How Many Pro Geocachers are Among Us?

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Introduction

Okay, I must admit at the start that this is a derivative thread, that is, it derived from another thread, and it is is likewise an inspired thread, in that it was inspired by another thread. You see, I was posting a reply earlier this morning to the For the Fun of It thread, and I replied pretty much as follows:

While Sue and I and most of our geo-friends engage in geocaching for the fun of it, I do know several pro geocachers, that is, people who a professional geocachers and who support themselves by doing so...

 

In fact, this thread and my disclosure above have inspired me to start a thread on pro geocaching, that is, the small number of geocachers (under three hundred, by my count) who support themselves by geocaching.

And so, here then is the promised thread on professional geocaching.

 

Pro Geocaching

As I mentioned earlier in another thread (quoted briefly above), while Sue and I and most of our geo-friends engage in geocaching for the fun of it, I do know several pro geocachers, that is, people who a professional geocachers and who support themselves by doing so, and the breakdown on them, and on the means that they employ to earn a living as a pro, is roughly as follows:

• earn a living primarily from fees charged for appearances at geocaching events - 5%
  
• earn a living primarily by working as a professional geocaching instructor to newbies and wannabes - 9%
  
• earn a living primarily by working as a pro geocaching coach for geocachers who have hit a slump or who have "choked up" in their geocaching - 11%
  
• earn a living primarily by earning prize money in pro geocaching competitions, and belong to either the National Geocaching League or the American Geocaching League - 19%
  
• earn a living primarily by issuing product endorsements for geocaching-related products - 14%
  
• earn a living primarily by displaying logos for geo products on their clothing and geocaching gear - 14%
  
• earn a living primarily by working as professional poster on Groundspeak forums - 7%
  
• earn a living primarily from bribes offered Groundspeak for NOT posting in the forums - 3%
  
• earn a living primarily from bribes offered by Groundspeak and local geocaching societies to stay away from geo events - 4%
  
• earn a living primarily by acting as a professional surrogate cache finder, that is, logging remote/surrogate finds on behalf of other cachers - 3%
  
• earn a living primarily by solving geocaching puzles/riddles for other cachers for a fee - 1%
  
• earn a living primarily by hiring themselves out as "arm candy", that is, they are paid a fee to accompany one or more other geocachers to events - 1%
  
• earn a living primarily by working as a professional geocaching escort, that is, they are paid a fee to accompany one or more other geocachers on geocache hunting trips as a geo companion - 1%
  
• earn a living primarily by selling finds on their caches via Ebay - 3%
  
• earn a living primarily by delivering lectures on geocaching - 2%
  
• earn a living primarily by appearing as a contestant on geocaching TV shows - 1%
  
• earn a living by collecting "FTF-avoidance protection fees", that is fees paid by local geocachers in return for which the pro will not score FTF on all newly-published caches in their region - 1%
  

Questions for This Thread

My questions for you then, are these, and please feel free to answer them in this thread or to discuss related and relevant issues in this thread:

• Are you a pro geocacher? If so, how do you earn a living by geocaching?
  
• Do you know any pro gecocachers? If so, how do they earn a living by geocaching?
  
• Have you ever been tempted to go pro?
  
• Are you a former pro geocacher who got burned out by the pressure and quit, and went back to fun geocaching?
  
• Do you resent pro geocachers?
  
• Do you envy pro geocachers?
  
• Do you feel that pro geocachers contribute positively to the sport or that they detract from it?
  

Thanks in advance for your replies!

Edited October 30, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

[Keystone]

The moderating team in the "Geocaching Topics" forum does not get paid to go find geocaches. We did, however, demand a large sum of money from Groundspeak -- most of which comes from Platinum Membership sales -- because we have to read all of Vinny's posts.

 

Quiggle gets a double share of the payments, since he/she/it (many reviewers are dogs) is Vinny's local cache reviewer. It is only fair.

 

Mainly I spend my portion on trips to Las Vegas.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Keystone

[+vw_k]

 

[*] earn a living primarily by working as professional poster on Groundspeak forums - 7%

[*] earn a living primarily from bribes offered Groundspeak for NOT posting in the forums - 3%

[*] earn a living primarily from bribes offered by Groundspeak and local geocaching societies to stay away from geo events - 4%

 

 

Seriously?

