Cleaning up caches? Please give you opinion!

[+inperfected]

My question is, should we clean out caches we visit of the messy trash in them aka junky trinklets. I mean things like a toy soldier (that shoudl have gone in the bin months/years ago), overdue vouchers, supermarket receipts, and things that honestly I can't even think of the use for (a chair leg end maybe???). I am being quite serious that I've found these. My thought is to take that junk and throw it away leaving room for quality trades...

 

Any one else agree with me, and would you be annoyed if I did this to your cache?

I realise we are supposed to up or equal the trades, but sometimes, you have nothing worthwhile, and everything in it is rubbish.

[+Brassine Family]

vouchers and supermarket receipts, yes, I can see getting rid of those, but the "toys", you never know when a cacher is going to have his or her little one with them. thats why from time to time I will put in a sealed toy from Mc. Donald's. But I don't use the toy as a trade though. And I will only put the Toy in the cache if there is a lot of room. ex. ammo can. But if the toy is going to fill up the whole cache then I leave the toy out.

[+nashuan]

I have been annoyed when finding the junk you spoke of. Not so much if say a plastic toy dinosaur is in there, but if the toy looks like it had first been buried for a few years and thrown into the cache along with a rusty bottle cap? Yeah, that sort of irks me. I have on occasion traded out some of the junk, knowing that I'd be trowing it out at the nearest barrel. I see a lot of paper items that have gotten soggy and would not be of use to anyone.

 

Then there is the story I recently read on this forum somewhere: A group of cachers were grumbling about the "poor quality" swag they found at a nearby cache when an older gentleman approached - obviously irate and told them that this "worthless swag" were all his grandson's favorite toys that he had just donated to set up his very first geocache, of course without realizing that other people wouldn't have appreciated his own sacrifice. Apparently the grandfather was crushed on his grandson's behalf, but it was a good thing that the nearby grandson was out of earshot and so wasn't permanently turned off to geocaching.

[Clan Riffster]

this "worthless swag" were all his grandson's favorite toys that he had just donated to set up his very first geocache

A rather tear jerking tale... I'm thinking Granpa could've used a bit of judgment when helping Junior set up the cache.

 

"No son, it's a cache, not a trash can. I know your 3 legged dinosaur toy is your favorite, but maybe we should stick with toys that aren't quite so used? Maybe add a few that aren't actually broken? No son, I don't think your used wax teeth belong in there either."

 

Obviously, Granpa also had trouble handling criticism.

 

Back to the question: I practice the trade up/trade even mantra everywhere I cache. If I find something in a cache that is obvious trash, (I.e: a sales receipt from McDonalds), I'll remove it and leave something of a higher value in its place. If I don't happen to have any swag with me, I'll make a mental note of the cache and come back to it better prepared at a later date.

[+whistler & co.]

I think that as long as the item is in good condition, it should be left in the cache regardless of how "cheap" it is. We have some local cachers who pack their ammo cans with high-quality swag both for kids and adults, we have some who stock their new caches with mainly dollar store stuff for the kids, a few who will hide a large lock & lock that is completely empty except for the logbook, and one guy who usually raids his mom's and sister's stuff (you never know what interesting things you'll see in one of his caches). We stock ours depending on our current financial condition and whether or not we have time to make a trip to Target rather than to the dollar store. Expired coupons, broken toys, rocks from the roadside, open packets of Off! wipes...they should go. But leave the other stuff if it's still intact since you never know when a cacher with a bunch of kids in tow will arrive and actually want that McToy in its original wrapping.

[+VO2WW]

I to think that as long as the item is in good condition, it should be left in the cache regardless of how cheap it is. I also have some cachers who pack ammo cans with high-quality swag and have found some new caches with dollar store stuff for kids. I stock mine depending on our current swag on hand and whether or not I have time to make a trip to Wal Mart. Like previous poster said, expired coupons, broken toys, rocks from the roadside, open packets of Off! wipes etc...... they should go. But leave the other stuff if it's still intact since you never know when a cacher with a bunch of kids in tow will arrive and actually want that McToy if it's in its original wrapping

[Mr.Yuck]

My question is, should we clean out caches we visit of the messy trash in them aka junky trinklets. I mean things like a toy soldier (that shoudl have gone in the bin months/years ago), overdue vouchers, supermarket receipts, and things that honestly I can't even think of the use for (a chair leg end maybe???). I am being quite serious that I've found these. My thought is to take that junk and throw it away leaving room for quality trades...

