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Standard Of Trades?


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I think this thread should be regularly bumped up so us newbies can be reminded.

 

I liked a previous poster (can't remember who) who said:

 

Trade up not down

Trade fair trade equal

Keep this a trash free cache

I'm thinking of printing this on a cache calling-card.

I make the effort of trading up and while I think the value should really be in the 40p-£1.50 range I get frustrated to see just a couple of erasers and a broken bracelet.

 

"Trade up" is a funny phrase as well: to me it would naturally mean trade what I have for something better! I think it's a regional dialect thing.

 

I have taken the odd trinket like that, added something, then dropped it off at the next cache. As far as I can see "tat" is like small change :) . Of course, what is tat to me may be treasure to a kid.

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While never deliberately "trading down", when we first started we found it quite difficult to think of sufficient small and suitable items to leave in caches. Among other things, we left several small soft toys because they are the sort of thing our grandchildren like to find, only to realise later that these generally are despised by the community at large. So several of our early finds don't look so good.

 

To solve the problem I thought I would try to find something I could buy in bulk, and decided on some attractive and decent quality anodised aluminium small torches that I fit with batteries. Hpefully these are of interest and useful to both adults and children. The downside is that if we visit several caches in one area and someone following us does the same, they might find the same item (except a different colour) in more than 1 cache.

 

Rgds, Andy

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While never deliberately "trading down", when we first started we found it quite difficult to think of sufficient small and suitable items to leave in caches. Among other things, we left several small soft toys because they are the sort of thing our grandchildren like to find, only to realise later that these generally are despised by the community at large. So several of our early finds don't look so good.

 

To solve the problem I thought I would try to find something I could buy in bulk, and decided on some attractive and decent quality anodised aluminium small torches that I fit with batteries. Hpefully these are of interest and useful to both adults and children. The downside is that if we visit several caches in one area and someone following us does the same, they might find the same item (except a different colour) in more than 1 cache.

 

Rgds, Andy

 

I am a newbie and have only so far swapped a pen for some latex gloves! As I had just picked up a bag of dog poop I felt the gloves were just what I needed. However, I have now started a box into which I am putting all sorts of 'goodies' which I can leave in caches. I am really not bothered about taking something out. I get loads of pens and stress balls from trade shows ... too many for me to use and I don't get that stressed - but I hope somebody likes them. Buying something in bulk is a good idea - I shall try and think of something other than torches. I have also started to carry some laminated cards about geocaching to put in caches which don't have one. I would like to think that I leave a cache in a better state than I found it! But I only sign the log and say what I took or left. I do my longer write up on the online log.

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020f2780-0245-4678-84d6-ba3ef1e0a3cb.jpg

We adapted an image from the US forums which goes on all of our listings. I doubt it makes much difference, but hopefully brings an awareness to casual cachers. It's just a fact of life that the contents will depleat, but when some caches depleat in such a short time it's a bit much.

We've done a few newish caches recently which have very little in them. I'm sure that this is because some cachers are used to seeing caches with precious little in them and think this is the norm. I can't blame them either as placing a cache can be quite expensive, especially when the items just disappear.

 

We almost never trade, though my son usually looks through the items. It's really not at all a significant part of geocaching for us, but I can understand how it may be for others.

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Not long after one of my caches were set someone was so impressed to find a nice watch in the cache (a possible ftf prize - unclaimed) they left a fiver in the log book, it lasted about 10 visits before it disappeared unlogged! I was visiting the cache almost daily then so I know who you are :laughing:

 

I still think it's nice to find some booty in a cache (possibly why I dislike micros), but realise that the world is full of pikey thieves and more often leave items and take 'nowt'. Even geosprogs must get fed up with mac toys, so do the right thing and trade up.

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This is a real bugbear of mine at the moment. I think I try very hard to initially stock my caches with good swaps. But having revisted some recently I was so disappointed to find that what was left in them was a selection of objects that looked as if they had been found down the back of old sofas. The worst example I can think of was a cache which I'd stocked with so much stuff that it filled a large lock and lock - when I went back the other week I might as well have transferred what was in there into a micro - it was that bad. The other thing was that particular cache was meant to be a themed one and I'd gone to a lot of time. effort and money to ensure that it was filled with appropriate stuff. When I revisited the only thing in there that related to the theme was a bookmark leftover from my original contents. It has really made me disillusioned about the whole idea of setting caches with good swaps. It also makes me so upset to think of all the money I have invested in swaps because I naively believed that putting good swaps into a cache would hopefully ensure that people continued to swap quality for quality. I am actually embarrased to think of people visiting my cache and finding all that tat in it - especially since I know how good the inital swaps were. However, I'm just not prepared to restock it with good stuff again because I know now that it will just degenerate into rubbish again over time. Perhaps I would be more accepting of this situation if I only owned a few caches but I have almost 100 and to restock all my small/regulars would be prohibitive.

