maxx233
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Re: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
firedoc wrote: Max, Must not need medical insurance (but your young). Be thankful and don't look over your shoulder.:E True! I naively had neglected that, and I should have factored that in since I did have it at my previous 'real job' ;) I think if it were an issue further near the forefront of my attention, I'd either get private insurance (although I hear that's pretty much a joke, or rather a false-security), or when the time came to consider spending some of the money in our savings I'd just say that we need to keep about half of it for possible emergencies. I know in the grand scheme of the medical machine that keeping $10-15k around may not offer much security for anything but the most trivial surgeries or normal doctor visits and medicine - but it's more a philosophical point to me. At some point, even if I was facing eminent death, I'd rather make my money in relative peace and spend that money to enjoy what time I have left rather than to endure the time I have left with one operation after another and no promise that I may wake up from the next one. And this job allows just that - it's making connections with people, spending lots of time with a spouse that you presumably love (or else you'd probably drive each other nuts after about a month of this job!), and it's making a good amount of quick money that can be spent to continue travel or whatever else you may be after in life. With the number of jobs that offer medical insurance dwindling, non-existant as far as I know in the workamper world(?) - as well as the perpetually narrowing benefits of employer-provided insurance - my argument still remains that this job does pay quite well, even though some people get put off by equating it to be $5-something an hour. Try to find another job that for at least half of the year you can come and go at will, and at the end of 2 months, 3 months, 6 months of sitting around doing whatever you want 98% of the time and not working hard the other 2% - you can walk away with as much money as this job provides.275Views0likes0CommentsRe: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
gktsuda1956 wrote: Hmmm, I've followed this link for some time. Even told a friend about this industry and he and his wife are planning on joining your ranks. Really respect all of you for what you do and live thru (floods, dry dusty spells, mud and rain, heat, rattle snakes, etc). But I am now convinced those oil companies are making out like bandits. The hours you put in for $175 per day. Somebody is getting screwed and it's NOT the oil companies. It's a matter of perspective and what one chooses to be grouchy about, really. My wife and I are in our 20s, left normal life a year and a half ago to travel and found out about gate guarding while working at Amazon over the winter (Where we also found out how grouchy some people can be) ;) I can tell you that this is by far the easiest, highest-paying, stress free job *I've* ever had - and before we traveled I had a pretty cush job that I loved as a programmer analyst. For pay, the thing is, there's no expenses here. We're here in our travel trailer, that we pull with our van - all paid for with cash - and we sit around talking, playing games, etc etc... And occasionally bothering ourselves to walk outside and check someone in. Now, granted, it's hot outside, and on *our* site we have to wear FRCs and PPE, worse off than many in this forum even, but we're only out there for maybe 30 seconds at a time! Easiest job ever. There's no politics we really need to concern ourselves with, we don't even *really* have any supervision or normal rules that apply to us.. Pretty stress free. So because the only things we're paying for are our cellphones, food, and some gas (all write-offs) we have an absolutely tremendous amount of disposable income. We're easily stashing $3k/mn into the bank - which is just about what I made, gross, before we decided to travel. So with that, we've managed to buy ourselves some beautiful land and stick a yurt on it with money from this job, so we now have our own place to live that we own outright. In just another couple months it'll have power, water, septic - all huge expenses, all paid for by this job in no time. And what has it cost us? We've learned a lot of intriguing things about an industry we're all dependent on. We've become familiar with a nice part of Texas we would have otherwise only passed through and never absorbed any culture from. We've been forced to learn to cook - or starve. We've gotten to write off several new toys and equipment we'll certainly use after this. I've *finally* had time to pursue personal projects - playing guitar, writing a book, programming my own apps - something I falsely thought I'd have time for once I quit my job and started traveling (ha!!!) Our biggest 'cost' has been setting back the rest of our travel plans (OK, ok, our biggest cost has been stressing about tornadoes... we're from CA) ;) And, mind you, we're working for Gate Guard Services - who only pays $125/day. I do think it's important to note that this job isn't for everyone, as you demonstrate it's easy to find things to gripe about. On top of your list the biggest thing I would add, what would make this job unfeasible for most, is the isolation. If you're lucky you get good cell signal and Internet. Regardless of luck, you don't get to go visit friends or go out on Friday night. So it really just depends a lot on who's going to be working the job and what's important and negligible to them. If we hadn't already been traveling and used to communicating with established relationships only every now and then, that would have killed this for us. But as it is, we couldn't hardly imagine a more ideal way of paying for a lot of standing goals in a short amount of time.465Views0likes0CommentsRe: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