 

Any one else agree with me, and would you be annoyed if I did this to your cache?

I realise we are supposed to up or equal the trades, but sometimes, you have nothing worthwhile, and everything in it is rubbish.

 

Oh, there would always be someone who is annoyed. I've done this only a handful of times (and usually left quality swag in return). I'm talking true garbage, like receipts (as mentioned), expired coupons, moldy wet business cards advertising geocaching events that happened four years ago, broken eraser pieces, obviously broken and unusable toys, that sort of thing.

 

On the other hand my son is now 9, and is starting to get just a little selective. But go back 3 or 4 years, and he'd be happy with even the most seemingly useless trinket, as long as it wasn't broken, or disgustingly filthy.

Edited October 10, 2008 by TheWhiteUrkel

[CoyoteRed]

Just trade out the trash for quality stuff and don't say anything about it in the logs, and you'll be fine.

 

See my signature for my favorite quote about how to deal with subjects like this.

[+Renegade Knight]

My question is, should we clean out caches we visit of the messy trash in them aka junky trinklets. I mean things like a toy soldier (that shoudl have gone in the bin months/years ago), overdue vouchers, supermarket receipts, and things that honestly I can't even think of the use for (a chair leg end maybe???). I am being quite serious that I've found these. My thought is to take that junk and throw it away leaving room for quality trades...

 

Any one else agree with me, and would you be annoyed if I did this to your cache?

I realise we are supposed to up or equal the trades, but sometimes, you have nothing worthwhile, and everything in it is rubbish.

 

If it's broken or expired, food, or dangerous. Just trash it out.

[Skippermark]

Ditto what Renegade Knight said except that my son LOVES broken toys. His favorite was a beat up car. He pretends it's his race car and that's how it looks after getting in a wreck.

[+Bamboogirl]

I've not been able to put out more than a couple of my own caches. (too picky about spots, making different camo, etc) So when out caching I like to have some more interesting stuff to leave as swag - interesting shells, mineral samples, foreign coins, just different stuff. I do clean out torn, shredded, moldy, expired stuff but leave the rest. It's just one way to 'give something back' to the game I guess.

[+uxorious]

Sometimes people collect things that would appear to be junk to others. A good piece of advice was mentioned on a previous thread on this subject. If you leave something that will be of interest to another collector, but may appear to be junk to those that don't, put it in a baggie, and label it.

 

While a broken toy solder, short piece of barbed wire, or an old nail is most likely just junk. It would be a shame if someone were to throw out something left for another collector. A collector of minerals and rocks might be aghast if you threw out a rock that appeared to be "picked up from the side of the trail", but was really an interesting specimen.

 

All that being said, I have no problem with someone removing junk from a cache I've hidden. If I remove what appears to be junk, I do try to leave something in it's place. However, if I have no trade, and something is making the cache trashy, I may take it anyway.

[+Wild Thing 73]

Absolutely...clean out these caches with junk....Just remember what "junk" you take out must be replaced with something of same value or better....just a thought but it is a good idea. Happy caching.

[+TotemLake]

this "worthless swag" were all his grandson's favorite toys that he had just donated to set up his very first geocache

A rather tear jerking tale... I'm thinking Granpa could've used a bit of judgment when helping Junior set up the cache.

 

"No son, it's a cache, not a trash can. I know your 3 legged dinosaur toy is your favorite, but maybe we should stick with toys that aren't quite so used? Maybe add a few that aren't actually broken? No son, I don't think your used wax teeth belong in there either."

 

Obviously, Granpa also had trouble handling criticism.

 

Back to the question: I practice the trade up/trade even mantra everywhere I cache. If I find something in a cache that is obvious trash, (I.e: a sales receipt from McDonalds), I'll remove it and leave something of a higher value in its place. If I don't happen to have any swag with me, I'll make a mental note of the cache and come back to it better prepared at a later date.

On the flipside of that coin, some people are just ungrateful. I'm sure there was a cache description that explained what it was. It should have been accepted in the light of that instead of being a bunch of uncouth cachers.

Edited October 10, 2008 by TotemLake

[+CBT69]

this "worthless swag" were all his grandson's favorite toys that he had just donated to set up his very first geocache

A rather tear jerking tale... I'm thinking Granpa could've used a bit of judgment when helping Junior set up the cache.

