West Coast Fallers Pay

[Shod]

I've been cutting Timber for 28 years now. I've been in Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona. I've cut for almost all the Heli-Logging companies around Montana, Idaho, Oregon, yada, yada, yada and Yarders up and down the West Coast.

I wanted to share an observation I've recently made about a new area into which I've moved in northern Oregon on the coast. I'd also like to share an observations I've made around 17 years ago when working for a heli outfit close to Tillamook, Oregon. I'll start with the Tillamook experience.

Needless to say me and the Misses landed in Tillamook in September of 97. When we got to the job the Mill fella met us on the landing to go over specs. One point of interest was when the Mill fella requested that we please do not divolge to any of the local cutters how much we were making as there were local cutters on a job right next to us. At that time I remember the Elite cutter group that I tended to associate with had made a pact that we would not work for any less than $400 a day employee and the fact is that's what we got. It was a mentality of....this is dangerous and I'm worth my pay........Something many oldtimers used to proudly carry!

I was offered a full time job from the locals. I asked the pay and was replyed $150 a day. As you can imagine I damned need threw up! After all I had started my cutting career in Montana in 87 and by 1990 the pay was already at $225 a day.

You can imagine my surprise to discover that the proud tradition of the West Coast Cutter in Northern Oregon had no pride at all and the pride of those men showed in how much they thought they were worth. It was a slap in the face and a discrace to the heritage of the proud oldtimers whom emulated Moral fiber and true grit! It actually made me proud to be a Montana cutter at the time because at least Montana Men!!!!! Demanded a cutters wage!

Well for many years I steered clear of the Oregon Coast and often times the Washington Coast as it appeared to me that the degraded mentality had also swept over into Washington.

Well....recently I've found myself having moved to the northern Oregon coast to be closer to family, buy property, and settle into one place to live. I've made my retirement so at this point Money really isn't an issue. I would however like to point out an issue I've discovered soon once again inspecting the Proud Tradition of the Oregon West Coast Cutter.

Apon arriving I made a good many phone calls as I love my life as a cutter and I am truely proud to be a part of the heritage.

It was both sad and sickening for me to learn that many Oregon West Coast Cutters still considers a man to be worth less than a Montana cutter of little skill was worth more than 20 years ago.

My question is.....Really? Is this seriously what you believe you are worth? The Oregon West Coast Cutter......where men of high skill carry chainsaws with long bars falling big timber with 4 fourties.

Montana, where men pack small saws cutting lodgepole that are 60 ft tall.

Which Man would you rather be? If it is true that the defining mark of a real Man is whether they stand or squat to piss.

I'd rather pack a little chainsaw and cut lodgepole.


Shod

 

[chucker]

working in minnesota as an experienced timber faller for more than 35 years i wood !! knot!! sell my experience to anyone for the price of a cheap bottle of wine!!!!!!! cutting hardwood for lumber or veneer i am proudly working my profession at $40.00 per hour with a 9 hour work day. i pay for all my own expences and insurence's that i need to do the thing i love to do as work and provide for my family!

 

[slowp]

You know, I find your post insulting. You shouldn't use women and our plumbing for insults. In fact, in my eyes it makes you less of a "man". Are you real? Or just another "manly" troll?

 

[Shod]

You know, I find your post insulting. You shouldn't use women and our plumbing for insults. In fact, in my eyes it makes you less of a "man". Are you real? Or just another "manly" troll?

The analogy is not meant to be insulting.....it was intended to get hard working men to stand taller and they should. The West Coast Timber Fallers are among the very best in the world. There pay and pride should reflect that!

Whether you know it or not it is the puzzy hurt attitude of squat to piss folks like yourself that require to be paid less. In the last 100 years there is not a single oldtimer or old growth cutter that has displayed such an attitude. This is a thread about Fallers and Men and puzzy hurts and squat to piss folks need not apply.