We were fortunate to not have any damage other than lots of dimples on the side of our trailer facing the hail onslaught. Trying to come up with ways to prevent that in the future, because from everything I gather the winds are supposed to get faster and the hail bigger. I'm more worried about tipping over when we get to that point though.. I'm gonna try to come up with some sort of anchoring method, but it's probably gonna be hard since the ground on these pads is so hard - we can hardly get large nails in the ground to hold the stop sign down, let alone something beefy enough to anchor a trailer :/ anyone try this before? How do guards across Texas not get tipped over like crazy in this weather each year?251Views0likes0CommentsRe: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
OK.. So we're way up north near Muenster, and - being from California - we're starting to get quite worried about the storms up here that we keep hearing about. Particularly tornadoes - does anyone have experience with these, or recommendations for what to do while living in an RV in the oil fields if one touches down? I've never seen one before, I can deal with earthquakes just fine, but these things kinda freak me out ;) Several of the crew guys I've talked to have suggested getting the heck out of the trailer and hiding out in/under the sand tanks since they're not going anywhere. Doesn't lightning come along with tornadoes though? Being in a big open top metal box doesn't seem like a good idea if there's lightning too - otherwise I suppose it sounds fine though *shrug* Speaking about lightning, I'm slightly worried about it on its own too. We love lightning and have been looking forward to seeing these huge texas storms I hear about, but upon being faced with actual impending storms it now occurs to me that we've always watched from the comfort of a nice up-to-code properly grounded house. The generator trailer has a grounding spike in the ground (or as much in the ground as we could get it since the ground is like concrete on some of these pads), with a connection to our trailer frame - so I suppose a strike should theoretically be most likely to follow that path should it hit the trailer? Hopefully in all the combined years of gate guarding experience in this thread someone has personal experience with these things and/or suggestions on best practices while living in the field. It would be great stuff for us all to review I'm sure! Thanks much305Views0likes0CommentsRe: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
We're working EOG gate up north. Unfortunately I have nothing to compare it to, but have been meaning to ask the same question, in case anyone else wants to chime in too! :) We follow them around, so it's steady work. And it is *steady work*, sometimes there's 1-3 hours at night with no one here, but often not. The EOG company men have been good to work with. The EOG outsiders that come in.. Some we don't much care for, but they're mostly fine too. Had to invest in FRCs and some PPE, as they're required on site. And speaking of that, the hardest thing has been the huge safety list that they want us to go over with every single person who comes in the gate, every single time! They're coming down hard on GGS that the guards need to do it or they'll switch contractors I guess, but the EOG folks on site unofficially imply that they want us to just read it to those we don't recognize because otherwise we'd be out there all day backing traffic up halfway to the main road. Everyone grimaces at this list, including the company men, but the higher ups at EOG are very serious about it! So it's been difficult balancing that, but otherwise we're pretty happy with this as a first gate.. Probably gonna stick it out here till the end of the month then see about having someone fill in for a few days if you want to come north and experience it for yourself ;)346Views0likes0CommentsRe: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
mdbass wrote: maxx233 wrote: and I only had one shot at this (could hardly order as it is, and it's 2 hours round trip to get into town to pick it up.) When someone asks about the challenges of gate guarding, this is a prime example. And 2 hours is not that far out of the ordinary, even for groceries! Yeah, I think the top challenges I've observed after doing this for a little over a month would be... Relationship dynamics - You have to *really* like the person you're doing this with, which fortunately we do... but that presents another problem: spending good quality time together. It's hard to do, at least on our gate, and it's kinda random chance if we do or don't get a gap between 1-3am where people aren't coming or going. Last several nights we haven't. Resource Availability - I've never lived in a situation where I'm not 10 minutes from the nearest fast food source. Learning to plan what we'll eat for the next week+, and in our case - learning how to cook it, is a different concept when it's not simply out of convenience to not make extra trips to the store - but out of near necessity. It's very difficult for us to plan the time to get into town, shop, and get back - and even when we do it efficiently it still tweaks with our schedules (I have to wake up earlier, my wife has to stay on shift later, etc) It ripples for a day or two after the fact. Planning - Like you observed, it's hard to not necessarily have a second shot at things - either it needs to be planned out very thoughtfully, or it needs to be done fool-proof or it could be an enormous hassle to correct. I'm very analytical, and never buy anything without spending loads of time on Amazon comparing options and reading reviews. With the cellphone booster I just couldn't do that, and it hurt - but I had to go with gut feeling on what I'd researched at random and dump the cash to just make it happen. That's happened several times - before coming here, our bed was getting uncomfortable, and we just sucked it up and dumped the money for a new one. VERY unlike me, but I'm immeasurably glad we did because there's no fat chance we could have gotten a new bed after getting this assignment. There's more examples of similar things that have cropped up, but so far nothing I regret - just stuff that's against my normal way of doing things. Social Life - I'm getting to know the guys who come in and out of the gate more. And my facebook friends