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What Should Be Outlawed From A Cache?????


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This topic piggybacks on the forum topic "Why No Good Trade Items?" The topic as to why the items generally suck was beaten to death there. Most agreed that the quality of trade in a cache is nothing to write home about anymore.

 

The idea came up on that list to have a "standard" of acceptable cache so nobody leaves junk behind. You can't make it monetary, because that would stop a lot of people caching. You can't make a list of acceptable items because there are millions of nifty trade items out there big and small. The best you can do is make a list of items that you should never find in a cache.

 

I'll start the list with tiny STICKERS. The postage stamp sized dinosaur stickers that peel away and become crumpled, dirty and useless after three days in a cache should never be there. What was actually taken from the cache that they feel it was worth leaving a tiny little sticker behind. Many parent's blame the kids saying "The kids trade, not us" but you could be responsible caching parents and say, "Don't take the $20 compass in place of your Pokemon sticker, dear."

 

*NOTE* This topic is not to debate whether you should cache for the swag or the thrill of the find. Posting here assumes you want to find something good in a cache and are frequently dissapointed. If you only cache for the fun of it, read no further...Let the beatings begin! :lol:

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Is it on-topic to mention that stickers can be a good item? A little baggie would serve them well, however.

 

In fact, I've had a sticker/temp tattoo themed cache ready-to-go for some time now. Someday, I hope to toss it in the woods.

Edited by sbell111
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Broken toys! As a parent it drives me nuts...if your kids don't want it, why would ours? We keep a stock supply of small toys that we let our kids pick from to exchange with cache toys. The problem is, half the time they would rather keep the exchange toy then pick from the cache...simply because we keep finding things like "1-legged action figures" or "3 wheeled matchbox cars". Since when did a cache suddenly become a recycle center for "The Land of Misfit Toys?" (Sorry Rudolph, no offense.) :lol:

Edited by ZillahBillies
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Stickers are probably okay when someone isn't so thrifty as to open the sealed package they come in and leave one sheet at every cache. The sticker pack cost like 2 bucks tops... just put the whole thing in there in it's original plastic wrap.

 

As far as what should be outlawed? Dog feces, I'd say. No more dog feces in caches. I know that's going to be a real bummer for the dog feces collectors, and a pain in the butt for feces rights activists, but it's the way I feel. :lol:

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... Since when is a cache suddenly become a recycle center for "The Land of Misfit Toys?"

Have you seen the video of the first cache. It was pretty much a recepticle for the guys junk drawer and pantry.

Hmm, I'm guessing you enjoy playing the devils advocate here. But going along with your philosphy, just because Cugnot created the first car...doesn't mean we still have to drive 2 miles an hour. :lol:

 

LOL @ PlasteredDragon, well put.

Edited by ZillahBillies
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No, I was merely commenting on the thought that at one time, caches were filled with gold-gilded diamonds, while now they are filled with rusty bottlecaps. If anything, the quality of swag has increased on average. It is the disparity between the good stuff and the junk that makes it appear that they are getting junkier.

 

... the quality of trade in a cache is nothing to write home about anymore.
Since when did a cache suddenly become a recycle center for "The Land of Misfit Toys?"
Edited by sbell111
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Marbles. whenever I go to a cache I find a few marbles. it would be ok if it was a whole set, but I only find a few. (2-4)

Yep, I know a guy who leaves a whole bag of them as a sig item.

 

I know of a cache that the owner placed and listed that they stocked a broken garage door opener. Hey, great. Thanks.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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Stickers are probably okay when someone isn't so thrifty as to open the sealed package they come in and leave one sheet at every cache. The sticker pack cost like 2 bucks tops... just put the whole thing in there in it's original plastic wrap.

 

As far as what should be outlawed? Dog feces, I'd say. No more dog feces in caches. I know that's going to be a real bummer for the dog feces collectors, and a pain in the butt for feces rights activists, but it's the way I feel. :lol:

:lol: I would be willing to ammend my original rant to agree with that statement about the stickers.

 

That sucks about outlawing dog feces! What am I going to do with that box full of it under my bed???

 

You had me rolling!

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I agree it'd be nice if people didn't put crap into caches. I also think it's silly to outlaw knives and lighters from caches. They're actually useful. The problem is, unless you get every geocacher in the whole wide world to agree to not leave broken McToys and half-empty Bic pens in caches, and have some sort of punitive measures in place for violators, nothing will change. A few people might become more aware of what they're leaving in caches from reading complaints in these threads, but that's it. Personally, I've only traded for anything once, and that's because the friend I was with wanted the frog-shaped carabiner. I just like to make the find and sign the log. Granted, I haven't done much of that, :lol: but for me it's about the hunt.