Shod

 

[Shod]

working in minnesota as an experienced timber faller for more than 35 years i wood !! knot!! sell my experience to anyone for the price of a cheap bottle of wine!!!!!!! cutting hardwood for lumber or veneer i am proudly working my profession at $40.00 per hour with a 9 hour work day. i pay for all my own expences and insurence's that i need to do the thing i love to do as work and provide for my family!

Chucker, its good to see folks like yourself that are demanding a wage. The West Coast Oregon Cutter makes about $140 a day less than you do.

Shod

 

[Gologit]

The analogy is not meant to be insulting.....it was intended to get hard working men to stand taller and they should. The West Coast Timber Fallers are among the very best in the world. There pay and pride should reflect that!

Whether you know it or not it is the puzzy hurt attitude of squat to piss folks like yourself that require to be paid less. In the last 100 years there is not a single oldtimer or old growth cutter that has displayed such an attitude. This is a thread about Fallers and Men and puzzy hurts and squat to piss folks need not apply.


Shod

Well, this is going to be damned interesting.

Shod, do you run your mouth to the local Oregon cutters like you do on here? I know a few guys up there that make their living in the woods. They seem to have done just fine money-wise.
You're probably just blowing off steam but if you said to those guy's faces what you've said on here they'd probably just laugh at you. Then they'd hit you. And then they'd laugh at you some more.

 

[1270d]

Seems like if you are head and shoulders better than the other fallers around scale pay would be the way to go?

 

[Shod]

Well, this is going to be damned interesting.

Shod, do you run your mouth to the local Oregon cutters like you do on here? I know a few guys up there that make their living in the woods. They seem to have done just fine money-wise.
You're probably just blowing off steam but if you said to those guy's faces what you've said on here they'd probably just laugh at you. Then they'd hit you. And then they'd laugh at you some more.

Gologit, The fellas that you are describing are generally the type of fellas that like me quite a bit and even participate in these type of conversations with me. I've made some really good friends with some Cutters here in Oregon.

Perhaps I should clarify a little more clearly. There are Men here in Oregon that do get paid a lot more than some and those Men are my friends. I both admire and respect them. Birds of the same feather flock together.

The fella you are describing that would sock me in the nose is not the scared, squat to piss, low paid timber cutter that I am describing. There are more of them at present here on the Oregon Coast then there are of us. It doesn't make them bad fellas, it makes them fellas who need some guidance and to remember who they really are.

Shod

 

[chucker]

it was once said "your only worth as much as the next man in line waiting to take your job" which at the moment there are more men then job's looking for whiner's! men/women do what they need to do to provide for their families no matter what the pay scale may be or not...... some luck out where other's may not have a choice, shod!

 

[Shod]

Seems like if you are head and shoulders better than the other fallers around scale pay would be the way to go?

There are an aweful lot of exceptional cutters around here who get paid a lot less than they should be getting. I agree that every cutter is not worth exactly the same. However, every Oregon Coastal Cutter should be worth much more than any Montana Cutter. It far more dangerous and the experience required dwarfs what it takes to be a Montana cutter. Montana cutters have come here for many years and have been sent home because they were not experienced enough to make it. So......they would just waltz on back to Montana, wait for spring breakup to pass after about a month. Then go back to work with all that inexperience making $75 more a day than the Oregon Coast Faller.

Shod

 

[Shod]

it was once said "your only worth as much as the next man in line waiting to take your job" which at the moment there are more men then job's looking for whiner's! men/women do what they need to do to provide for their families no matter what the pay scale may be or not...... some luck out where other's may not have a choice, shod!

Chucker, I'm working here in Oregon presently making more than most these fellas. Its not because I'm better! Many of these fellas are among the best fallers in the world. The reason I make what I make is because there are no cutters left to be had here on the coast. The old fellers are mostly gone now and no new cutters have been broken in. With logging picking up and the skill required to be a west coast cutter there is not a quick fix for the extremely high demand these fellas are in. We are in a name your price market here right now and will be for quite a few years to come. I named my price and I'm getting it. Other fellas are still nameing 30 year ago prices.

