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Off Your Rocker Series


CharlesIsland

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For those who are keeping score, here's the tally on our five caches:

 

GCRQ6F - Off Your Rocker in Chambersburg, PA - 118 happy cachers and 0 DNF's

GCRQ6J - Off Your Rocker in Hagerstown, MD - 136 happy cachers and 4 DNF's

GCRQ6K - Off Your Rocker in Frederick, MD - 120 happy cachers and 10 DNF's

GCVF8N - Off Your Rocker In Martinsburg, WV - 146 happy cachers and 4 DNF's

GC104JZ -Off Your Rocker In Winchester, VA - 60 happy cachers and 2 DNF's

 

580 happy cachers and 20 DNF's over the combined lifetime of these caches for a total find percentage of 97%

 

We've even had actual travelers through our caches including coins, small bugs, and the Unite For Diabetes Travel Bugs. Some small SWAG has also seen it's way into the caches including MONEY! and other small items.

You've made about 580 assumptions there. Just because someone finds a cache doesn't necessarily make them a happy cacher, especially if it's so easy and unchallenging that it's practically impossible to miss.

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And you are making an even larger assumption that cachers look for caches that make them unhappy? Why not just stay home and scratch your fingernails on a blackboard, or practice square roots?

 

There is happy and there is HAPPY, just as there is a basic ice cream sandwich and there is fresh made ultrarich Italian gelato. Both taste good. But sometimes you only have time for a quick stop at the 7-11 and sometimes you can spend two weeks in Italy. :D

Edited by wimseyguy
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For those who are keeping score, here's the tally on our five caches:

 

GCRQ6F - Off Your Rocker in Chambersburg, PA - 118 happy cachers and 0 DNF's

GCRQ6J - Off Your Rocker in Hagerstown, MD - 136 happy cachers and 4 DNF's

GCRQ6K - Off Your Rocker in Frederick, MD - 120 happy cachers and 10 DNF's

GCVF8N - Off Your Rocker In Martinsburg, WV - 146 happy cachers and 4 DNF's

GC104JZ -Off Your Rocker In Winchester, VA - 60 happy cachers and 2 DNF's

 

580 happy cachers and 20 DNF's over the combined lifetime of these caches for a total find percentage of 97%

 

We've even had actual travelers through our caches including coins, small bugs, and the Unite For Diabetes Travel Bugs. Some small SWAG has also seen it's way into the caches including MONEY! and other small items.

You've made about 580 assumptions there. Just because someone finds a cache doesn't necessarily make them a happy cacher, especially if it's so easy and unchallenging that it's practically impossible to miss.

 

I found the one in Frederick, MD. which was not easy, as there are so many places it could have been hidden. It would have been much more difficult (if not impossible) if they were busy. Those front porches of the Cracker Barrels are pretty interesting with all the stuff out there (which is more noticeable when looking for a cache) and much more interesting than a guardrail or a lampost.

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Why anyone would be happy to see these caches go away?

 

I know it's been said 100s of times before but if you don't like them why don't you just ignore them?

Why complain about them. I've only found one of them but I was the FTF on it and it had a $10 gift certificate for the restaurant in it and I liked it a lot. I don't like football but that don't make it bad, and I don't go around crying about it, I just ignore it.

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Ya know,

Nobody will ever confuse me with a lover of all things micro,

but I would be disappointed if the OYR caches were eliminated.

We RV, and it is a GREAT place to stop on the road, and having these little

buggers around just adds something else enjoyable to the stop.

I doubt anyone has ever been unable to place a larger cache

because one of these was within 528',

so if not for them there would probably be none in that area.

O.K.

Cracker Barrel, if your reading these threads, please re-consider your

position. It's all good, and we usually pick up after ourselves. :lol:

PP4X4

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I like the OYR caches, had fun looking for them around the country, and do stop to eat there because of the caches.

 

For all the haters; once places start banning caches, others will follow. This can easily lead to most urban areas being listed as off limits. If the corperate folks are worried about liability, then I bet the towns and counties that run park systems will take notice.

 

First they came for my Wal-Mart lamp pole skirts and I said nothing.....

 

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary

Edited by fishingfools
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For all the haters; once places start banning caches, others will follow. This can easily lead to most urban areas being listed as off limits. If the corperate folks are worried about liability, then I bet the towns and counties that run park systems will take notice.
This is most certainly true, well said!

 

If this whole issue really is happening, I would be curious as to how the decision was made. Is there something that has been happening that we, the geocaching community, should be aware of to rectify the problem, or at very least, stop it from happening elsewhere?

