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Who Would Leave This?


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We have just passed our 100th find, and we love our new hobby!!! Along with loving our new hobby comes a bit of passionate feelings. When we go out for a day of geocaching we take along a backpack (yes it is cammo) filled with supplies. By supplies I mean that it contains such as a cache repair kit (extra containers, ducK tape, cloth for drying damp containers, extra log sheets) and various sizes of tradeable items, oh and Bug Spray :( We carry from tiny items to larger items. My point is this.....We have seen some, for lack of a better term, TRASH in caches. We just find it dissappointing that someone that enjoys the same hobby as us would leave this "stuff"!!! We feel as though if you do not plan on leaving something that someone else would enjoy finding, do not leave anything at all and just sign the log. This is such an interesting and entertaining source of enjoyment for all of us that we should tighten the reigns and be proud!!!

Edited by Laugh Your Cache Off
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Although I agree with you and I myself have a very specific sig item to trade, I am afraid that junk in cache is part of the nature of the beast. Some of the people may be just plain cheap but I believe that the majority of trashy traders are just clueless. One mans junk is another mans treasure. They dig through the kids bedroom closet and say OOOHHHH this will fit in a cache. So a barbie leg ends up as a trade. Sure to me it is junk but hey they got that barbie for Suzie on her fifth b-day. LOL.

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I don't know.. I think a Barbie leg would be an interesting find :( It's true that one man's junk is another man's treasure, and because so many types of people might be looking, a variety is nice. Small toys make a nice addition if the finder has a kid with them, but a unique momento would appeal more to an older finder. Personally I would prefer to find a unique item because it's more memorable.

 

I would say this about being cheap however - I went to a dollar store this weekend and spent $12 for a variety of items that I think would be good finds. Personally I like leaving swag that anyone would want to put on a shelf as a reminder of the search.

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I don't mind so much if it's cheap items, as much as I do if there's just plain trash. Nothing is grosser than a used bandaid, q-tips, or the like. I just don't get why someone would leave that! I would rather they took an item and left nothing in return, at least that way I wouldn't have to clean up after them (and then douse myself in Purell afterwards).

 

As far as the cheap stuff goes, well I doubt that will ever change. The worst thing we've seen are those little craft foam cut out pieces. They were stickers, but just shapes. Like some kid is gonna say "OOOooooo Mommy, I want to wear the blue oval"! At least spend a little bit more and put in a real sticker. Personally, we make nice swag items that cost us under 25 cents a piece with foreign coins, but people love. It's really not hard when you buy in bulk. It might cost a bit at the beginning, but you have a ton of swag to put out too.

Edited by elmuyloco5
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Geocaching attracts people from all walks of life. The down side to this is the fact that not everyone has the same values and integrity you do. There is an exponential increase in swag quality based on cache difficulty (terrain and difficulty lever). It's been my experience as a hider and a finder that caches placed in easy access locations have swag degradation faster than any other type of cache. Caches where you have to solve a devious puzzle, or that require tough hikes in rough terrain almost always retain a decent level of swag quality.

 

I own two "5/5" caches that i'm confident will never have swag degradation.

Edited by Kit Fox
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Let's talk about 'cheap' items.

 

I recently placed a cache with a military theme which contained/s USArmy cheverons, micro-heliocopter's and 100 plastic soldiers. Those soldiers cost me MAYBE $0.01 each. The cheverons are the real thing - sew on's that a neighbor tossed out when she no longer needed them, and micro heilocopter magnets found at a local party wherehouse. something like 10 for a buck.

 

While on my way to restock the cache I was at the cache one day, I met up with a fellow cacher with his two pre-teens on the trail who had a BLAST going thru the cache. Yes, it pleased me to see the kids eyes light up and pocket some of the items. Since then, I have placed hundreds od cheverons and soldiers. Now I have another 1000 soldiers ready to deploy in my next ammo box hide.

