We know many RVers who work in RV parks around the country to offset their traveling costs. Typically, they work a set number of hours per week in exchange for a free RV site, and any hours over those agreed upon for the site are paid at an hourly wage. Some workamping RVers return to the same campground to work every season, while others prefer to move about and see new places.
Workamping in an RV park can be interesting, and can help you save some money in camping fees. However, as I always say in my seminars on working on the road, as well as in my book Work Your Way Across The USA, if your goal is to make the most possible money in a given time period, often you would be better off to rent a site in an RV park on a monthly basis, and got a job at the local Home Depot or a restaurant in town. RV park wages are just not that good in most cases.
But if you want to do something a little bit different, and still earn money, there are many, many opportunities out there to make money and have fun that don’t involve cleaning bathrooms in an RV park, serving French fries in a fast food restaurant, or working in retail stores. Here are ten jobs that RVers we know have done that you may never have thought of.
1. Beet Harvest – We have known several RVers who have worked the sugar beet harvests in places like North Dakota and Minnesota. Jobs include everything from driving trucks to sorting the beets when they arrive at warehouses. One website on the sugar beet harvest claims that some workers make as much as $7,000 in a month or less.
2. Canoe & Kayak Tour Guide – From the Florida Keys to Michigan’s wild Upper Peninsula, canoe and kayak liveries are busy all season long introducing tourists to the joys to be found on the water. It’s a great job for RVers who want to make some extra money and spend the summer (or winter) paddling.
3. Working For Amazon – During the Christmas rush, online retailer Amazon.com hires many RVers to work at their fulfillment center in Kansas. The last I heard, the wage was $11 an hour, plus bonuses, with overtime available.
4. Dealing Blackjack – The gaming industry, in places like Las Vegas, Reno, and Laughlin, Nevada, provides many working opportunities for RVers. Jobs range from dealing blackjack to working as a customer greeter in casinos.
5. Driving Tour Bus – From Alaska to the Grand Canyon to Florida, tourist areas provide many employment opportunities for RVers. Driving tour buses, ranging in size from extended length vans to full sized coaches, is a good way to make money while spending time in places where the tourists pay big bucks to visit.
6. Fish Cannery – This is hard, dirty, smelly, physically demanding work, but one fulltime RVer we know spends a full summer in Alaska working long hours at a fish cannery, and he tells us he makes enough in a season to pay for two years of fulltime RV travel.
7. Working The NASCAR Circuit – Every race car driver, from the superstars to the new guy in the pits, have somebody selling souvenirs with their names and car numbers on them. We’ve met a couple of RVers who tow a vending trailer behind their motorhomes and follow the circuit, selling souvenirs to racing fans.
8. Selling Christmas Trees – This is obviously a seasonal job, and is hard physical work, but we have known many RVers who sell Christmas trees on lots across the country, and several have told us that they have made $8,000 or more in less than a month. Many times the same companies who hire RVers to sell Christmas trees hire them to sell fireworks for the Fourth of July, and Halloween pumpkins on the same lots. One couple we know made about $7,000 in two weeks selling fireworks this past summer.
9. Horse Wrangler – I make it a point never to ride anything you can’t put gasoline in, but if you are an equestrian fan and are comfortable in a saddle, you may find work as a horse wrangler, leading trail rides at one of the many dude ranches in the Southwest. The pay isn’t usually top dollar, but tips can be good, and if you love horses, it’s your chance to get paid for playing cowboy (or cowgirl).
10. Gas Line Survey – There is a long, ongoing thread on the Escapees forum, on working as a gas line surveyor, and the RVers we have talked to who have done this work all say that it’s a great way to make good money and get a lot of exercise in the process.
For more ideas on making money as you travel, check out my Working On The Road web page. What are some of the ways you have earned money on the road?
Thought For The Day – My wife does all the driving; I just get to hold the steering wheel.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Wow! Great UNIQUE ideas for jobs that you can do while RVing. I think so many people want to join the fulltime RVing crowd, but don’t feel that they can because of finances. As you point out above, it’s much more obtainable than people think, you just have to be creative. We also cover many job ideas on http://www.retirementrvs.com, to help people get inspired. Thanks for a great post!
Good list- lots of fun things to do. We mainly worked seasonally for national parks and made excellent money. Bill, my late husband, had a fun job at a tourist trap- Liarsville- in Skagway, AK. Selling Christmas trees one winter was a quick way to bring in a nice sum of cash. I personally prefer other types of employment over working in a campground.
Jaimie Hall Bruzenak
We worked for Sees Candy for two years during the Christmas season and made good money. We also worked for the month of May at the Indy 500 which was a lot of fun and we trained to work the Kentucky Derby…
Loved your article and comments. Thank you. A bit of a Canadian perspective can be found in my column http://www.rvwest.com/living/workingontheroad.php.
Amazon is here in Quartzsite in the big tent. They said they will have 3 distribution sites for workcampers this year. Kentucy, Reno NV and Kansas. Sounds interesting,
Those are some great jobs. The bus driver one is very true right now in Vancouver and Whistler for the Olympics. They are still hiring drivers for both public and private bus charter companies. If you are interested in coming up to work or watch the Olympics there are still accommodations available at Whistler RV Park & Campground (http://www.whistlerrvpark.com/)
Keep the good ideas coming.
J. McCartney
Patti and I are both computer professionals, working in that field almost 30 years now.
The internet and communication technology allows us to work on the road without a problem.
Almost any Internet related income should work great. From blogging, to Site Development, to programming, to Medical document processing, to eBay reseller. You name it.
keep ’em coming!
In addition to those great ideas…2010 is a census year and the census dept is looking for temporary census employees. They pay around $14/hr and 55 cents per mile. You must have your own transportation. They prefer to place you as near your residence, temporary or permanent, as possible and pay each employee for the four days training as well. The number to call is 1-866-861-2010. As a bonus…hours are flexible.
In San Antonio, TX, the River Walk Assn also trains and hires individuals to drive the River barges/boats on the beautiful River Walk. They’re called ‘ambassadors’ and I’ve enjoyed many a ride listening to the well informed and sometimes comedy inclined guides.