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I like the OYR caches, had fun looking for them around the country, and do stop to eat there because of the caches.

 

For all the haters; once places start banning caches, others will follow. This can easily lead to most urban areas being listed as off limits. If the corperate folks are worried about liability, then I bet the towns and counties that run park systems will take notice.

 

First they came for my Wal-Mart lamp pole skirts and I said nothing.....

 

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary

You can't camp, hunt, or play baseball in front of Cracker Barrel either. That hasn't changed anything in the parks that I know of.

 

(not a hater; I don't particularly care whether they're there or not).

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I like the OYR caches, had fun looking for them around the country, and do stop to eat there because of the caches.

 

For all the haters; once places start banning caches, others will follow. This can easily lead to most urban areas being listed as off limits. If the corperate folks are worried about liability, then I bet the towns and counties that run park systems will take notice.

 

There are no haters. Just a divisive term to throw around. If anything, it would be exactly the opposite, park systems at the Federal, State and local level have had geocaching policies in place for years, and the "corporate folks" may start to take notice.

 

First they came for my Wal-Mart lamp pole skirts and I said nothing.....

 

My goodness, who on earth came for your Wal-Mart LPC's? Unless you mean disturbed banned forum poster TrackinTheBox, but I'm sure nothing ever happened there. :lol: Besides, no one has come for OYR's if this is true, it's an internal decision.

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No one can fault you for trying to be honest but I'd say that you made a mistake by asking permission. They're rescinding permission is typical corporate CYA BS generated by slippery slope liability fears.

Remember: it's easier to seek forgiveness than it is to get permission.

 

:lol:

 

Yeah, that'll help the game. :lol:

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...and just what makes an OYR cache less desirable or worthy them some other caches?

 

1. unable to accomodate swag for my 8 yr. old.

2. unable to accomodate Travel Bugs

3. Acting like a whack-job in front of the general public.

4. Alarming the general public, by acting like a whack-job in front of them.

 

That's all I have for now. :lol:

 

Sounds good to me. :lol:

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First they came for my Wal-Mart lamp pole skirts and I said nothing.....

 

My goodness, who on earth came for your Wal-Mart LPC's? Unless you mean disturbed banned forum poster TrackinTheBox, but I'm sure nothing ever happened there. :lol: Besides, no one has come for OYR's if this is true, it's an internal decision.

 

I was making and analogy. If we lose one place, I fear more will follow. Might not seem like much, but it slowly adds up

 

[You can't camp, hunt, or play baseball in front of Cracker Barrel either. That hasn't changed anything in the parks that I know of.

 

(

 

Don't know of too many city parks that allow camping or hunting

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[You can't camp, hunt, or play baseball in front of Cracker Barrel either. That hasn't changed anything in the parks that I know of.

 

(

 

Don't know of too many city parks that allow camping or hunting

I missed where you meant city parks, though I've camped in city park campgrounds. But you're ignoring the point. Parks and restaurants exist for completely different reasons, so I disagree with the idea that businesses banning an activity will have any bearing on parks. That's not to say I think geocaching should be restricted to parks only; I'm just saying there are plenty of precedents for parks allowing activites -- being set up specifically for activities -- that you'd probably get ticketed for doing in a parking lot.

 

Additionally, no one has yet learned why any CB is denying permission for caches. Saying it's for liability reasons is speculation.

Edited by Dinoprophet
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I am confused... don't these violate the non-commercial nature rule?

 

I'm not an expert on this but, I've never seen anything where it promoted the business. Nor, has any of the one's I've seen (not just the 3 I've been to) said the name of the business). So, I would say no. They just gave permission to place a cache on their property outside of the building.

The whole "commercial caches" thing is "much ado about nothing" anyway in my book.

 

The few extra patrons generated by a "commercial cache" are not worth the bother IMO.

 

I saw someone had added up 500 some odd visits. What? Over a period odf a year or so? Less than two extra visiotrs a day? out of those two, one was going there anyway and said "woohoo I get a cache, too." The other ate at McDonalds and got a happy meal so he'd have a toy to put in a regular cache if he ever finds one.

 

Attracting patrons with a cache is pretty insignificant for a popular business and if the business is desperate for customers, the cache ain't gonna keep it afloat.

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Since there does not appear to be any definitive news, I won't be picking up my OYR cache when I go there for dinner.

 

Yes, we're still waiting for more ingo. (Sorry). Enjoy your dinner.