 

Another fun one was finding bags of 100 marbles for $2.00 a bag. I only picked up 500 but thinking of themes for this hide, I'm now wondering how much 10,000 marbles would weigh ;-)

 

So.. trash is one thing, cheap is another that can really be loads of fun to the right cacher.

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I don't mind so much if it's cheap items, as much as I do if there's just plain trash. Nothing is grosser than a used bandaid, q-tips, or the like. I just don't get why someone would leave that? I would rather they took an item and left nothing in return, at least that way I wouldn't have to clean up after them (and then douse myself in Purell afterwards).

 

As far as the cheap stuff goes, well I doubt that will ever change. The worst thing we've seen are those little craft foam cut out pieces. They were stickers, but just shapes. Like some kid is gonna say "OOOooooo Mommy, I want to wear the blue oval"! At least spend a little bit more and put in a real sticker. Personally, we make nice swag items that cost us under 25 cents a piece with foreign coins, but people love. It's really not hard when you buy in bulk. It might cost a bit at the beginning, but you have a ton of swag to put out too.

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I could not agree more!!! I just hope that some of the people that leave "garbage" like dirty bandaids (yuck) read this and get a clue. We also use the dollar store as a source for swag. We also love the flea market for quality, interesting, one of a kind items. Nothing pleases us more than to find something in a cache and think, "wow, we have to take that!". But......in return, we must ponder........do we have a fair trade??? Alas, at times, we do not. Maybe I am being too passionate about this, but I think that if we all share the same enthusiasm that a treasure found can truely be a treasure!!! And yes, I too think a Barbie leg would be WONDERFUL!!! :santa:

Edited by Laugh Your Cache Off
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I don't know.. I think a Barbie leg would be an interesting find :santa: It's true that one man's junk is another man's treasure, and because so many types of people might be looking, a variety is nice. Small toys make a nice addition if the finder has a kid with them, but a unique momento would appeal more to an older finder. Personally I would prefer to find a unique item because it's more memorable.

 

I would say this about being cheap however - I went to a dollar store this weekend and spent $12 for a variety of items that I think would be good finds. Personally I like leaving swag that anyone would want to put on a shelf as a reminder of the search.

 

Totally agree! A few nights ago I found a cache that had 'B' key from a computer keyboard. I thought it was funny and unique so traded for that item :santa: . Someone else would likely have complained rather heavily about it being junk . . .

 

On my first cache ever I traded for a couple of plastic firemen because it reminded me of playing with my brother years ago. And I know I've heard/read of a crack plastic army commando travelbug unit that had specific missions to complete. Others have complained about dollar store plastic figures, I LOVE them!

 

. . .to each his own, I guess . . . :santa:

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I don't cache for the "treasures", my fun is in finding places I'd likely never have!!

 

One good way to help with keeping the swag good would be to carry a bag-o-swag to use to re-stock any needy caches!!

 

We have a lot of caches in need, we're getting ready to make our maintenance trip soon!! 50 or so caches in need...gonna take a lot of Dollar Store stuff to make the kiddies happy!! Amazing how a simle toy can be so fun for the youngsters...also, there's a lot of good items for the adults (flashlights, tools, batteries etc).

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We have just passed our 100th find, and we love our new hobby!!! Along with loving our new hobby comes a bit of passionate feelings. When we go out for a day of geocaching we take along a backpack (yes it is cammo) filled with supplies. By supplies I mean that it contains such as a cache repair kit (extra containers, ducK tape, cloth for drying damp containers, extra log sheets) and various sizes of tradeable items, oh and Bug Spray :santa: We carry from tiny items to larger items. My point is this.....We have seen some, for lack of a better term, TRASH in caches. We just find it dissappointing that someone that enjoys the same hobby as us would leave this "stuff"!!! We feel as though if you do not plan on leaving something that someone else would enjoy finding, do not leave anything at all and just sign the log. This is such an interesting and entertaining source of enjoyment for all of us that we should tighten the reigns and be proud!!!

