Pay or No Pay?

[tapiper]

This seems to be a hot topic with a lot of workampers so I thought I would post my 2 cents worth.

Essentially, there are 2 types of workamping positions:
A. Positions where the campground pays the workamper
B. Positions where the workamper pays the campground for the privilege of working there.

Most advertised positions fall within type B above. The ad may read "volunteer", which means the campground will gain at the expense of the workamper's time and efforts. Another prevalent ad might read "work 40 hours a week, the first 25 hours for the FHU and the balance of hours receive pay at $10 per hour." That's 100 hours per month at $10 or $1,000 per month. So, in reality the workamper is paying the campground $1,000 to be there. One recent ad even stated that the workamper would be paid $12 for every hour worked and the cost of their site and utilities would be deducted from their check each pay period. This would mean the workamper would then receive a W-2 at the end of the year and have to pay taxes on money they never got to see. The campground sells a site and only has to pay for the extra hours which came to $631 or less than $4 per hour for the workamper over 40 hours.

I know there are plenty of people who jump at this offer, but to me it doesn't fly. Type A positions are what I look for. They will read "Perform duties for X hours per week, compensation is $X per hour for all hours worked, FHU and utilities, use of facility and amenities." These are campgrounds that actually value their workampers.

[soon2bexpat]

I agree with you, tapiper. I've been workamping for 7 years now and always take the type A jobs. If the goal is to make money, that's the route. I suppose if you're retired and can't figure out how to occupy your free time, a type B gig would be appealing 😉

[valhalla360]

Unless it's a really high end place, monthly rates are typically down around $500-750/month, so more like $5-7.50/hr.

If you are really volunteering, it may be OK because a free site is a side benefit but not the reason you are there. I could see being a greeter/info person at a visitor center...cleaning toilets isn't my idea of volunteering.

For the paid jobs, the pay may be horrible but I would disagree with you get a W-2 for money you never got to see. You saw it but it was provided in the form of barter. Reality is at the pay rates we are talking about, you are paying next to nothing in terms of income tax anyway.

We've thought about similar but looking at going to a tourist area (say Mackinaw or Yellowstone) for the summer. With a small full time population and a busy tourist season, they have lots of summer jobs. Get a job that pays cash and then get your own campsite. If they offer a campsite, it's on top of being paid. We'd be looking at it as a way to qualify for heavily subsidized obamacare before we hit full retirement age. If you hit around $25-30k/yr, the subsidy makes insurance dirt cheap. If you make too much the subsidy goes away.