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My votes:

 

Stickers (unpackaged)

Golf Balls

zeroxed anything

 

CRAP SOMEONE TOOK FROM THE HOTEL ROOM FOR FREE (SOAP, SHAMPOO, LOTION) :D

 

also magazine sample lotiony stuff, WTF?over? :D

 

I second the whole idea that some parents need to be more responsible with what they let their children trade. I'm not for banning the toys cuz I love to get the kids involved and they like to trade toys/figures, but it's important to teach them the value of being fair in your trades, letting all five of your kids take something and then leaving one or two things is just bogus.

 

I have read in other threads the notion that if there is too much 'good' swag in a cache, then people can't trade even or up because they don't have anything equitable with them, I don't buy that. If that happens and I don't have some cash on me or cool enough things to trade then I don't have to trade at all! Anyway that can't happen if you have some choice pieces with you always.

 

Love this game/sport and hope it is around for years to come

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Does anyone really think that most swag in a cache is worth keeping? Most of it is pretty useless, do you really want to fill up your junk drawer at home? If it were gold ingots, diamonds or cash, everyone would be geocaching, then the state and the Feds would be sticking their noses into geocaching even more so and taxing us for our finds.

 

Its just stuff, move it along to the next cache or put it your own new cache. As I have said before, if you want to shop go to Target or Neiman Marcus or anywhere inbetween.

 

More rules=less fun

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Um, what about the rule 'take something then leave something' wouldn't be much fun it people just went and took stuff out of the caches and left nothing.

 

This is a fun topic not a vote on 'official' changes to be made to geocaching.

 

The statement that the swag is useless is true, and makes a point... it doesn't have to be diamond encrusted anything to be fun, just not moldy paper trash or detritus from under one's couch cushions. I have several rubber lizards on my computer, are they 'useless'? You bet, but I love them and they are my favorite 'treasures' so far.... I traded well for them, and I'm sure they were less than 50 cents. Most of the cachers I've met are very easy to please. That's what gets people so riled up about the topic, if state quarters and rubber lizards make people happy, think how bad some of this garbage must be to keep this topic going in one way or another for so long. Diamonds and Gold are not what we are talking about here.

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Okay, nobody tell anyone on me, but I like the little plastic snakes - no big ones, but the little ones that look like grass snakes. I'm with Hoppingcrow, I like cool marbles, one of my favorite cache memory items is from Oklahoma, a very cool blue swirly aggie sized one.

 

However, I don't like broken toys, dirty toys, pamphlets on anything that causes me to think about the topic discussed, and stuff that ought to be in a plastic bag but isn't.

 

PS: Little lizards are cool, too...

 

(edited for grammer)

Edited by ATMouse
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If dirty golf balls are outlawed, then only outlaws will have dirty golf balls.

 

Unfortunately, complaints will never get the attention of people who actually think it's okay to use a piece of trash they found along the trail as a trade item. It's the things that are actually filthy or broken that annoy me; a nice clean new marble/golf ball/army man/mctoy aren't hurting anybody, and there are people who'd be willing to trade for them. I'll always trade for little plastic critters (usually with more little plastic critters).

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Banning things from caches "except AMMUNITION, GUNS, KIFES, ETC" is silly. What would you do next? Make a limit on how many words you use to log, limit the number of caches you find.

See that stuff is silly, and so is banning items from caches.

And food, too, dammit!

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Banning things from caches "except AMMUNITION, GUNS, KIFES, ETC" is silly. What would you do next? Make a limit on how many words you use to log, limit the number of caches you find.

See that stuff is silly, and so is banning items from caches.

And food, too, dammit!

Your absolutely right. Sometimes a fat sausage is just what you want after a tough hunt.

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I agree it'd be nice if people didn't put crap into caches. I also think it's silly to outlaw knives and lighters from caches. They're actually useful. The problem is, unless you get every geocacher in the whole wide world to agree to not leave broken McToys and half-empty Bic pens in caches, and have some sort of punitive measures in place for violators, nothing will change. A few people might become more aware of what they're leaving in caches from reading complaints in these threads, but that's it. Personally, I've only traded for anything once, and that's because the friend I was with wanted the frog-shaped carabiner. I just like to make the find and sign the log. Granted, I haven't done much of that, :D but for me it's about the hunt.