 

I'm pretty confident that most people who care enough about Geocaching to put their thoughts down in a forum are not the people leaving dirty band aids in a cache. So.. I am not taking about any of you. :santa: As to why this occurs, I think part of it is that this game is open access to anyone with a computer. To get an account on GC.com you do so completely anonymously and therefore there is very little accountability for your actions. People treat this freedom differently and it is human nature that some will take complete advantage of it. It's not exclusive to geocaching, the is the same decision making process that occurs when someone writes on a bathroom stall, sticks gum under the table, or uses spray paint to graffiti under a bridge.

 

As for leaving nothing and signing the log. I wish more people would do this instead of leaving things in there that are complete trash, unsanitary, or inappropriate for a family to find. I see this as a "teachable moment" and use the opportunity of finding a cache to engage my son in a little ethics discussion on about what is a fair trade. Walking away leaving nothing (no room or a theme swag cache would be reasons) or leaving something and taking nothing are always on the table as options.

Edited by Team GeoBlast
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I think one of the best ways to find some swag is to garage sale your house, so to speak. I'm sure I' m not the only one that has lots of items that never get used and get packed away that other people could use. Or even cds or dvds that you no longer want, computer programs, books, jewelry, trinkets, are all nice things to leave. There's nothing wrong with something being inexpensive, or free for that matter.

 

And yes, the value of something is in the eye of the beholder. But sometimes, I think, it's in the way it's presented. Such as the Barbie leg. Some people would go to that cache and remove the item for trash. But, if the person who placed it was a doll refurbisher and put a tag on it with something to that effect, it would be considered a sig item. Same thing with the keyboard letter. If it was from a computer programer, for instance, now it's a sig item. It takes so little to make a small card or sticker and place something in a little baggie, but it goes a long way to coming across as something meaningful. And it doesn't have to be because you work with the item, that's just an example. The point is in how things are displayed to others. Some of the "junk" you might be finding, might be meaningful. It would just be nice if the owner told us about it.

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Not sure I'd want to trust any computer programs left in a cache, would be too worried about what might really be on there!

 

Even if the program was clearly the manufactured disc? I homeschool and have lots of educational type computer games that our kids complete and have no further use for. I think they'd make a nice item for a kid. I understand that you have to worry about viruses and such, but can they put viruses on a retail item like that? How is it any different than purchasing the item over Ebay? And if they could put a virus on a retail computer program, couldn't they then also do the same thing to a retail music cd or dvd? Lots of people place those in caches, and those items can be used on your computer too.

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My point is this.....We have seen some, for lack of a better term, TRASH in caches. We just find it dissappointing that someone that enjoys the same hobby as us would leave this "stuff"!!!

 

We couldn't agree more! we are pretty new to geocaching but boy have we seen some 'stuff' ie; an empty acorn cup, stones - obviously picked up from the cache site, a used contact lens case (who would want to use that?) a fuse, used headlamp bulb and so it goes on. We like to buy charity badges as swaps as it's twofold - the charity benefits too and do try to swap like for like. What a shame that some are quite happy to leave trash. Better to leave nothing at all methinks.

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Just wanted to note that sometimes that dirty band aid was clean when it went into the cache, that used expired lottery ticket might have been before draw and that wet dirty notebook might have been a nice diary.

 

What is junk now might have been decent swag when left.

 

By dirty, I don't mean with dirt. I meant an opened, used, nasty, hazardous bandaid. And, if it was put in there clean, my point of a small baggie to contain the items would have kept it that way. The baggies can be bought at any craft or hobby store for very little money. I think we bought 100 for just over a dollar. If the person had put a sticker with their name and such on there and placed a couple of bandaids and maybe an antiseptic wipe, for example, the swag would go from potential trash to a nice small first aid kit. It's all in how you present the swag that makes a difference.

 

Edited to add: Those who put in items with an expiration date, I feel sorry for. We recently found two baseball tickets in one, but they were expired by months. We wouldn't have taken them anyway, as it's not our choice sport, but I feel bad for the person who left it. Seems like a waste of their money. Maybe items that expire aren't the best choice.