are probably muting me. Excercise - we're not getting any. I'm beginning to be concerned about this. We're both in fine physical shape, just through normal activity, but since we're not so active on the gate I feel we should be compensating somehow, but I haven't put together how yet. But there are also advantages: We've been on the road for a year, and when we first set out on this trip I was so excited about all these things I wanted to do: Learn guitar, program more (my normal job), read, ponder various life philosophies, etc. Come to find out, traveling is very time consuming and I hardly got to touch any of those projects until now. Now I have 8 hours each day where my wife is asleep, and I can spend those hours doing anything that can be done with occasional interruptions to answer the bell. I'm completely loving that. Despite having to swallow my pride and dump money on things from time to time - it's incredibly easy to save money doing this. Expenses are very few and simple, pay is reliably consistent (at least for our gate, we travel with them for as long as we care to stick with them.) Just have to make sure you set aside your own taxes. It's also an interesting experience seeing how various operations are done - I watched a drill rig (I presume) on a pad about 300 meters out our window, and it was quite intriguing to see. Another time I watched the process of hooking up a big-rig to a tow truck. Random stuff like that I've always wondered how its done, and I actually get to see some now. And yet another time I watched some of the guys trying to pull an 85,000lb sand truck out of a foot of mud with an F250 (But I'm pretty sure they were just playing around that time) ;) Another random perk for me has been having a legitimate (enough for my wife to finally approve at least) excuse to buy some cheap surveillance doo-dads. That stuff just intrigues the heck out of me for some reason, and I finally have a cheapo wireless PTZ camera, and our camcorder hooked up to some DVR software. I got the approval for this not because we need surveillance by any means, but because it makes it a heck of a lot easier to see which direction people are coming/going from when the bell goes off and we're parked at an awful angle (2 of the 3 sites we've been at so far), or well before it goes off to buy us some extra time to wrap things up before they're waiting outside or flying out the gate (it also makes it easier to go back and figure out who flew out the gate so we can maintain our headcount lol) But really.. I just wanted it :)242Views0likes0CommentsRe: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
Here's a question for you guys that have been doing this for several years... Taxes - how are they dealt with as a gate guarding couple, presumably working as an independent contractor under 1099 conditions? --Does only one of you (the one the check is made out to) file the 1099? --As I understand it there are quarterly estimated tax payments due the IRS - for those of us who've only ever used turbotax or a CPA once a year, how are those payments made and 'estimated'? --Have you been caught off guard by self employment tax or anything else? Any advice for things to look out for or what to expect for actual liability at the end of the year?177Views0likes0CommentsRe: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
Where did you get your 22' flag pole? I was thinking of that as I wondered through lowes looking for a solution to mount the antenna, but they didn't have them there :/ I'm only $10 vested in my conduit solution, I wouldn't mind going with a real flag pole still if it's sturdy enough.. Would be slightly *more* easily portable than what I've got now I figure lol177Views0likes0CommentsRe: Information Discussion for Gate Guards
Since I heard talk of cellphone boosters, I thought I'd chime in! We just moved to a new gate on Tuesday, only to discover that we had NO cell service what-so-ever.. Now, I can put up with pretty bad service as we've had so far, but I can't live completely without my internets (yes, I'm *that* generation lol.. we're the young-ins of the gate guarding community I think) So I wandered around in a hopeless daze for a while until I found 1 bar of service, which after several attempts allowed me to next day a Wilson DB Pro Kit off amazon. Although it was expensive we went with the wilson because I figured if it didn't work I could return it hassle free to amazon, and I'd heard marginal things about the zBoosts - and I only had one shot at this (could hardly order as it is, and it's 2 hours round trip to get into town to pick it up.) I picked up two 10ft 2" PVC conduit sections from Lowes while I was in town picking up the package, and that's how I've mounted the outdoor antenna (the system requires 15ft of vertical separation between antennas, or required us stringing coax halfway across the job site to get the horizontal separation that would be required.) Anywho, long story short, this thing is nothing short of magical. We went from no fat chance of signal inside the RV, and 1 bar wandering around outside - to full signal inside. We went with the directional antenna btw, but so far we've bee able to point it almost anywhere and still get full signal (I think we're right smack dab in the middle of a dead zone!) Glad I went with this one myself, I can honestly say it was worth it (and I think we can write it off too!) I've kept our installation easily portable too believe it or not - I have my makeshift antenna mast tied onto the awning support while it's in the closed position. The vertical pipe bears the full load (which isn't much), and the awning support just gives it something solid to brace up against. All I have to do is untie a few knots, pull it down, pull the conduit pieces apart and shove them in the RV and we're off. We've had some crazy wind up here and it's survived fine, so I've stopped worrying about it already :) Anywho, if anyone's considered one of these things, I highly recommend it - it's one of those things you buy and wonder why you went so long without (*cough* pretty sure my family back home may be getting one of these for christmas lol)177Views0likes0Comments