:lol:

 

Thanks, we will, every Friday we have the Cod dinner and some times dessert. For a year that might add up to about $1000. Maybe not much for corporate to care about but it's still money in their pocket and not in mine. If my cache was not there....who knows.

Edited by rdaines
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Since there does not appear to be any definitive news, I won't be picking up my OYR cache when I go there for dinner.

 

Yes, we're still waiting for more ingo. (Sorry). Enjoy your dinner.

:lol:

 

Thanks, we will, every Friday we have the Cod dinner and some times dessert. For a year that might add up to about $1000. Maybe not much for corporate to care about but it's still money in their pocket and not in mine. If my cache was not there....who knows.

If you like Cracker Barrel, why punish yourself to make a point because they took away a "perk?"

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Since there does not appear to be any definitive news, I won't be picking up my OYR cache when I go there for dinner.

 

Yes, we're still waiting for more ingo. (Sorry). Enjoy your dinner.

:)

 

Thanks, we will, every Friday we have the Cod dinner and some times dessert. For a year that might add up to about $1000. Maybe not much for corporate to care about but it's still money in their pocket and not in mine. If my cache was not there....who knows.

If you like Cracker Barrel, why punish yourself to make a point because they took away a "perk?"

 

As usual I have trouble understanding your posts. I'm not punishing myself, rather I have choices on where I can eat out. If CBOCS supports a hobby of mine I may rewards that behavior by eating there frequently. Makes for a nice opportunity to check on my cache like I did tonight. If they don't allow caches then I am free to decide to eat elsewhere. They are not the only game in town.

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Cracker Barrels polices on any but Geocaching are off topic in this thread and need to stop. If someone feels they are being singled out please take it to PM or email and keep it out of the thread. I have a call into Groundspeak's contact at Cracker Barrel and will post the response when I get one. Until that time the best thing to do is wait.

 

Independent of the waiting, the off topic banter needs to stop. Don't make me turn this thread around and go back home. I will. I'm just that crazy. Ask Keystone, he knows. So if we keep going off topic no ice cream for anyone :)

Edited by Michael
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There were nine posts that didn't talk about caches at Cracker Barrel. I split them off into a separate thread called "Cracker Barrel's Corporate Policies" and moved that thread to the Off Topic forum where it belongs.

 

This thread is for talking about caches at Cracker Barrel. The only Corporate Policy that's relevant to this thread is their policy on geocaching. Please stay on topic.

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Cracker Barrels polices on any but Geocaching are off topic in this thread and need to stop. If someone feels they are being singled out please take it to PM or email and keep it out of the thread. I have a call into Groundspeak's contact at Cracker Barrel and will post the response when I get one. Until that time the best thing to do is wait.

 

Independent of the waiting, the off topic banter needs to stop. Don't make me turn this thread around and go back home. I will. I'm just that crazy. Ask Keystone, he knows. So if we keep going off topic no ice cream for anyone :)

 

I'm completely down, Michael, but I'm not sure what this sentence means: Cracker Barrels polices on any but Geocaching are off topic in this thread and need to stop.

 

I'm not sure what this sentance means.

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Since there does not appear to be any definitive news, I won't be picking up my OYR cache when I go there for dinner.
Yes, we're still waiting for more ingo. (Sorry). Enjoy your dinner.
:anitongue:

 

Thanks, we will, every Friday we have the Cod dinner and some times dessert. For a year that might add up to about $1000. Maybe not much for corporate to care about but it's still money in their pocket and not in mine. If my cache was not there....who knows.

If you like Cracker Barrel, why punish yourself to make a point because they took away a "perk?"
There are lots of places that provide a good meal. I can go eat at any of them. Personally, I don't love Cracker Barrel, but I do eat there on occasion. The food there is a little too greasy for my taste, but I do appreciate that their geocaching policy, so I give them some of my business. If they were to forbid geocaches at their restaurants, I would likely stop eating there. Obviously, this wouldn't cause them to go out of business, but it would stop them from getting any more of my money.
Bump Any news or INFO....?
No news or info yet. I will post when I get word.
Michael, Mtn-man, and Quiggle all asked for us not to contact them further. Michael is the appropriate contact for this issue and he's on it. If a bunch of us also bug them, they will merely tell us to get lost.

 

Please let TPTB handle it.