Edited by elmuyloco5
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Edited to add: Those who put in items with an expiration date, I feel sorry for. We recently found two baseball tickets in one, but they were expired by months. We wouldn't have taken them anyway, as it's not our choice sport, but I feel bad for the person who left it. Seems like a waste of their money. Maybe items that expire aren't the best choice.

 

Good point. Unless of course they had no takers due to conflicting plans and offered them up to cachers on last resort. Who really knows right :santa: ? . . . Unless they noted something specific in the log . . .

Edited by scorpio_dark
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Not sure I'd want to trust any computer programs left in a cache, would be too worried about what might really be on there!

 

Even if the program was clearly the manufactured disc? I homeschool and have lots of educational type computer games that our kids complete and have no further use for. I think they'd make a nice item for a kid. I understand that you have to worry about viruses and such, but can they put viruses on a retail item like that? How is it any different than purchasing the item over Ebay? And if they could put a virus on a retail computer program, couldn't they then also do the same thing to a retail music cd or dvd? Lots of people place those in caches, and those items can be used on your computer too.

I also won't buy programs on ebay.

 

To answer your questions, I don't know. Since I don't know, I don't want to find out the hard way. I also won't take cd's or any other media items of this nature. That's me, do as you please...but be careful!

 

I'm guessing there's always someone out there that can do whatever to those items, maybe I'm paranoid.

Edited by Rockin Roddy
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Not sure I'd want to trust any computer programs left in a cache, would be too worried about what might really be on there!

 

Even if the program was clearly the manufactured disc? I homeschool and have lots of educational type computer games that our kids complete and have no further use for. I think they'd make a nice item for a kid. I understand that you have to worry about viruses and such, but can they put viruses on a retail item like that? How is it any different than purchasing the item over Ebay? And if they could put a virus on a retail computer program, couldn't they then also do the same thing to a retail music cd or dvd? Lots of people place those in caches, and those items can be used on your computer too.

I also won't buy programs on ebay.

 

To answer your questions, I don't know. Since I don't know, I don't want to find out the hard way. I also won't take cd's or any other media items of this nature. That's me, do as you please...but be careful!

 

I'm guessing there's always someone out there that can do whatever to those items, maybe I'm paranoid.

 

Maybe I'm totally wrong here, some of you techies out there correct me if I am. But, I looked this subject up. What I read said you can get a virus from prepackaged unopened software that you purchase from the store. This means, that the manufacturer has a virus on their system and it then infects all of the items they create. It's rare, but possible. So you would have to stop buying all software to be totally safe, stop using the internet, etc. I was not able to find anywhere that an individual could place a virus on already created software from a manufacturer, however. I would venture to say that they couldn't just as you cannot add files to an non-writable disc. As for used software, and new for that matter, virus programs can scan the disc in your drive prior to downloading anything to check for viruses, so if that is true, I see no harm in leaving computer items in a cache.

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I think that as with any other activity, you will find people of all types- some who take nothing & leave kewl stuff for others to find, some who "trade even or trade up", some who trade down & a few who think it's funny to leave used toothpicks (with evidence of use still attached). Best thing to do is to quietly pack out hazardous waste, so others who come later aren't exposed to it (someone has undoubtedly performed this service for you on other caches, without your knowledge).

 

I dunno about you guys, but we're all treasure hunters to some degree. We stop at just about every garage sale we see when we're out geocaching (kinda wish they would post coord's for them in the classified ads, LOL). We've dug to the bottom of many a tote full of happy meal toys- usually find nothing but trash, occassionally find an item decent enough to take home & sanitize before adding it to our swag.