 

[*] earn a living primarily from fees charged for appearances at geocaching events - 5%

[*] earn a living primarily by working as a professional geocaching instructor to newbies and wannabes - 9%

[*] earn a living primarily by working as a pro geocaching coach for geocachers who have hit a slump or who have "choked up" in their geocaching - 11%

[*] earn a living primarily by earning prize money in pro geocaching competitions, and belong to either the National Geocaching League or the American Geocaching League - 19%

[*] earn a living primarily by issuing product endorsements for geocaching-related products - 14%

[*] earn a living primarily by displaying logos for geo products on their clothing and geocaching gear - 14%

[*] earn a living primarily by acting as a professional surrogate cache finder, that is, logging remote/surrogate finds on behalf of other cachers - 3%

[*] earn a living primarily by solving geocaching puzles/riddles for other cachers for a fee - 1%

[*] earn a living primarily by hiring themselves out as "arm candy", that is, they are paid a fee to accompany one or more other geocachers to events - 1%

[*] earn a living primarily by working as a professional geocaching escort, that is, they are paid a fee to accompany one or more other geocachers on geocache hunting trips as a geo companion - 1%

[*] earn a living primarily by selling finds on their caches via Ebay - 3%

[*] earn a living primarily by delivering lectures on geocaching - 2%

[*] earn a living primarily by appearing as a contestant on geocaching TV shows - 1%

[*] earn a living by collecting "FTF-avoidance protection fees", that is fees paid by local geocachers in return for which the pro will not score FTF on all newly-published caches in their region - 1%

 

 

This could only happen in America!

 

I used to make a living from scrap metal but since the global economy has slowed down and the price of metal is next to nothing I now recycle the acres of car body panels I have into ammo cans and sell them for a huge profit to geocachers.

Edited October 30, 2008 by vw_keychain

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Getting my graduate degree from GeocachingU and having Platinum Membership bestowed upon me has changed my life.

 

I used to cache for fun, but being paid per cache has made the game stressful.

 

Once I could meet cachers on the trail, join up with them and hunt the cache together, but now with so much money at stake I cannot allow them to beat me to the cache.

 

I never thought shooting people would be this stressful, but with my income at stake I have learned to live with it.

 

It is a consolation to remember that GEOCACHING DOESN'T CARE ABOUT CHINLDREN though I am sure that they hate to lose adults foolish enough to who actually pay a membership fee.

[+The Jester]

You missed my method - I replace caches I find with cheap knock-offs (gladware for ammo cans/film cans for bisons/etc.) and sell the contains for a good profit. It's kept me going for the last several years.

[+Clarkbowman]

I can not believe you have let the cat out of the bag on our income. You should be banned from your Platinum Membership

[Clan Riffster]

There was a time when I cached strictly for the salary and marketing incentives. The last Olympic games ruined that for me. One of the judges, (You know who you are!), kept adding his bias to the score, bumping our team out of the gold, repeatedly. If you can recall the ceremony, when the entire Bakslakian team, (The nation hired me to play on their team), walked off the field in disgust, I was the second from the right. Now I've returned to simpler times, caching only when I want to. There's a lot less pressure this way.

[+JerseyGirl & Bruno]

Earn a living through geocaching???

 

Don't I wish!!!

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I can not believe you have let the cat out of the bag on our income. You should be banned from your Platinum Membership

Well, if you are gonna sink to that level of spinning and sniping, perhaps this is a good time and place to mention publicly that you were busted a few months ago for pimping sponsorships for Platinum Member wannabes, that is, for accepting bribes from Platinum wannabes in return for sponsoring them for Platinum Membership.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[+Mule Ears]

Geocache bounty hunter, tracking down the vermin who post fraudulent logs. Only a portion of the income derives from bounties raised by local geo-organizations; most comes from sale of hat bands, key fobs, gloves, belts, and GPS covers made from the tanned hides.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Mule Ears

[+HockeyPuck]

I'm a professional cacher however my means of income isn't listed in Vinnie's options.

 

I sell other people's geocoins on E-bay.

[+Isonzo Karst]

I can attest to the quality of that GPS cover too! and the satisfaction of knowing that it is tanned from

genuine-fake logger hide is incalculable !

 

(note to moderator, just expressing an honest opinion here, not trying to pimp Mule Ear's goods)

(also, Quiggle is a grandmother, possibly a dog's grandmother, but clearly a she)

 

And lastly, a GPS cover made from the tanned hide of HockeyPuck should be *extra* triple sturdy. Get on it, would you Mule Ears?

[bogleman]

With a the Walmart LPC stock dividends I have, I am doing quite well for my family.

[+briansnat]

I am a professional geocacher. I make a living taking the Wheresgeorge bills I find in caches and spending them.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

You missed my method - I replace caches I find with cheap knock-offs (gladware for ammo cans/film cans for bisons/etc.) and sell the contains for a good profit. It's kept me going for the last several years.

I once joked on a forum thread (one about stolen caches that was drifting into the humorous aspects of the matter) that I make a living by stealing all geocaches within a 90 mile radius of my home and selling them on Ebay. Amazingly, I received PMs and emails within the next few days from two Canadian geocachers (each from eastern Canada), each of whom expressed OUTRAGE over my "behavior" and over my post. I have, in the aftermath of having received those two messages, wondered if Canadians from eastern Canada are perhaps humor-deficient. Scary....

[+Isonzo Karst]

I once remarked that briansnat could easily afford the several hundred ammo can hides he has because he's been swapping gladware for ammo cans for years. I only mentioned it because he said so himself. A number of people responded directly into the thread on that one. Those are probably the same folks who get their panties in a wad over hamstercaching.

