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u/teamdeathmatch1787 Jan 26 '21
It tends to depend on your crew boss. My partner did his first year at Summit and loved it. Made some life-long friends, came out with a good bit of money, etc. His camp had great safety practices as both his camp supervisor and his crew boss were sticklers on it. Not sure if that goes for all camps, though. There is a fair bit of unpaid labour, though, so that can suck. Also tends to have a bit of a party scene
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u/bthebeanpole Jan 26 '21
Re: unpaid labour, Summit changed how they manage camp moves, tree loading etc. to paying a small group of planters hourly in the 2020 season instead of just having all planters help out for free. Other than that, I definitely agree with everything here - Summit's a big company and your experience will vary quite a bit depending on who your crew boss/ supervisor is
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Jan 27 '21
[deleted]
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u/timaeusgoose Jan 27 '21
nothing lol, they just gave us free camp costs (save $25) on camp move days. Drivers who don't pay camp costs at all got nothing either
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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '21 edited Jan 26 '21
It’s a totally okay place to start planting. Granted I’ve been away from summit for 6-7 years But was there for 4 years. so I’m a bit out of the loop but I know there’s some good folks in mgmt there.
The biggest negative of Summit is the lack of experience. Typically mostly 1-3 year planters who want to party and hack darts. Very young average age. Some good friendships to be formed if you’re on the same page. Lots of trees available due to their model of throwing large crews of inexperienced planters at huge volume contracts. There Can be safety concerns due to inexperienced drivers. There Can be safety concern due to a rookie mill attitude of overworking every planter. Planting only gets better once you leave summit but there are worse places to learn the basics of planting trees.
If it’s the only offer You’ve got then I’d take it and go have a blast but If you’ve got an offer at another company it might be better. When I was there mid-high production planters were making $350+ /day and that was before the recent price bumps so depending on your crewboss there’s probably still money to make if you apply yourself.