 

We hit a pretty good sale yesterday, the box of small toys was actually CLEAN. Picked up a dozen decent swag items for ONE DOLLAR, all pretty good size. The action figures are fully jointed & 4"-5" tall. The Hummer is a pull&go, unscratched heart mirror, Mr. Beaver from Narnia nods his head when you flap his tail, the water ring toss game looks new & is about the size of new cell phones, a nice Barbie backback & who could pass up the rubber ducky? I couldn't wait to saw that shark's head off & cement a pill bottle lid down his throat, LOL- look for "Land Shark" cache to be listed soon ;)

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Edited by fastforty
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Nothing is grosser than a used bandaid, q-tips, or the like. I just don't get why someone would leave that! I would rather they took an item and left nothing in return, at least that way I wouldn't have to clean up after them (and then douse myself in Purell afterwards).

;)

 

You have GOT to be kidding me? Someone actually LEFT that? That is totally disgusting! You're a fine example of human goodness to clean THAT up!

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One mans junk is another mans treasure. They dig through the kids bedroom closet and say OOOHHHH this will fit in a cache. So a barbie leg ends up as a trade.

Perhaps you could find out which cacher left the leg, find the other five caches they did that day, and end up with a brand new barbie. ; )

Edited by meralgia
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We have just passed our 100th find, and we love our new hobby!!! Along with loving our new hobby comes a bit of passionate feelings. When we go out for a day of geocaching we take along a backpack (yes it is cammo) filled with supplies. By supplies I mean that it contains such as a cache repair kit (extra containers, ducK tape, cloth for drying damp containers, extra log sheets) and various sizes of tradeable items, oh and Bug Spray <_< We carry from tiny items to larger items. My point is this.....We have seen some, for lack of a better term, TRASH in caches. We just find it dissappointing that someone that enjoys the same hobby as us would leave this "stuff"!!! We feel as though if you do not plan on leaving something that someone else would enjoy finding, do not leave anything at all and just sign the log. This is such an interesting and entertaining source of enjoyment for all of us that we should tighten the reigns and be proud!!!

I agree. We are stuck with it. The only thing we can do it clean out crappy items and try to add quality ones.

 

~.~Scare Force One

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Nothing is grosser than a used bandaid, q-tips, or the like. I just don't get why someone would leave that! I would rather they took an item and left nothing in return, at least that way I wouldn't have to clean up after them (and then douse myself in Purell afterwards).

<_<

 

You have GOT to be kidding me? Someone actually LEFT that? That is totally disgusting! You're a fine example of human goodness to clean THAT up!

 

I found a dirty diaper cover in a cache.

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I know this isn't necessarily the purpose of this thread, but the 2 most memorable items that I've found inside any of the caches that I've found are an unopened lock, that I plan on using for a multi-staged mystery cache of some sort...and a paddle made by paddlinfool. I found it in his SHS series in the Bedminster/Bridgewater area. It's a miniature paddle about 3 inches in length that I believe he carved himself. I actually keep that in my bureau as a reminder of that long and difficult hunt. Someone else might have thought of that as simply trash, but to me...it means more. (By the way, I didn't take his signature item...it was the prize for finders of the entire series.)

 

I really don't trade for anything because there's rarely anything worthwhile inside caches. A few times a year I get to cache with my nephew, age 12, and even he rarely trades for anything. (Forgot to mention: we BOTH enjoy trading for trackable items. But we don't keep them, we move them along.)

 

That being said...it's the hunt that counts the most. It's what you get out of the experience, NOT what you get out of the cache.

Edited by Phatfish16
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Geocaching attracts people from all walks of life.

 

Be that as it may, if one can afford a GPS, a computer and internet access in order to geocache, they should be able to swing SOMETHING to leave that is not downright disrespectful to the game.

 

I have not been doing this very long, but I would be embarrassed to leave something other than an item where folks would think "neat!". I will only take an item if I have something good to leave. If not, I'd simply sign and log my visit. Leaving something unsuitable is worth less than leaving nothing but a signature.

 

Hope to place a cache this weekend. My wife and I stopped at a dollar store and for much less than $20, we filled it with some neat stuff. This may sound harsh, but I would hope that visitors not leave crap. Folks should put some thought into SWAG. I'd not think it too much to ask.

