Declining Quality Of Cache Contents

[+Cole59]

I've been caching lately in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah and I have been disappointed in the quality of contents in regular caches. If the guideline and motto of geocachers is to trade equal or up, then people aren't following it, or people are not putting out good contents when they create one (which I don't beleive). Now I'm not saying that every item has to be spectacular, but I feel like people are taking the good stuff and not leaving an equal or greater value in it. I've seen this as I check on my older caches and as I've found long established caches. Is it just me?

[+Prying Pandora]

No, it's not you. They all seem to end up that way, but I'm long past hunting caches for the contents so it doesn't matter to me personally. It is nicer to have halfway decent toys in there for those hunting with kids, though.

 

I've seen this topic come up over and over again on the geocaching topic forum, and nothing ever changes. The best thing you can do is stick to the guidelines yourself, knowing that the geocaching world will be better for it.

[+Cav Scout]

I gave up a long time ago on ever hoping to find good items in caches. I go mostly for the find and scenery. If I find something cool then its a added bonus for me. I do understand your frustration.l

[+Bull Moose]

Fighting against declining quality of cache contents is a fight against some combination of the second law of thermodynamics and human nature. The most we can do is throw in some better items on occasion and hope they are appreciated by the next person.

[+Wienerdog]

Sometimes when I find a box that is so stuffed you can hardly close it I take a couple items out and move them to a cache that's almost empty.

Now someone is probably going to find some wrong in that, but to me it's just common sense.

Ms. WD

[+Half-Canadian]

I have no interest in selecting a trinket from a cache (although I'll pick up a travel bug if I can help it out). That's not why I cache, and Lord knows I've got enough junk already.

 

I have seen the thrill that kids get from finding stuff in a cache, though -- my 7 year old nephews can discuss the merits of various doodads in an ammo can for a long time before they decide what to take.

 

For that reason, I carry a big box full of neat, mostly inexpensive, items with me and leave them freely in caches that look skimpy on swag -- I try to think how I would feel if I brought my nephews to a cache and found it empty

 

The grownups should be caching for the scenery, the hike, the exercise, the fresh air -- not for the trinkets. Let the kids have their fun with the little toys -- they're getting exercise too but the swag just makes it all the more fun for them.

[+DoodleCat & MisterKrrk]

Frankly, I love to trade for stuff! We must have some sort of Santa Claus complex cuz its fun for us to read a log where some one was surprised or happy to pull out a trade item we put in. As far as taking stuff, we have a tiny collection of things that have meaning to us. I've heard of people who keep fishbowls full of stuff they've found. Sounds like fun to me.

[+Allanon]

Ya mean something like this is not "Trading up or equal"?:

 

Took the White Jeep, a geocoin and a shot glass, left a wooden box, name-removed-to-protect-the-guilty "Found it!" button and dropped off the Star Trek Communicator TB just for laughs. Its goal is to visit micros...if ever there was an antithesis for micros, this cache is it!

 

[+Wander Lost]

For that reason, I carry a big box full of neat, mostly inexpensive, items with me and leave them freely in caches that look skimpy on swag -- I try to think how I would feel if I brought my nephews to a cache and found it empty

 

I try to do this as well. It's funny half the time the boys want to trade for something I put into the cache!!

 

I have no problems putting a few extras in a box that's a bit on the empty side. These days the only thing I trade out for is signature items.

[+Lightning Jeff]

Ya mean something like this is not "Trading up or equal"?:

 

Took the White Jeep, a geocoin and a shot glass, left a wooden box, name-removed-to-protect-the-guilty "Found it!" button and dropped off the Star Trek Communicator TB just for laughs. Its goal is to visit micros...if ever there was an antithesis for micros, this cache is it!

 

I saw that too, as I'm going to that cache tomorrow. I suppose it could be justified if the Jeep and coin are both treated as TBs and promptly moved on to new caches. Here's hoping that box is a nice one!

 

To be honest, I've been on both sides of this equation. We work hard to honor the "trade up" rule (but thinking logically, shouldn't that really be "trade down"? ), and put in better/more stuff than we take. It's sometimes not so easy when you have little kids with you, and I'd bet the majority of the cache depletion we see is a result of just that: The kids start screaming when you're trying not to be detected, and the next thing you know.... Our solution is to try to make sure we stay stocked up on decent swag that - and this is key - the kids don't see. Half the time when we drop something in the box, that's what the kids want and all is fine, we just don't trade.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

I've stopped placing caches with trinkets a long time ago. I even got a complaint log from a mommy who didn't think the current contents of one of my caches was worth the effort to find it and that her children were dissapointed.

 

I told her to take the little darlings shopping instead of caching. From now on even my larger caches are just logbooks.

 

Except for the one in my driveway.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

oops

Edited August 27, 2005 by Lazyboy & Mitey Mite

[+Shop99er]

For that reason, I carry a big box full of neat, mostly inexpensive, items with me and leave them freely in caches that look skimpy on swag -- I try to think how I would feel if I brought my nephews to a cache and found it empty 

 

I try to do this as well. It's funny half the time the boys want to trade for something I put into the cache!!

 

I have no problems putting a few extras in a box that's a bit on the empty side. These days the only thing I trade out for is signature items.

We do the same thing. Cache stuff these days seems to be either broken toys or golf balls...WHY, OH WHY GOLF BALLS?... So we'll hit the dollar store and buy a sack full of stuff and sprinkle it here and there. Very rarely do we ever take anything.

 

We've also started leaving nice adult items, (please resist the obvious joke) to give an adult cacher a thrill. In the winter we leave new socks in a zip lock bag just in case there are wet feet. Hand warmers (those open and they heat up things) are nice. For the rest of the year we we throw in flashlights, calculators and things that we've forgotten or lost and needed.

 

The best thing we have ever found in a cache was a pair of reading glasses! We had just lost a pair at a cache previous so they were an absolute life saver!

 

By the way...if anyone finds reading glasses near a cache.... any cache...they're mine. I've surrendered several pairs to the woods this summer.

[+Alice Band]

Recently my son and I spent three hours on a blazingly hot day hiking uphill on a road so steep that our boots were slipping. When we finally found the cache on the summit, and it was a large container, there was virtually nothing in it! At first I wondered why we bothered, but those thoughts were quickly lost when I picked a site nearby to sit down and have our lunch while taking in spectacular views from the top. A day later we found a cache hidden deep in a very dense wood [GPS useless so I used the old fashioned map reading method] and inside was a very well stocked cache.

 

I suppose you are more likely to feel disappointment when you bring young kids along and there's nothing for them inside the cache. In both cases I was walking for the scenery, not the cache contents . My son begs to differ!

 

My first official cache had several notes in the log book written by non-cachers who not only found the cache but also helped themselves to the contents without placing anything in return. At least they were the honest ones

[+Allanon]

I'm actually considering stocking my caches with 'chips' or 'wooden chits' redeemable for something if they come to me and exchange it...

[+BlueDeuce]

I'm actually considering stocking my caches with 'chips' or 'wooden chits' redeemable for something if they come to me and exchange it...

Not a bad idea. If people take without claiming, little is lost.

 

Whose who do, interact with a friendly cacher.