 

I'm really not sure how I feel now - on the one hand if we didn't provide swaps we might as well all set micros or tiny boxes with room only for TBs and geocoins and that wouldn't be much fun would it? But on the other hand why should I, or others, waste our own money on providing swaps for other people to take advantage of?

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I just wondered... (I wonder way too much - I know)...

 

Has anyone traded anything out of a cache that they use on a regular basis?

 

or does everything just get traded around in circles? Obvioulsy not I guess or all the caches would still be full of trades.

I have a couple of battery cases which I always carry my recharged cells in, but that's it.

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I just wondered... (I wonder way too much - I know)...

 

Has anyone traded anything out of a cache that they use on a regular basis?

 

or does everything just get traded around in circles? Obvioulsy not I guess or all the caches would still be full of trades.

 

We had a Mini-maglite as a FTF prize recently, that has proved very useful in the 'caching bag with all the other essentials.

 

As items to trade in we often leave RSPB pins, they look good and from checking the logs soon disappear, and it helps one of our favourite charitys.

 

Must admit that there is a lot of tat about, so we tend not to trade but just go for the hunt, if there is a good walk then so much the better.

 

H&L

Edited by L8HNB
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The main pleasure in caching for me is finding the box and enjoying the walk, especially if it takes me somewhere I wouldn't otherwise have visited. Having said that it is a bit disappointing when you find a box containing just tatt - not so much because we want to swap but because it shows how mean spirited some previous cachers have been.

 

We always take a bit of trouble when we set up a cache to put in some decent swaps and try to get things that could appeal to kids and things that adults might also want to take.

 

I have my caching bag with me at the moment as we are planning an after work hunt and it contains a selection of things that might be "useful" e.g. boxes of paperclips, nail clippers, reels of cotton, mini torches(again!) as well as toys e.g. matchbox cars and packs of colouring crayons.

 

When we first started out, the junior member of our team was always keen to swap. These days she tends to be a bit more selective and is usually only bothered if there is something interesting. In particular we have found a few with old coins such as Victorian pennies and foreign coins and she is always very keen to swap for those.

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My girls love to find a box of "treasure" and love choosing what to swap, they are dissapointed if we go to a box and find broken or soiled toys. a badge, bouncy ball, mcD toy and they are thrilled. I always take things to trade even if I'm on my own as sometimes there are adult items too. I often look for special offers in the supermarkets for kids swaps and battery cases from 7dayshop for adults, I prefer boxes as I like to move tb's and coins about too and they are rarely in mico's. I too like the postcard idea :huh:

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This thread is another case of thinking too hard about the 'game' or the 'hobby' and worrying FAR too much about what other people are doing.

 

Conduct swapping the way YOU want it to be and forget what others are doing. If your items 'too nice' then why leave it and then complain later!?

 

If your gonna leave 'nice' things then fine, but, you've left it and it's not yours any more. DONT complain if someone takes it and leaves nothing.

 

There are MORE important things in life, this is supposed to be a jovial sport. A relaxing hobby. STOP stressing yourselves over trivia. :huh:

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This thread is another case of thinking too hard about the 'game' or the 'hobby' and worrying FAR too much about what other people are doing.

 

Not really. It’s about people thinking that the whole point of hiding things in boxes in the middle of nowhere is that the things may as well be “nice” and not the sort of tat you’d find at the bottom of a stairwell.

Conduct swapping the way YOU want it to be and forget what others are doing. If your items 'too nice' then why leave it and then complain later!?

If your gonna leave 'nice' things then fine, but, you've left it and it's not yours any more. DONT complain if someone takes it and leaves nothing.

I don’t think people are complaining about their stuff being traded for crap: it’s the general crapness of the stuff in some caches that’s the problem, not that they’ve lost items.

There are MORE important things in life, this is supposed to be a jovial sport. A relaxing hobby. STOP stressing yourselves over trivia.

No one’s stressed; it’s just folk having a chat about the game. Stressed people sometimes come online and say that “people can play the game they way they want to” and don’t offer anything constructive.

 

You can’t seriously think that bus tickets (used) and mouldy batteries have any value to anyone?? No offence.

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