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Oh... how about this... finding a well-used condom in a cache once in Chicago. Or finding a ammo can out at Cape Cod and open it up and find sands up to the top. I have seen dolls and books that should have gotten a "retirement"... to the trash years ago. What I hates the most is the McDonald crap. I know that some people like it but to me that is just plain ol' junk especially if it already been opened and the item was a hot item 5 years ago. Ya think a 50 years old man would love McDonald craps.

 

I personally never take anything except I would take coins from other countries. I travels a lot and coins means more to me.

 

cave-rat

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I hate just plain trash in a cache as well. However, some things that seem like trash to some people might actually be good stuff to another. For instance, my son loves rocks so we get excited when we see rocks in caches. Of course, the more rare the rock the better or if the rock is from the area if it is a good representation of the geological features of the area it reminds us of the cache. For instance. slate in a slate region or green marble or volcanic rock. One of our best finds was finding an arrow head, shark teeth, and fool's gold.

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I know of several people that recycle their kids' used toys to leave in caches. While I personally consider this stuff "junk", I do have to say that I believe they are teaching their kids a couple VERY valuable lessons. One, they are recycling, two, they are teaching them the rules of the game..."take something, leave something."

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I have bought items for swag from the dollar store, yard sales and thrift stores. Also I occasionally trade items laying oround the house that I no longer use, but are in working order. Right now I have several frs radios bought at thrift stores for 2 dollars each, waiting for the right caches.

I have seen a little garbage, and swag that simply shouldn't be in a cache, but not very often.

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We have just passed our 100th find, and we love our new hobby!!! Along with loving our new hobby comes a bit of passionate feelings. When we go out for a day of geocaching we take along a backpack (yes it is cammo) filled with supplies. By supplies I mean that it contains such as a cache repair kit (extra containers, ducK tape, cloth for drying damp containers, extra log sheets) and various sizes of tradeable items, oh and Bug Spray :P We carry from tiny items to larger items. My point is this.....We have seen some, for lack of a better term, TRASH in caches. We just find it dissappointing that someone that enjoys the same hobby as us would leave this "stuff"!!! We feel as though if you do not plan on leaving something that someone else would enjoy finding, do not leave anything at all and just sign the log. This is such an interesting and entertaining source of enjoyment for all of us that we should tighten the reigns and be proud!!!

Interesting that I got on the forum so I could ask a question about what to carry. My grandson is some sort of geocaching nut, 11 years old. I am trying to put together a kit for him to carry in the field such as 1st aid kit, extra baggies, etc. You have listed a bunch of stuff I could add, thanks.

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By far the worst are those wall clingy things...the wife insisted on taking a Spongebob hand thing from a cache this past summer...other than she pestered me the whole way back up the trail with the disgusting thing, she stuck it to the dash of the Jeep. and as the after noon wore on, it sealed itself on a atomic level to the plastic of the dash...No amount of solvent, rubbing nor abrasives can remove the distictive outline. We now have a indeleble reminder of that one "special cache"...

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I can /sort of/ understand how you get trash in caches occasionally, but not as much as all the threads about it seem to indicate.

 

I had been caching for a few weeks before I ventured into the forum, and it was only from reading a like topic that it finally occured to me that I hadn't been trading fair. I really don't get why it didn't occur to me, and I'm guilty and embarrassed about it now. But maybe someone will find a use for the little mouse-shaped cat toys we scattered all over the area? :)

 

I can only suppose it might take a while for newbies like me to pick up on stuff like this, despite it being written all over the website. :)

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By far the worst are those wall clingy things...the wife insisted on taking a Spongebob hand thing from a cache this past summer...other than she pestered me the whole way back up the trail with the disgusting thing, she stuck it to the dash of the Jeep. and as the after noon wore on, it sealed itself on a atomic level to the plastic of the dash...No amount of solvent, rubbing nor abrasives can remove the distictive outline. We now have a indeleble reminder of that one "special cache"...

You might want to try using one of those Mr. Clean magic erasers. Those things can clean off all sorts of stuff you'd think will be stuck forever. I have three kids, and they have put that spongy thing to the test, for sure!

