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Trade items


EEKJeep

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Hello,

 

I'm just getting started and have been reading in alot of cache descriptions that people leave or take things other than travel bugs from the cache. Is this expected at most caches? What type of items should I be leaving at caches? I'm assuming something small, but does anyone have any suggestions or examples to help me get some ideas?

 

Thank you!

-Erika

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Anything and everything, or nothing at all...

 

Well, not ANYTHING. Obviously common sense applies. No junk, no trash, no knives or drugs or condoms or stuff like that (gotta be kid-friendly). People leave marbles, erasers, coins, pins, little toys, trinkets, keychains, ... you name it.

 

I went through my junk drawers and came out with bags of stuff which I either donated to a local charity, earmarked for a future garage sale, or put in my Geocaching swag bag. I have things like pens, caribeaners, old music CD's and software, small stuffed toys, bracelets, keychains, mini flashlights, etc.

 

I went to the dollar store -- great place to buy this kinda stuff -- and found packages of bouncy eyeballs (Hallowe'en is coming, I guess :D) -- 8 balls for a buck. Bought up a bunch of those and I'm leaving one at every cache I visit.

 

I often TNLN (take nothing, leave nothing) though, so don't feel bad about not trading stuff.

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Our local WallyMart has a clearance aisle. There's usually some good stuff there. Also, check Big Lots, Dollar Stores, Thrift Stores, etc. Right now, Back to school time, so look for erasers, pencils, crayons...

A couple weeks ago, Staples had boxes of 24 crayons for $.08, so I stocked up! Once I found pencil sharpeners at WallyMart for $.01!!! (a mistake?) I got all they had! Every cache needs a sharpener and a pencil.

Look around out there. It's just a matter of keeping caching on your mind when you're shopping. :ph34r:

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At most caches, it is possible to trade. You don't have to trade if you don't want to.

 

Travel bugs are not trade items. You can take one to move along and not leave anything in its place. Same goes for FTF prize, if you happen to be first to find a cache.

 

Think of inexpensive things that you might like to find in a cache. I usually take along one item for children and one for adults, then choose which to trade when I see what's in the cache already.

 

Some things I have left:

  • Toy car
  • Beads
  • Colored chalk
  • Keychain
  • First aid kit
  • Moist towelettes
  • Batteries
  • Where's George? dollar
  • Pen
  • Tape measure
  • Miniature screwdriver set
  • Bandana
  • Deck of cards
  • Compact mirror
  • Rubber stamp
  • Rain poncho
  • Foreign coins
  • Ruler
  • Map
  • Lapel pin

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Generally you want to leave things that others may find useful or interesting. Gently used items are fine, but if its broken, dirty or othwerise garbage throw it away, not in a cache. Here is a partial list of things I've left in caches. Many are under a buck and most are under $3:

 

Small US flags

US flag pins

modeling clay

individual packs of insect repellent wipes

carabiners

Energizer squeeze lights

stickers

bags of toy soldiers

water colors

mini screwdriver sets

allen wrench sets

gel pens

boxes of crayons or colored chalk

emergency rain ponchos

packs of AA batteries

collectable coins (buffalo nickels, indian head pennies, SBA or Sacagawea dollars)

music CD's

blank RW CD's

cassettes (blank and recorded)

calculators

clip on safety strobes

bungee cords

LED key lights

"euro" stickers & other decals

mini sewing kits

maps (hiking & road)

software

travel packs of Wet Ones or Baby Wipes

Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars

key rings

packs of Hefty Handi Sacks

bags of balloons

velcro fasteners

interesting buttons

padlocks

foreign money

rolls of film

Slinky Jrs.

kazoos

movies on VHS & DVD

office supplies (packs of paper clips, thumb tacks, Post-Its, etc...)

Mylar emergency blankets

decks of cards

new wallets

Pick Up Sticks

individual packs of Armor-All & Rain-X wipes

survival whistles

travel packs of facial tissue

Wheresgeorge bills and stamps

Geocaching.com hats, pins, patches and compasses

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Someone in my area obviously must have made a deal with McDonalds to have all their broken toys shipped to them, as this seems to be all we find in most caches. Like mentioned above with dollar stores, Wal-marts and such is a good link to find your items. At Target in my town on the isle endcaps, they always have closeout or clearance items. About a month ago, I found a rack of Winchester mini multi-pliars for $1.50 each. They had been marked $9.99 and I bought all 11 of them.

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Local Walmart (Taylor MI), has a HUGE clearance aisle right now, I just walked outta there with $45 worth of stuff. Also wow were the school supplies out in force.

 

Anything that you think either a kid OR an adult would enjoy finding. My daughter is fond of handmade jewlery. My son likes lil army stuff or cars. Personally I like to find things for myself from time to time. We always leave something even if we TN. Just our way of trading even or trading up I guess.

 

The Laughing Gnomes

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I just went to Walgreens because they had a back-to-school coupon sale. I bought packs of glittery pencils, pencil sharpeners, eraser sets, etc. for $0.39 each. Folks with kids especially like these things because they are useful for school, etc. and you can't beat that price. I've often purchased items at the dollar store for caches but sales such as this are even better deals. I also get packs of pens when they are cheap and I carry extra pens in my cache bag for putting into caches where the pen is missing. I've probably replaced a dozen or more missing pens.

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Hello,

 

I'm just getting started and have been reading in alot of cache descriptions that people leave or take things other than travel bugs from the cache. Is this expected at most caches? What type of items should I be leaving at caches? I'm assuming something small, but does anyone have any suggestions or examples to help me get some ideas?

 

Thank you!

-Erika

 

:blink: Our Family has made it a practice to use "small" items. We go to the dollar store. We do not put expensive items or things that we cherrish in a cache. You'll never see it again. Unless your very ver lucky! :huh:

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It was mentioned but should be noted again to enphasize....

 

TRADE UP or don't trade at all. It is ok to not take something if you don't have something equal or of more value to leave.

exactly!

 

i see small stickers in caches, and i look in the log book, and people take dollar bills, out of the ordinary items, etc, and i get sort of angry that people can leave such junk in exchange for a really good item.

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It was mentioned but should be noted again to enphasize....

 

TRADE UP or don't trade at all. It is ok to not take something if you don't have something equal or of more value to leave.

 

Words to live by. I've only been into this for about a week, but after finding way too much useless junk I've decided to declare a personal crusade against lame cache items! Now, unless there's something truely amazing to be found (and I have something cool to leave), I'll be selecting the bus transfers, the drill bits, the car dealership keychains, the 'Have You Found Jesus?' cards, and the coffee shop receipts and replacing them with little plastic 3D puzzles, glow sticks, decks of cards, those little springloaded clips for attaching stuff to backpacks, or any other of my 30 years of accumulated knick-nacks. A lot of the aforementioned stuff I found at Fred Meyers for around $1 when I went to restock my cache supplies.

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