 

"No son, it's a cache, not a trash can. I know your 3 legged dinosaur toy is your favorite, but maybe we should stick with toys that aren't quite so used? Maybe add a few that aren't actually broken? No son, I don't think your used wax teeth belong in there either."

 

Obviously, Granpa also had trouble handling criticism.

 

Back to the question: I practice the trade up/trade even mantra everywhere I cache. If I find something in a cache that is obvious trash, (I.e: a sales receipt from McDonalds), I'll remove it and leave something of a higher value in its place. If I don't happen to have any swag with me, I'll make a mental note of the cache and come back to it better prepared at a later date.

On the flipside of that coin, some people are just ungrateful.

 

Ayup.

 

My girl LOVES the old scraggly hello-kitty toy we traded out of a cache. "junk"? not so sure.

 

My friends boy found a hotel comb (still in the hotel-labeled sleeve) the other day, and thought it was great.

 

To each their own. However, broken sunglasses, railroad spikes, and golf balls? Not so much.

[+markandsandy]

this "worthless swag" were all his grandson's favorite toys that he had just donated to set up his very first geocache

A rather tear jerking tale... I'm thinking Granpa could've used a bit of judgment when helping Junior set up the cache.

 

"No son, it's a cache, not a trash can. I know your 3 legged dinosaur toy is your favorite, but maybe we should stick with toys that aren't quite so used? Maybe add a few that aren't actually broken? No son, I don't think your used wax teeth belong in there either."

 

Obviously, Granpa also had trouble handling criticism.

 

Back to the question: I practice the trade up/trade even mantra everywhere I cache. If I find something in a cache that is obvious trash, (I.e: a sales receipt from McDonalds), I'll remove it and leave something of a higher value in its place. If I don't happen to have any swag with me, I'll make a mental note of the cache and come back to it better prepared at a later date.

On the flipside of that coin, some people are just ungrateful.

 

Ayup.

 

My girl LOVES the old scraggly hello-kitty toy we traded out of a cache. "junk"? not so sure.

 

My friends boy found a hotel comb (still in the hotel-labeled sleeve) the other day, and thought it was great.

 

To each their own. However, broken sunglasses, railroad spikes, and golf balls? Not so much.

 

I like railroad spikes!

[+CBT69]

Well, usually, if you find a spike in a cache here, there's another 12 within 30 feet of the cache.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Oh! I almost put a spike in my new cache! Too heavy to carry in. So, the new cache is stocked with a McToy, a raggedy doll, a broken pencil sharpener...And, for the terrain rating, I don't think anyone's going to care! No kiddies going for this one. So, I was having fun cleaning out the junk drawer. Oh, well. Maybe someone will trade up for a golf ball, or railroad spike!

[+Gorge_Hiker]

I usually wont do anything to a cache, unless it's something simple like replacing a water-soaked log with some dry paper, or set stuff out to dry if it has gotten wet. Receipts, sure I would probably take them and junk them, but the toys. . .I leave em

[+StarBrand]

Feel free to take anything you want and as much as you want. Just be sure to leave an equal number of trade items in the category of "trade up or even".

[+Hrethgir]

I don't have a problem with "cheap" stuff, as long as it's in good condition. I carry around a little bag with my trade stuff in it, and it's all cheap stuff, but still in good condition and all that. I don't have kids, so I'm mostly just moving stuff from cache to cache, I'm not looking for "cool" stuff to keep. Although I have left several carbiner keychain/flashlight combos as trade for trinkets, knowing full well that I'm on the losing end, but I enjoy doing it because I know someone else is going to open it and go "Hey, cool, and Intel carbiner light!" In my first hide, I left a cool little pen/flashlight/laser pointer (Intel labeled again, guess where I work ) for the FTF prize. Anyways, bottom line, you want better swag in a cache, leave good swag, it sets a good example, and builds good karma. But also remember, the swag isn't really the goal of the game, it's just a part of it.

[+JEEPers5130]

We give more than we receive. We have placed more caches than found and put awsome swag inside. I am sure after 5-10 logs there is not much left. You know the keeners TNLN because its all about the hunt.

Once I found a $10.00 bill in a cache. I was shocked and I gladly moved it along. After we placed it in its new home (where I mentioned there was a nice unsuspecting swag so the owner knew where it ended up), no one mentioned it again. Pretty dissapointed.

 

I especially like giving the FTF a nice bonus like a $5.00 Tim Hortons gift card. Even left a $20.00 card once.