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we took a great aunt 3x removed (something like that) out on a backwoods cache one holiday, she, being a bit eccentric, insisted on putting a *fresh* Kleenex in the cache, stating that if she were someone coming out here she might be glad to find a clean tissue waiting during allergy season! Not wanting to hurt feelings we let it go. Sometimes the trash might have a unique backstory. (although I sincerely apologize to the person who might have found the tissue and thought it unclean!)

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Funny that I just stumbled upon this subject, since I rarely visit the forums. I was just thinking that my SWAG days are over.

 

I routinely maintain and restock my caches with Baseball hats, music CD's, Beanie Babies for the kids, current paperback books, camping items, whistles, compasses, etc. Everything is clean and put into zip-lock baggies. So when I return to the caches and find only those stupid foam shapes, googly eyes, or a rock that was just picked up from the ground, it makes me sick. Do people really think that a foam square equals a Beanie Baby or a new hat??? PULLEEEZZZ!

 

So...I'm done. I will trade my sig item with someone else's sig item, but no longer will I leave good stuff. It seems the majority of cachers just don't trade up or equal these days. :)

 

Thanks for letting me vent! :)

Edited by Badgerdawg
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We have just passed our 100th find, and we love our new hobby!!! Along with loving our new hobby comes a bit of passionate feelings. When we go out for a day of geocaching we take along a backpack (yes it is cammo) filled with supplies. By supplies I mean that it contains such as a cache repair kit (extra containers, ducK tape, cloth for drying damp containers, extra log sheets) and various sizes of tradeable items, oh and Bug Spray :laughing: We carry from tiny items to larger items. My point is this.....We have seen some, for lack of a better term, TRASH in caches. We just find it dissappointing that someone that enjoys the same hobby as us would leave this "stuff"!!! We feel as though if you do not plan on leaving something that someone else would enjoy finding, do not leave anything at all and just sign the log. This is such an interesting and entertaining source of enjoyment for all of us that we should tighten the reigns and be proud!!!

 

I am new to geocaching and was all excited about getting stuff that I could put in a cache when i found one. I am on a limited budget and was afraid that I couldnt' afford to leave cool stuff.....but then i went to the thrift store! Problem solved! I got tons of cool things that aren't expensive but aren't junk (cute small stuffed animals, little girls hello kitty sunglasses, decorative holiday picutre frames, ceramic candle holders with cute decorations, handpainted glass suncatcher-type artwork to hang on a window...etc) all for only 25 cents each! I wish more would do that....it woudl be better than finding a gum wrapper.

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We have just passed our 100th find, and we love our new hobby!!! Along with loving our new hobby comes a bit of passionate feelings. When we go out for a day of geocaching we take along a backpack (yes it is cammo) filled with supplies. By supplies I mean that it contains such as a cache repair kit (extra containers, ducK tape, cloth for drying damp containers, extra log sheets) and various sizes of tradeable items, oh and Bug Spray :laughing: We carry from tiny items to larger items. My point is this.....We have seen some, for lack of a better term, TRASH in caches. We just find it dissappointing that someone that enjoys the same hobby as us would leave this "stuff"!!! We feel as though if you do not plan on leaving something that someone else would enjoy finding, do not leave anything at all and just sign the log. This is such an interesting and entertaining source of enjoyment for all of us that we should tighten the reigns and be proud!!!

 

I am new to geocaching and was all excited about getting stuff that I could put in a cache when i found one. I am on a limited budget and was afraid that I couldnt' afford to leave cool stuff.....but then i went to the thrift store! Problem solved! I got tons of cool things that aren't expensive but aren't junk (cute small stuffed animals, little girls hello kitty sunglasses, decorative holiday picutre frames, ceramic candle holders with cute decorations, handpainted glass suncatcher-type artwork to hang on a window...etc) all for only 25 cents each! I wish more would do that....it woudl be better than finding a gum wrapper.

 

Rummage sales are another great source of inexpensive stuff suitable as trade items.

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