a fair wage/hours rate.

I saw an offer for a job at a campground on the forum that required 30+ hours per week and thought that was too much.

I really understand that there are people out there that feel like they do not really need to worry about those things and that they are happy to work 40 hours per week for a camp site but think about it... that is selling yourself short.

Think about this as well... the camp site offered is usually NOT one of the prime sites. Most times it is right at the entrance with headlights shining through all night or it is next to the dump station or wherever. Then think about the fact that the loss of a couple of unpopular sites is of very little consequence to the operator in the grand scheme of things. They are making their money on the prime sites and their profit on the rest so they are sacrificing virtually nothing to exchange that site for you to be at their beckon-call. Then there is the electricity/water/sewer. How much of that can you really use each week?


Now I respect those of you that are willing to exchange your labors for a cam site at the 40 hour per week rate you really should take a moment to consider that this devalues us all in the mindset of operators that see work campers as nothing more than free labor and attempt to squeeze as much out of work campers as they possibly can for as little as they possibly can.

Most of these places have park aids, cashiers and other paid staff that are likely receiving at least minimum wage. They clock in at a specific time and clock out at a specific time.

Work campers, on the other hand are generally on site to deal with the customers 24/7 whenever they are in the park.

How many of you can think of a time when you were off duty, relaxing at your site and a camper needed something and you took care of it?

How many of you had the knock at the door at oh-dark-thirty to handle something in the park and you were the only staff there?

How many of you were just heading out for the day and someone needed something while the duty host was tied up elsewhere and you delayed for an hour to take care of the customer?

How many times have you worked a schedule where you were on two days and off two days and you started working at 07:00 in the morning and did not roll back in to the camp site until 19:00 for dinner because you were dealing with customers, cleaning camp sites, picking up trash at the boat ramp, checking in customers, selling firewood, running errands and such all day, THEN the ranger strolled over and asked you to assist with an interpretive program at 20:00 hours that night.


Not to say it is not fun and rewarding but in the same respect I do not believe it is appropriate for an operator to feel they can ask you for all those hours and then maybe even ask of you the extra little bits all the time that you were doing as well.

Unless we as a work camping community put a stop to operators requiring too much time in exchange for a "Free FHU camp site" operators will continue to take advantage.

As someone else mentioned... if you are required to put in a full weeks work then you might s well settle somewhere that the full weeks work is paid commensurate to at leas minimum wage.


Oh, and for those of you that say that the camp ground charges more... think of this... a "resort" that commands higher prices for the sites will likely be in an area where the wages are a little better than a place where wages are low so if the paid employees would likely get paid more then the compensation package for the work campers should also be better.

We only host at public parks, I have great negative thoughts about (volunteering) at a privately held park. If they are going to charge as much as they do. Then they can pay wages for all hours, plus a fre site.
We only work 20,24hours a week. ! But volunteer for more.
That's all
Chuck

Cobra21 wrote:
The reasonable price would be the monthly rate to camp there, divided by
$8.00 per hour. (They usually figure minimum wage)

Brian

Yep...he's got it ,just do the math. Hours times rate should not exceed the normal cost of a site for the month. It's not a matter of the right number of hours....it's a matter of the usual monthly rent!!!

I'm with Cobra21...to me 40 hours does sound like coming from the "taking advantage of", camp...figure your monetary cost of benefits...divide by $8 per hour and that should be the hours worked. For me, if it is a "site as pay", I don't want to pay electricity...I don't want to be out of pocket any money. I want propane, WIFI, and laundry. As long as there are people who will work for $2-$3 per hour...for profit RV sites will continue to advertise for such.

We are volunteering for the Oregon State Parks and volunteer or work 20 hours/week for a full-hookup site plus laundry privileges. Depending on the Park and the vacant volunteer site one can be doing combo job of interpretive/maintenance, cabin cleaning, yurt hosts, or whatever the opening is .. their volunteer openings website has openings listed by month, year and the parks in need of volunteers.

Send an email indicating your interest and wait for a response or call to get more information. We sent an email to one day use area which we learned has no sewer hookups and instead has a honey-wagon once a week, well that wouldn't work for us, so we emailed a thank you, but not interested due to too small black/grey tanks for taking showers, etc. to depend on a honey wagon.

BTW We no longer do electric, plumbing, or clean restrooms. For us this works. Normally we work 20 hrs/week, but have done 30 hrs/week, depending on what needs to be done and what we are doing as to whether it is enjoyable or not.

Dog Folks wrote:

ontheroad101 wrote:
Thanks Dog Folks, I guess you may be talking about my post the other day that got yanked. Didn't know I was doing anything wrong. We volunteered at Anastasia State Park in FL. Can't get a much better location them this IMHO. A short walk to the beach and in the oldest city ST Augustine. For a FHU site we had to work a total of 20 hours a week between us.

A heads up regarding Florida State Parks. This is not a criticism, but there are two different types of volunteers in most of the parks.

Normally, campground hosts get a FHU site for 20-24 hours per couple.

The other type of volunteer does maintenance, nature guides, working in the ranger station, etc. That is 40 hours per week for a site.

Make sure exactly what you are volunteering for. We took a "camp hosting" position and when we arrived, found out it was not, and 40 hours were required. Not blaming anyone, but I am real careful about the hours required now.

We only accept 20-24 hours, although we often put in 30-36. The key is that the extra hours are not required, and we do so as our choice.

We volunteered at a Florida State Park as maintenance and only 20 hrs were required as were all other vol positions there. Not saying other parks are the same just our experience. As with all volunteer or workcamping positions confirm all particulars in writing.

ontheroad101 wrote:
Thanks Dog Folks, I guess you may be talking about my post the other day that got yanked. Didn't know I was doing anything wrong. We volunteered at Anastasia State Park in FL. Can't get a much better location them this IMHO. A short walk to the beach and in the oldest city ST Augustine. For a FHU site we had to work a total of 20 hours a week between us.

A heads up regarding Florida State Parks. This is not a criticism, but there are two different types of volunteers in most of the parks.

Normally, campground hosts get a FHU site for 20-24 hours per couple.

The other type of volunteer does maintenance, nature guides, working in the ranger station, etc. That is 40 hours per week for a site.

Make sure exactly what you are volunteering for. We took a "camp hosting" position and when we arrived, found out it was not, and 40 hours were required. Not blaming anyone, but I am real careful about the hours required now.

We only accept 20-24 hours, although we often put in 30-36. The key is that the extra hours are not required, and we do so as our choice.

So far in the past 7 years we have been lucky, we always got our site and wages for all hours worked. Even had one that included our electric.

Thanks Dog Folks, I guess you may be talking about my post the other day that got yanked. Didn't know I was doing anything wrong. We volunteered at Anastasia State Park in FL. Can't get a much better location them this IMHO. A short walk to the beach and in the oldest city ST Augustine. For a FHU site we had to work a total of 20 hours a week between us.

The reasonable price would be the monthly rate to camp there, divided by
$8.00 per hour. (They usually figure minimum wage)

Brian