Edited by sbell111
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Contact takes time. Sometimes discussions require input from someone not available. Perhaps corporate policy hasnt changed and someone is tracking down what exactly is happening with that one restaurant. Regardless, answers may not be forthcoming as quickly as cachers may wish. Since gc.com has stated they are looking into it, I expect at some point we will get some sort of answer.

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Since there does not appear to be any definitive news, I won't be picking up my OYR cache when I go there for dinner.
Yes, we're still waiting for more ingo. (Sorry). Enjoy your dinner.
:blink:

 

Thanks, we will, every Friday we have the Cod dinner and some times dessert. For a year that might add up to about $1000. Maybe not much for corporate to care about but it's still money in their pocket and not in mine. If my cache was not there....who knows.

If you like Cracker Barrel, why punish yourself to make a point because they took away a "perk?"
There are lots of places that provide a good meal. I can go eat at any of them. Personally, I don't love Cracker Barrel, but I do eat there on occasion. The food there is a little too greasy for my taste, but I do appreciate that their geocaching policy, so I give them some of my business. If they were to forbid geocaches at their restaurants, I would likely stop eating there. Obviously, this wouldn't cause them to go out of business, but it would stop them from getting any more of my money.

My point is that you would hurt yourself a whole lot more than you hurt the business by taking your business elsewhere. ("you" in this case is assumed to be someone who LIKES their food and service.)

 

As for your personal case, since you don't like them anyway, my argument doesn't apply to you. Obviously you won't be out much if you never darken their door again.

 

It is our right as consumers to support whom we like and withhold our money from those we don't- for ANY reason we so choose. In fact, it is when we do so that the free market works and we get better products and services.

 

But IMO a company's geocaching policy is hardly worth a boycott.

 

I think it is interesting too that you say you would withhold your money that you rarely spend there anyway. It reminds me of "Christian" groups boycotting "R" and "X" rated movies... Just how much money do the theatres and DVD producers stand to lose from "patrons" boycotting them if said "patrons" (theoretically at least) weren't interested in their movies in the first place?

 

CB provides their facility to serve their patrons. That they allow us to hide boxes there is a GIFT to us.

 

One should not be upset by someone NOT giving a gift. It is a GIFT, not an ENTITLEMENT.

 

I say if they choose to ban caches on their property, we need to say "Thank You" for their past GIFT and politely move on.

 

From that point forward we should think of CB as a place to eat (if you like their food and service), buy touristy junk (if that's what you are looking for), and take a break from caching to fellowship with our friends.

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never tried to find one - and won't be contacting anyone -about this but... it sure seems to be taking them a long time to make up there minds.... whats up with that?
Contact takes time. Sometimes discussions require input from someone not available. Perhaps corporate policy hasnt changed and someone is tracking down what exactly is happening with that one restaurant. Regardless, answers may not be forthcoming as quickly as cachers may wish. Since gc.com has stated they are looking into it, I expect at some point we will get some sort of answer.

They also have a business to run. Geocaching isn't their top daily priority, so they'll address it when they have the opportunity. Hopefully it won't be much longer, but we all need to be patient.

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There are lots of places that provide a good meal. I can go eat at any of them. Personally, I don't love Cracker Barrel, but I do eat there on occasion. The food there is a little too greasy for my taste, but I do appreciate that their geocaching policy, so I give them some of my business. If they were to forbid geocaches at their restaurants, I would likely stop eating there. Obviously, this wouldn't cause them to go out of business, but it would stop them from getting any more of my money.
My point is that you would hurt yourself a whole lot more than you hurt the business by taking your business elsewhere. ("you" in this case is assumed to be someone who LIKES their food and service.)
Again, there are bunches of places to go eat. I seriously doubt that anyone would be 'hurting themselves' by choosing a different restaurant.
As for your personal case, since you don't like them anyway, my argument doesn't apply to you. Obviously you won't be out much if you never darken their door again.

 

It is our right as consumers to support whom we like and withhold our money from those we don't- for ANY reason we so choose. In fact, it is when we do so that the free market works and we get better products and services.

 

But IMO a company's geocaching policy is hardly worth a boycott.

I'm thinking that anything that would make a restaurant less palatable would be a reason to consider a different restaurant.
I think it is interesting too that you say you would withhold your money that you rarely spend there anyway. ...
I never said that I 'rarely' go to Cracker Barrel. Actually, my wife and I go there pretty much once a week after church. We also have been known to stop at one while traveling.
CB provides their facility to serve their patrons. That they allow us to hide boxes there is a GIFT to us.

 

One should not be upset by someone NOT giving a gift. It is a GIFT, not an ENTITLEMENT.