We always buy new toys for at least one child for each cache still new in the package.

 

We believe in giving and never take anything. It is dissapointing just the same to find a cache full of old pencil erasers. I don't usually clean out a cache in case someone (child) could take enjoyment from the items. If something is clearly broken or incomplete, I would remove it but replace it.

 

Its much more interesting even if you don't take from a cache to see it with good items.

 

I hope our efforts rub off and up the anti!

 

Georgette

[+Brassine Family]

We give more than we receive. We have placed more caches than found and put awsome swag inside. I am sure after 5-10 logs there is not much left. You know the keeners TNLN because its all about the hunt.

Once I found a $10.00 bill in a cache. I was shocked and I gladly moved it along. After we placed it in its new home (where I mentioned there was a nice unsuspecting swag so the owner knew where it ended up), no one mentioned it again. Pretty dissapointed.

 

I especially like giving the FTF a nice bonus like a $5.00 Tim Hortons gift card. Even left a $20.00 card once.

We always buy new toys for at least one child for each cache still new in the package.

 

We believe in giving and never take anything. It is dissapointing just the same to find a cache full of old pencil erasers. I don't usually clean out a cache in case someone (child) could take enjoyment from the items. If something is clearly broken or incomplete, I would remove it but replace it.

 

Its much more interesting even if you don't take from a cache to see it with good items.

 

I hope our efforts rub off and up the anti!

 

Georgette

 

Well Said. Thats what I attempt to do. to me, it is getting rid of all the build a bear and hotwheels that find their way to my desk after my wife comes home from work. (she runs a Mc. Donalds) But to a youngster that is walking a boring route behind mom or dad is a sweet reward in my opinion.

Edited October 11, 2008 by Brassine Family

[+catsnfish]

I don't have a problem with "cheap" stuff, as long as it's in good condition. I carry around a little bag with my trade stuff in it, and it's all cheap stuff, but still in good condition and all that. I don't have kids, so I'm mostly just moving stuff from cache to cache, I'm not looking for "cool" stuff to keep. Although I have left several carbiner keychain/flashlight combos as trade for trinkets, knowing full well that I'm on the losing end, but I enjoy doing it because I know someone else is going to open it and go "Hey, cool, and Intel carbiner light!" In my first hide, I left a cool little pen/flashlight/laser pointer (Intel labeled again, guess where I work ) for the FTF prize. Anyways, bottom line, you want better swag in a cache, leave good swag, it sets a good example, and builds good karma. But also remember, the swag isn't really the goal of the game, it's just a part of it.

We also carry "cheap stuff" for swag lately it has been frogs lizards and snakes. Oh yeah and holiday candy corn guys( we live in the town that headquarters Oriental Trading Co. ) we prefer to leave small items and in any cache big enough to hold them.

For larger caches we have 2 trash bags full of unopened McToys we're trying to get rid of cache by cache. (My 70 yr old mother has had a happy meal every day for years, when we started caching we inherited them.) some of these have been quite large items such as the 12 inch Buzz Lightyear McToy we put into a very large cache.

We do trade for small items if it has some appeal to us, sometimes even those little novelty erasers, but we never trade those items back out. We have a large wooden chest we put these cache keepsakes in. Occasionally, if the mood takes us, we go through the items and talk about the caches or trip where we found them. Our swag goal is to trade out all the McToys, fill the chest and leave that for our cache kids to inherit

[Jensniffer]

My son and I are fairly new to caching, today we found 4 (the most in a row for us yet lol) I couldn't believe that the caches were either almost empty or just full of broken junk. I know its not about what is in there but come on, they started out with stuff in them and now they are empty? People shouldn't take things without leaving anything. My 7 yr old lovessss trinkets and things some people may regard as junk, but even he turned his nose up at some of these caches and didn't want anything. I think I dumped $20 worth of stuff into these caches today so the next youngsters wouldn't be disappointed.

Edited October 11, 2008 by Jensniffer

[+Tubfuzz]

My kids give me a hard time about all the swag I buy at the dollar store for the caches, lol. I try to think of things that will appeal to both adults and to children, something unusual if I can find it. I will purchase a big box of bandaids, and repack them into smaller ziplocks to leave in various caches. Or doggie poo baggies. Or children's toys that are sold in groups that can be left singly in caches (like 4 decks of cards, I leave one in a cache.) We almost always leave more than we take, often leaving stuff and taking nothing at all - usually because there's little of interest to take in our local caches.