It makes no difference to me because I know I'll get my price for years to come.

In fact if any of these fellas want to come work for me there welcome. The only stipulation I have is they have to except a minimum of $500 a day for six hours or they can't work for me. And if I ever hear of them working for someone for less, they'll never work for me again. At that price I intend to employ somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 cutters.

Shod

 

[chucker]

ok? so your a faller with experience? as well as a faller you are intending to become an outlet for workers seeking high pay employment with little to no experience! benefits being a short work day with a better than average pay to reel in the new comers to further the fallers chance to compete for job's & wage's? is this correct? just trying to get the whole scope of the situation!

 

[1270d]

How much wood is a guy expected to put down for that wage on a given day? I have never worked for a day wage, or paid a day wage, so really have no experience there. All of my personal experience has been by the hour or piece work. I confess, 90+ dollars an hour seems too good to be true.

 

[1270d]

Better watch it or you're going to have a ready to learn/work michiganer knocking on your door for a job. I would be interested in working more than 6 hours a day though.

 

[Gologit]

It makes no difference to me because I know I'll get my price for years to come.

In fact if any of these fellas want to come work for me there welcome. The only stipulation I have is they have to except a minimum of $500 a day for six hours or they can't work for me. And if I ever hear of them working for someone for less, they'll never work for me again. At that price I intend to employ somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 cutters.

Shod

You're looking for fallers? I know a couple of guys, experienced in yarder and helicopter falling, who are looking for work. They're good fallers. If you want I'll call them and have them get in touch with you. They've both worked for me in the past and if I had any work I'd hire them again.

Are you the contractor or the bullbuck? What's the name of your outfit? That $500 a day...would they be running their own numbers out of that? Any good lodging close by or would they need to bring their trailers?

How soon do you need them?

 

[Gologit]

I would be interested in working more than 6 hours a day though.

Hey now, don't spoil an old tradition. Besides, after six or six and a half hours...going balls to the wall... on yarder or helicopter ground you might be ready to call it a day.

 

[northmanlogging]

Huh, a guy might start to think that he could quit his day job and wander out to the sticks and make 3 times the money...

But then, I got guys calling me looking for work.

 

[Shod]

ok? so your a faller with experience? as well as a faller you are intending to become an outlet for workers seeking high pay employment with little to no experience! benefits being a short work day with a better than average pay to reel in the new comers to further the fallers chance to compete for job's & wage's? is this correct? just trying to get the whole scope of the situation!

Chucker, on the West Coast a 6 hour day is the norm and has been for more than 30 years. I will only be hiring experienced coastal cutters. Yes I'm experienced. 28 years. There won't be any competing for a wage because there are no cutters left.

There won't be any newcomers either because you can't just hire anyone to cut tall coastal timber. If you could I wouldn't have a job because the Mexicans would be cutting it all. The Mexicans has been tried and it was a complete flop. It required too much experience and this type of timber falling is a culture of experience that has been handed down for more than 100 years.

 

[1270d]

Hey now, don't spoil an old tradition. Besides, after six or six and a half hours...going balls to the wall... on yarder or helicopter ground you might be ready to call it a day.

Pretty sure it would be a lot less than that when I wanted to curl up and take a nap. Its been some years now since Ive sawed full time. Then it was 8-10 hours. Always takes a couple months to harden up to sawing shape.

 

[slowp]

We can pee standing up with practice. Is that all you have to do to make $500 a day??? It comes in pastel colors too.
http://www.go-girl.com/
I have worked with Montana fallers. They didn't seem any different from the local cutters. Just a little bit in awe when they got to cut out some nice, tall Doug-fir for a landing. They were quite humble, and not fixated on peeing. I taught them how to mark timber. They were quick to learn and I don't think they changed the way they peed on the days they marked timber.