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"Junk" in GeoCaches.. leave it or trash it?


dibbg

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I'm new, been GeoCaching a few weeks now, found like 6 or 7 caches.

 

One I recently found had some stuff I thought was just junk. Let me describe:

 

Broken CD of a no-name band (CD was literally cracked in half)

Hot dog coupon that expired a year ago

A 2006 wadded up calendar

 

To me, the stuff above is really "trash", I mean really, would you want to have that? And there was quite a bit of other "good stuff" in the same cache, bouncy balls, matchbox cars, little mirror, etc.

 

I left the "junk", but I really wanted to just take it out to trash it.

 

Is that OK, or not?

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Broken CD of a no-name band (CD was literally cracked in half)

Hot dog coupon that expired a year ago

A 2006 wadded up calendar

 

I really wanted to just take it out to trash it.

 

Is that OK, or not?

 

All 3 of those things are of no use to anyone. As long as you're not making a judgement call about what others might enjoy having, by all means throw it away and add a few of your own things in there to improve the cache for the next guy.

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I'll take it out and trade up. (not too hard to do, eh?). If the cache is a little light in swag I'll drop in a whole bunch of stuff.

 

I do bring swag to put in there, but I bring my little kids with me and they like the bouncy balls, matchbox cars, etc, so they get that.

 

And to the other poster, I don't think I'm making judgement calls on what others may like, I mean, personally, there's not been any swag that "I" would like, I do it for the fun of the hunt, I just didn't know what is considered OK to do with what looks like obvious trash.

 

Maybe next time I'll bring a bit extra swag for the cache!!

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I'd say to remember that "one person's junk is another person's treasure", but the items you mentioned are probably junk to most people. I'd trade up and remove them.

 

I will say that the best thing we ever found in a cache was half of a Rolling Stones concert ticket stub from 1969. It looked like a little scrap of garbage at first glance, but we traded for it as my wife happens to collect Rolling Stones concert tickets.

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...Broken CD of a no-name band (CD was literally cracked in half)

Hot dog coupon that expired a year ago

A 2006 wadded up calendar...

 

Two out of the tree are trash. The third gives the owner certain rights to digital music that they may have in their collection. In other words the CD is worthless but the rights to the music on it are not.

 

For the two I'd just toss them and not think twice about it. Typically I leave a forign coin in the cache that's ample trade up for dead swag. However even if I didn't have my coins with me to leave, I'd still not think twice about trashing out the two items.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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Trading decent stuff for junk is appropriate. Just cleaning the junk out is really the owner's job.

 

I personally do not like the answer "it is the owner's job". I think we should all help each other and the caching community. Every time I go caching I find at least one almost empty containner. 90% of the time I take nothing but leave something, even though it is not officially "my job".

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Trash them out and leave something nicer in place of it. (shouldn't be too hard) ;)

 

Yeah, nothing hard about cleaning it out, but since I'm new to this I wasn't sure what was considered OK or not. And I can pretty much tell what true junk is.

 

Like one of the caches had this pretty beat up looking little truck, but my little boy loved it, even though he has much "nicer" toys at home. I wouldn't have considered that beat up truck junk, even though it's not in the best condition.

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I'm new, been GeoCaching a few weeks now, found like 6 or 7 caches.

 

One I recently found had some stuff I thought was just junk. Let me describe:

 

Broken CD of a no-name band (CD was literally cracked in half)

Hot dog coupon that expired a year ago

A 2006 wadded up calendar

 

To me, the stuff above is really "trash", I mean really, would you want to have that?

 

Hey, sounds like TB starting materials to me! ;)

 

And there was quite a bit of other "good stuff" in the same cache, bouncy balls, matchbox cars, little mirror, etc.

 

I left the "junk", but I really wanted to just take it out to trash it.

 

Is that OK, or not?

Good? What the?? ;)

 

Seriously, if the cache were overflowing or hard to close, I would definitely trash-out that junk. Otherwise I might leave it. I don't think anyone is going to mind if you dispose of obvious trash. As someone else said, throw in some trinkets "in trade" if you want.

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I say remove the obvious trash and remove items that are not family friendly. I've only cached a few weeks. I won't bother describing what I found at a cache this past weekend. Forunately, I saw it and removed it before my 8yr old found it. Really frustrating how some people get their jollies these days.

 

My wife spent a good 10mins cleaning out/drying out/dumping out water in one cache we visited this past weekend. There was no "garbage" in this cache, but the water damage could have possibly ruined some of the items. When I finally place my first cache, I would be thankful to have have considerate geocachers 'take out the trash' for me when they find that kind of crud in one of my caches.

 

Never would of thought a broken CD could have value though. Guess I'll leave it in if I ever run across one of those. ;)

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Like one of the caches had this pretty beat up looking little truck, but my little boy loved it, even though he has much "nicer" toys at home. I wouldn't have considered that beat up truck junk, even though it's not in the best condition.

 

 

I agree with whats been said so far, trade up and ditch the true trash, but think about the potential value to someone else.... I would have probably (personally) thrown away an old stones ticket, they are not rolling any more lol!

 

My son also likes to trade his old matchbox/hotwheels cars for various others, sometimes he will leave a brand new one which he doesnt like the shape of or the colour, but he doesnt think twice to take a beaten up, old one which does appeal to him!

 

value is often in the eye of the beholder, one mans trash is anothers treasure.

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Never would of thought a broken CD could have value though. Guess I'll leave it in if I ever run across one of those. :unsure:

 

I don't and won't. If someone wants some sort of music purchase rights from some broke cd and (apparently) an intact case they're just gonna have to deal with the fact that I cito'd it out before they even knew about it.

 

Just like I have no problem throwing away a ketchup pack before the expiration date.

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Like one of the caches had this pretty beat up looking little truck, but my little boy loved it, even though he has much "nicer" toys at home. I wouldn't have considered that beat up truck junk, even though it's not in the best condition.

 

I agree with whats been said so far, trade up and ditch the true trash, but think about the potential value to someone else.... I would have probably (personally) thrown away an old stones ticket, they are not rolling any more lol!

 

My son also likes to trade his old matchbox/hotwheels cars for various others, sometimes he will leave a brand new one which he doesnt like the shape of or the colour, but he doesnt think twice to take a beaten up, old one which does appeal to him!

 

value is often in the eye of the beholder, one mans trash is anothers treasure.

 

I feel the same way. Also remember that one man's trash might become a geocache. Hey I'm a poet and I didn't even know it! :unsure:
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Personally I would appreciate anyone removing obviously trashy stuff from my cache. Anything broken, wet, molded, illegal or harmful. I can't check my cache every day and to have additional eyes keeping everything ok is greatly appreciated. There is no trade or sig item that I feel has to stay in the [my] cache just because it was placed there. If its an expired coupon, soggy paper, rusted keychain...take it out! I'll restock the cache when needed with good stuff. MHO

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