Perhaps you are correct. However, it feels more like someone gave us a gift and then took it back. That's not exactly the same as not giving a gift.
I say if they choose to ban caches on their property, we need to say "Thank You" for their past GIFT and politely move on.

 

From that point forward we should think of CB as a place to eat (if you like their food and service), buy touristy junk (if that's what you are looking for), and take a break from caching to fellowship with our friends.

If it is their position that they did want to attract our business (by allowing us to hide caches there) and then they decided that they no longer want to attract us to their restaurants (by changing their policy by 180 degrees), then I am more than happy with their decision and I'll eat somewhere else.

 

There's a Golden Corral a mile away that can feed me my Sunday breakfast.

Edited by sbell111
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This thread is about whether caches can no longer be published at CB as well as questions concerning existing caches. If you'd like to debate the merits of different placed to eat, the Off Topic Forum is a perfect place for that.

 

Thanks.

 

My discussion isn't about places to eat, it is about whether or not it is appropriate to deny business to a company who does not want caches on their property anymore.

 

Since this "boycott" response was raised, I think it is appropriate to the topic at hand.

 

If you still think this is off topic, please delete this post and I'll drop out.

 

Perhaps you are correct. However, it feels more like someone gave us a gift and then took it back. That's not exactly the same as not giving a gift.

 

Good point but I don't think giving permission to place a cache should ever be considered as "in perpetuity to the cache owner and his heirs and assigns forever." It is well within their purview to rescind permission, as it is with any property manager. We really SHOULDN'T be upset with such decisions, but undoubtedly many/most will... it is human nature.

 

If it is their position that they did want to attract our business (by allowing us to hide caches there) and then they decided that they no longer want to attract us to their restaurants (by changing their policy by 180 degrees), then I am more than happy with their decision and I'll eat somewhere else.

 

Also good point IF their original purpose was to garner extra business AND IF their changing their mind was because they no longer seek our business THEN it does make sense to give them what they want, i.e. go elsewhere.

 

I sincerely doubt that either of these conditions are true in this case. But until they 1. say officially that they in fact have rescinded permission and 2. they state their reason for the decision, it is premature to take any kind of action.

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never tried to find one - and won't be contacting anyone -about this but... it sure seems to be taking them a long time to make up there minds.... whats up with that?

If I know anything about restaurant corporations (and I do), they're running past their Risk Management department. And I'm sure it's not going to at the top of their to-do list.

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This thread is about whether caches can no longer be published at CB as well as questions concerning existing caches. If you'd like to debate the merits of different placed to eat, the Off Topic Forum is a perfect place for that.

 

Thanks.

My discussion isn't about places to eat, it is about whether or not it is appropriate to deny business to a company who does not want caches on their property anymore.

[...snip...]

If you still think this is off topic, please delete this post and I'll drop out.

I think you answered your own question (emphasis added by me)

 

My post was a reminder to stay on-topic. If you want to discuss something other than the OP, start a new topic in the appropriate forum.

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Don't know if it has been posted as yet here, but this is a bookmark of OYR and Barrelin' caches. I do own a Barrelin' cache which just happens to not be a micro:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...8e-077e64cfed78

Yes it has been posted already, thanks. I called Nick and I am still awaiting his call.
Please don't call him again.

 

<sigh>

It's his cache that was in the direct line of fire. I think he's got as much of a right to call anyone involved as anyone.

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Don't know if it has been posted as yet here, but this is a bookmark of OYR and Barrelin' caches. I do own a Barrelin' cache which just happens to not be a micro:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...8e-077e64cfed78

Yes it has been posted already, thanks. I called Nick and I am still awaiting his call.
Please don't call him again.

 

<sigh>

It's his cache that was in the direct line of fire. I think he's got as much of a right to call anyone involved as anyone.

The problem is that the issue affects many, many other caches. Frankly, I'm not sure if all those other cache owners want him to be their mouthpiece.

 

Certainly, you agree that every OYR cache owner is 'in the direct line of fire'. However, if they all attempt to resolve the issue themselves, the answer would almost certainly be a negative one.

 

Michael is an appropriate contact. There is no downside to letting him be the singular contact point.

 

As I recall, during the SC fiasco, you argued pretty heavily that there should only be one point of contact. I'm somewhat surprised that you are flipping on that in this instance. I assume that you are not changing your position because A.) you don't like these caches or B.) I'm arguing for having only one contact.

Edited by sbell111
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