Perhaps a step that could be taken to improve the items left in caches would be to get notes posted at the GC home page...right there where the news stuff goes. I would say that the VAST majority of cachers never or rarely darken the doorstep of these forums unless they're looking to the answer to a question or solution to a problem. But, if 'better caching' ideas were posted on the very front of the home page, all would see them.

 

I think that if I'd been leaving crap in caches, and didn't know it wasn't good form, and I opened up the web page to find a note from Jeremy telling me not to do that, I probably would improve my practices.

 

--Chino

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What should be outlawed from caches?

 

How about legislative meddling?  That'd get my vote.

CR has it right. Be accountable for your own - period. You can over legislate anything and take away common sense and accountability. Instead of making a list banning items, use local organizational peer pressure to educate. It's more effective than expecting folks to abide by a list that over 80% of the geocaching populace will never read.

Edited by TotemLake
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Yeah, seriously, I agree completely that making rules will not help. This is a largely self-regulated game. There is a guy in Colorado that stole 156 travel bugs. My TB's are mostly in the hands of people who, for whatever reason, don't plan to place them again. I have found numerous caches with nothing but junk in them. Somebody put food in one of my caches and it was torn apart by coyotes. Making rules won't matter and I would not propose any.

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Many parent's blame the kids saying "The kids trade, not us" but you could be responsible caching parents and say, "Don't take the $20 compass in place of your Pokemon sticker, dear."

I disagree, there are no bad trade items, save for illegals. Everyone has thier own tastes. You may not like stickers (i'm just picking that one, you could replace it with anything), but someone out there obviously does, we take stickers all the time. Especially when you bring kids into the picture. The McToys so many don't like, kids, and me, love! (Even last night we went out to Burger King to eat, so that we could get Star Wars toys). Simply put, every item in the cache someone liked it enough to buy it in the first place, so someone out there will like it enough to get it for free.

 

That said, I try to leave items that the majority of people, or kids, would like to find. Cars, Action toys, etc. And I pass on items that only a few people would like to see in the cache. Broken toys of any sort, for example.

 

The golden rule of trade even or up is important, even for kids. It helps them learn that they can't get something for nothing for one. We for one follow this rule always. Although I will admit that not everyone does.

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NO MORE DIRTY GOLF BALLS!!! That's my vote.

I like to collect them then use them for target practice. :D

 

Back on topic. The only things that should not be in a cache are items that children are not allowed to have, illegal items in general, and a few key items that give land managers hearburn just to think about them. What those are vary by city, state, and country.

 

Edit: There are a few key items that are not illegal but are a bad idea as well like food (anmials) candles (they melt), snow globes( crack and soak the cache in winter) etc. which I forgot to mention.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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Some person in Northeastern Pennsylvania once distributed a large number of religious propaganda (now, not good ones -- I don't mind a Book of Mormon, a Jesus magnet, or a prayer book) that are little pamphlets -- Do You Have a Spot in Heaven? with a little checklist of things to do to get into heaven.

 

Personally, I haven't made my reservation yet. I can do without seeing four of these in every cache I find.

 

- JD

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Somebody put food in one of my caches and it was torn apart by coyotes. Making rules won't matter and I would not propose any.

Sometimes people dont realize it because they're new. On our very first cache (4 days before halloween) We vacuum sealed Candy Bars & hid them in the cache. I figured vacuum sealing it with a commercial sealer would keep the critters out, I'd vacuum sealed Ham bones and the dog never so much as whiffed at them. But, as soon as I posted in our first log book... someone sent me a nastygram. We went back to the cache the next morning to change the item. We didn't do it to offend anyone, I just figured someone might like a munchy by the time they dug up the cache. (And yes, it Was Buried!!)

 

As far as broken toys etc, I agree, no need of it. Business Cards... I don't mind when they are included with an actual item, but I find it pretty lame if that's all that is left.

 

We've cached in a couple different states & I think the area makes the difference too. In the Maine Caches we went to, there were tons of business cards. Here in Wisconsin, I have not yet seen a single one. Granted, we havent been to many caches yet, but I still think it makes a difference what the norm is for your area.

 

Food for thought (but NOT in the cache!) :lol:

 

~Liss

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one time i found an old wet newspaper in a cache. wtf? i don't think there are many people out there that collect old wet newspapers. the reason i started geocaching was because i thought i would be able to find cool stuff, after a few caches i realized i liked "the hunt" :lol: better than the junk i could find.

Edited by ReyTheBear
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