What Not To Cache?

[Jihadacadien]

OK another post before I go to work for the night.

Again I saw somewhere that some items are not as apreciated as others

Of course I wouldn't put porn, guns or fireworks in my caches.

But what other thing don't poeple don'T like to see???

Publicity items, ...old things...???

[+Miragee]

Religious pamphlets, smelly items such as perfume, lotions, soap, scented candles, and food.

 

Animals are attracted to scented items, and of course the food. I found a cache overrun with ants because someone put in some Tootsie Roll pops.

[+VegasCacheHounds]

Heres my short list; Don't leave anything in the cache that A.) is illegal B.) is dangerous C.) will attract critters or D.) you wouldn't want to find in a cache.

[+Renegade Knight]

Heres my short list; Don't leave anything in the cache that A.) is illegal B.) is dangerous C.) will attract critters or D.) you wouldn't want to find in a cache.

I'll go for A, B, and C. The trick to D is knowing when to break it becase even though you hate pokemon, someone might like a Pika.

[+DaveA]

anything legal is fine, but if you read the threads in the forums (this one and the geocaching topics forum) you will see numerous and frequent threads about cruddy cache contents. You can gleen from these what folks don't like.

 

High on my list are used golf balls, coupons that expire (cuz they will be expired when they are found), broken or filthy kids toys (toys for kids are fine, but please let them be clean and unbroken) and lots of other assorted things that look like they came from someone's junk drawer and would have been tossed if the owner wasn't a cacher.

 

Good items are darn near anything you can buy for a buck whether it comes from the dollar store, a regular store's sale or closeout aisle. Anything you make as a hobby is good too. Basically if it isn't complete and obvious junk it is fine.

 

The problem is the amount of complete and obvious junk people leave. Cache containers are for swag trading, not a substitute for a garbage can. Keep that in mind and you will do just fine.

[+VegasCacheHounds]

Heres my short list;  Don't leave anything in the cache that A.) is illegal B.) is dangerous C.) will attract critters or D.) you wouldn't want to find in a cache.

I'll go for A, B, and C. The trick to D is knowing when to break it becase even though you hate pokemon, someone might like a Pika.

Ah, yes, but everyone should be able to realize that no-one would want a broken pika, and therefore not leave one in a cache.

[+joe gremlin]

Business cards inserted in logbooks with your team name/info and/or picture are good.

 

[sOAPBOX]Business cards inserted in logbooks that are your actual business cards are just wrong. Maybe it's only me but I just don't feel it's the place to advertise your business (and I used to work in advertising). It's very tacky to me and I tend to take note of business advertising in caches so I can avoid said business.[/sOAPBOX]

[Jihadacadien]

Business cards inserted in logbooks with your team name/info and/or picture are good.

 

[sOAPBOX]Business cards inserted in logbooks that are your actual business cards are just wrong. Maybe it's only me but I just don't feel it's the place to advertise your business (and I used to work in advertising). It's very tacky to me and I tend to take note of business advertising in caches so I can avoid said business.[/sOAPBOX]

Yeah or..

Mountain bike for sale

at theses coordinances...

lol

Edited July 8, 2005 by Jihadacadien

[+Wreck Diver]

BIC disposable cigarette lighters.

 

Matchbooks or boxed matches.

 

Ammunition of any kind, either live or already fired.

 

(One wouldn't think that this even needs be said, but leaving brass in caches seems to be popular in New England for some bizarre reason...)

[+AJB3023]

What would you think about free passes to something. I work at a museum. Its very family oriented place and they give us free passes to hand out to our family/friends. We get lots of visitors from out of town and I know that a lot of Geocachers go caching when in other cities. I have a bunch in my desk that I would like to leave in my finds for people that have never been here. Not as a trade item but as something extra. And not as an advertisement either. Would that be a fax paus?????

[GeoWorms]

What would you think about free passes to something. I work at a museum. Its very family oriented place and they give us free passes to hand out to our family/friends.  We get lots of visitors from out of town and I know that a lot of Geocachers go caching when in other cities.  I have a bunch in my desk that I would like to leave in my finds for people that have never been here. Not as a trade item but as something extra. And not as an advertisement either. Would that be a fax paus?????

I think that would be a great thing to leave in a cache.

 

I wouldn't want to find a $5 off coupon for someone's own auto-detailing shop, but I'd love to find a pass to a museum.

 

It's a distinction between generosity and self-promotion.

[Jihadacadien]

What would you think about free passes to something. I work at a museum. Its very family oriented place and they give us free passes to hand out to our family/friends.  We get lots of visitors from out of town and I know that a lot of Geocachers go caching when in other cities.  I have a bunch in my desk that I would like to leave in my finds for people that have never been here. Not as a trade item but as something extra. And not as an advertisement either. Would that be a fax paus?????

I think that would be a great thing to leave in a cache.

 

I wouldn't want to find a $5 off coupon for someone's own auto-detailing shop, but I'd love to find a pass to a museum.

 

It's a distinction between generosity and self-promotion.

Yeah great idea..

I wouldn't add anythink that would profit big companies.

But Where I live in summer we have a ton of shows and everything.

So I'd give tickets to those activities.

[+IV_Warrior]

Bottles of water.

[+Team LightningBugs]

Bottles of water.