I do have a question though - when I come across a wet log, or a full log in a small container, I am usually prepared to replace the logs, but if there is no room, do I take the old ones out or simply leave the cache un-loggable? Anyone know the etiquette on this one?

My feeling is that if it's damaged, the owner would only trash it anyway, so leaving it in the cache only subjects the rest of the items to further damage. If it's full, and there's no room for a new log, it would be better to take the old one out and leave a new one so others could log the find. I would not be prepared to try to connect with a bunch of cache owners I don't know to return full or damaged logs. Any thoughts?

 

Tubfuzz

[+BoggyWoggy]

Who cares what's inside? Sign the log and move on. Sometimes, the "crap" in a cache give my caching buddy and me a good laugh. However, paper stuff is IRRITATING, unless, of course, we were to find some hand,cold cash!

[+Glenn]

My question is, should we clean out caches we visit of the messy trash in them aka junky trinklets. I mean things like a toy soldier (that shoudl have gone in the bin months/years ago), overdue vouchers, supermarket receipts, and things that honestly I can't even think of the use for (a chair leg end maybe???). I am being quite serious that I've found these. My thought is to take that junk and throw it away leaving room for quality trades...

 

Any one else agree with me, and would you be annoyed if I did this to your cache?

I realise we are supposed to up or equal the trades, but sometimes, you have nothing worthwhile, and everything in it is rubbish.

 

My son loves finding toy soldiers in caches, even the ones that should have gone in the bin months ago. If you do remove these things from the a cache please follow the example of by son and trade even or trade up or don't trade at all.

 

Ayup.

 

My girl LOVES the old scraggly hello-kitty toy we traded out of a cache. "junk"? not so sure.

 

My friends boy found a hotel comb (still in the hotel-labeled sleeve) the other day, and thought it was great.

 

To each their own. However, broken sunglasses, railroad spikes, and golf balls? Not so much.

 

golf balls can be interesting like the ones at http://sandinfamily.com/golf/ball-right-13.htm.

You can even buy caches to display your golf balls in http://www.sfdisplay.com/egb/images/products/DC3115c.jpg.

[GPS-Hermit]

I try to trade up as often as possible or not trade at all. There is always junk in the cache and 'Yes' I get rid of it. If all you can offer is a dirty cut golf ball - I will remove it. I don't remove business cards or stuff like that. I will take along wet ones and clean dirt out of a container. Add a new log book, Pencil, rusty items from moisture, add new plastic bags or remove things that might blow up in the cache. I will always trade my item for one that does not belong. Like small liquor bottles or anything liquid in the cache or seeds in plastic cache. I try to report the condition of the cache or recommend what needs to be in there.

 

Bad items I have seen:

Army man missing arm.

Dirty stuffed pink pig!

Rusty Ad button.

Rusty anything

Liquid bubbles from a Wedding.

Leaking batteries

Button with hate slogan.

Anything political or advertising unless Geo-caching related.

Anything unsanitary!

[+bubo bubo!]

I have removed items without trading two times. On both ocasions it was sharp-edged knives. I wasn't sure about the guidelines for it but removed them using better judgement.

Edited October 13, 2008 by bubo bubo!

[+Buggheart]

I generally don't find many caches that are large enough to have anything in them (owners around my area are very nano happy) but I have on occasion cleaned icky stuff out of caches. This past weekend I took my mom to a few larger caches in my area of town that I've already found. Two of them contained chocolate coins that have melted and solidified time and again so I trashed them. They were disgusting and had to go. She replaced them with something but I don't remember what.

[+JennM]

I've de-junked many caches. If it's clean and viable, no matter what it is, I leave it. If it's growing something bacterial or fungal, expired, or otherwise past any remote usefulness, I trash it. I do carry some inexpensive swag and try to leave things in better shape than I found them - but I'm not going to leave 4 items behind if I took out an expired coupon, a cut golf ball, something plastic and broken and something that cannot be identified... I will leave a couple of good quality trade items in their place.

 

As for the soggy log issue - if there's no room to add another (page or a book, depending on the size of cache), I usually replace the log completely and contact the cache owner, willing to mail the log to them. Thusfar, the half-dozen or so I've done that for have all declined my offer to mail the log, but *were* appreciative that I saved them a maintenance run.

 

Jenn