If you live where the winters freeze, never leave anything liquid even if sealed. When the liquid freezes and expands, the seal breaks and stuff leaks all over.

[+Bob Blaylock]

  Things I have personally found in caches, that I thought didn't belong:

• A cigar (tobacco stinks, and the stench tends to stick tenaciously to everything it touches. )
  
• Packets of candy.
  
• Tea bags
  
• Burt's Bees Cuticle Creme
  
• Lip balm (left in one of my own caches by a very experienced cacher (well over 1000 finds) who really ought to have known better)
  
• Crayons in a cache that got so hot inside that they melted all over the place and ruined some of the other contents.  (This was a rather short-lived cache, in a dark container out in the sunlight, in a time and place where ambient air temperature was routinely going over 100°F.)
  

[+Night Stalker]

I did find a cache once that was filled with water bottles. This might seem like something that shouldn't be in a cache, but these bottles were all sealed and every morning the cache owner would put ice in the cache to keep it cold. Since this was after a really hot hike it was really appreciated.

 

[+TeamTotoro]

What are people's feelings on McToys- they seem convenient because they're small and come in a sealed bag, but it does have limited appeal...

 

Also- just curious, we recently got bubb-a-loons-- y'know the plastic tube of gunk that you put on the end of a straw & make bubbles out of? Although sealed in a ziplock, I just wonder if there would be issues with leaking or flammability... Any thoughts?

 

Ah yes- and I have seen "survival packets"- like paquets with pain reliever, band-aids, a sampler tube of antibiotic ointment & blistex. Any thoughts on that? Especially curious about the medications angle and if a sampler tube of Blistex would still be as annoying as "lip balm"?

[+briansnat]

What are people's feelings on McToys- they seem convenient because they're small and come in a sealed bag, but it does have limited appeal..

 

New McToys, especially sealed, are great. Its the broken, dirty ones that look they spent the past 3 years under the cushion of someone's car that bother people.

[+Ozbods]

I write kids stories, not for a living but as a hobby. Alot of them are based on nice little places around where I live and I intend to place some caches around these areas in the next few months. I was going to leave a different story in each cache and replace them as needed.

Does this seem like a reasonable idea? I am a published author but do you think anyone would consider this self promotion?

[+mrmnjewel]

I did find a cache once that was filled with water bottles. This might seem like something that shouldn't be in a cache, but these bottles were all sealed and every morning the cache owner would put ice in the cache to keep it cold. Since this was after a really hot hike it was really appreciated.

 

This person was going to their cache every morning and putting ICE in it to keep the water bottles cold? Was this cache just a big coleman cooler? That's definitely different.

[+Another Mr Lizard]

Lip balm (left in one of my own caches by a very experienced cacher (well over 1000 finds) who really ought to have known better)

 

I have found used lipbalm in a cache and thought "???!!!"

 

But what's wrong with a brand new, sealed one? Unscented, of course.

[Team Dragon]

Bottles of water.

A bottle of water in a desert cache could be a lifesaver for someone who misjudged how much water they'd need. It's important to look at it regionally.

[+Bob Blaylock]

Lip balm (left in one of my own caches by a very experienced cacher (well over 1000 finds) who really ought to have known better)

 

I have found used lipbalm in a cache and thought "???!!!"

 

But what's wrong with a brand new, sealed one? Unscented, of course.

  I've never seen or heard of truly unscented/unflavored lip balm.  I suppose such a thing probably exists from some “back–to–nature–kook” source that exchews the addition of any artificial flavors or colorings; but every lip balm I have ever encounted did possess some prominent scent/flavor that is likely to attract animals that will damage the cache in order to get to it.

 

  Aside from that, I think it's a very bad idea to put anything in or on one's mouth with such little reliable knowledge of where it's been, who's had it, and what's been done to it.

 

  The lip balm that was left in my cache was not in the usual tube, but in a small jar.  It was obvious that it had been opened, and some of it used.  There was no way I was going to use it, nor was I going to risk being held in any way responsible for what might happen if someone else — having found it in my cache — used it.  At the very first opportunity, I transferred it from my cache to the nearest appropriate trash receptacle.

[Jihadacadien]

Lip balm (left in one of my own caches by a very experienced cacher (well over 1000 finds) who really ought to have known better)

 

I have found used lipbalm in a cache and thought "???!!!"

 

But what's wrong with a brand new, sealed one? Unscented, of course.

I've never seen or heard of truly unscented/unflavored lip balm.  I suppose such a thing probably exists from some “back–to–nature–kook” source that exchews the addition of any artificial flavors or colorings; but every lip balm I have ever encounted did possess some prominent scent/flavor that is likely to attract animals that will damage the cache in order to get to it.

 

  Aside from that, I think it's a very bad idea to put anything in or on one's mouth with such little reliable knowledge of where it's been, who's had it, and what's been done to it.

 

  The lip balm that was left in my cache was not in the usual tube, but in a small jar.  It was obvious that it had been opened, and some of it used.  There was no way I was going to use it, nor was I going to risk being held in any way responsible for what might happen if someone else — having found it in my cache — used it.  At the very first opportunity, I transferred it from my cache to the nearest appropriate trash receptacle.

Eww

Probabbly that person had forgotten some trading items.