[+Flatouts]

We're in it for the fun of it, however after reading about the profits being made by becoming "Pro", I'll have to talk it over with the other half of the "Flatouts" to see if we be better of financially if we turned "Pro". Currently my other half earns a living cutting other peoples yards and I spend 40 hours a week calling people up to confirm their pets appt for the next day and reminding them to bring in their pets a stool sample... :laughing:

[+Vartan84]

I kidnap travel bugs and hold them for ransom.

[+Mule Ears]

I can attest to the quality of that GPS cover too! and the satisfaction of knowing that it is tanned from

genuine-fake logger hide is incalculable !

 

(note to moderator, just expressing an honest opinion here, not trying to pimp Mule Ear's goods)

(also, Quiggle is a grandmother, possibly a dog's grandmother, but clearly a she)

 

Thanks for the plug. It earns you a partial amnesty (just in case). To clarify, these are genuine hides. Logs by the hides' previous owners were fake.

 

And lastly, a GPS cover made from the tanned hide of HockeyPuck should be *extra* triple sturdy. Get on it, would you Mule Ears?

 

There is a pre-tanning procedure that makes the hides extra-tough. Genius inventor and bicycle mechanic, the late Sheldon Brown, devised this process, which he called TerrorLeather. No reason this approach couldn't be applied to geo-varmints. In fact, it seems only fitting.

[+Stargazer22]

I make my living through geocaching by ruthlessly trading down, down, down.

I have replaced so many disfunctional McToys with twigs, acorns, and used chewing gum that I have lost track of how many times I have done this.

I make an incredible profit on the McToys on Ebay as the suckers customers don't realize they are disfunctional until they accept delivery, and I do not give refunds!

[+agilefox]

There is a cacher out there, CapnChris, who used to be very active in the Kansas City area. A bit more than a year ago, he left for Arizona to be a "Balloon Flight Field Technician", which is to say, he chases weather balloons using his GPS and retrieves them from whereever they happen to land, more often than not in 5/5 areas.

 

While this isn't exactly being a pro geocacher, he is certainly using the skills and tools developed while geocaching to make his living. Good for him and tell him "hi" for us if you see him on the trails!

[yougogirl64]

Aren't you glad I asked my question. Look how much "fun" you have had with this thread!

[+Clarkbowman]

I can not believe you have let the cat out of the bag on our income. You should be banned from your Platinum Membership

Well, if you are gonna sink to that level of spinning and sniping, perhaps this is a good time and place to mention publicly that you were busted a few months ago for pimping sponsorships for Platinum Member wannabes, that is, for accepting bribes from Platinum wannabes in return for sponsoring them for Platinum Membership.

 

 

Darn Vinny,

There you go again and spilling the beans again. I paid you plenty of a commission on that for you to have stayed quiet. Now what do we do? Every newbie will want some of the money now.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Clarkbowman

[+StarBrand]

You just wouldn't believe what a serious collector will pay for that special McToy to complete that rare collection.

 

Also (as a side note).

 

The scientific community has been known (through various university sponsered grants) to pay handsomely for any stable wormholes, time portals and various other space/time anomolies you may run across while out Geocaching. Of course precise coordinates are required.

 

A few other covert agencies will pay for previously unkown alien body parts and/or spacecraft crash sites.

[+WatchDog2020]

Anyone want to hire a 'contractor' to take care of FTF hounds?

[+SimbaJamey]

I'm planning on opening an online store and advertising it on GC.com.

 

I can't hide them as quickly as I seem to be making evil cache containers...mostly because that part of the game has become my personal obsession/addiction and I can't seem to get my butt out of the workshop to find places to hide them... nor do anything I'm really supposed to be doing while I'm there!!

 

I need to do something before I run out of room in my house for all the stuff I've made!!!

 

Perhaps I'm looking at it from the wrong side of the business model...maybe I should start paying other cachers to hide them for me so I never have to leave the basement!

 

 

 

Hmmm...Sounds like I'd end up holding a sign that says, "Have GPSr...Will cache for food."

[Skippermark]

I'm endorsed by several geocaching and non-geocaching related companies. Because I drive so many miles to cache, my car has a "wrap" on it that shows the latest equipment from a large electronics manufacturer.

 

When I cache, I wear a shirt similar to the pro fishing teams, complete with logos and patches from various companies. I have contracts with certain companies where I get a percentage of sales that result from my recommendation.

 

My agent & I are currently in negotiation with an energy drink company where I hope to be on posters at all the convenience stores around the country, but it hasn't been finalized so I can't talk about it in detail. We're also working on a deal to place a series of caches at a retail chain, but I need to keep that "hush. hush." I'm afraid that if GC finds out, they won't publish them, saying they're commercial and all that.

 

I was asked to make an endorsement for a political candidate, but I felt that caching and politics should be kept separate and declined.

 

So, for now, I'm happy working my day job and then switching into pro cacher mode in the evenings and weekends. It's a great side job...

Edited October 30, 2008 by Skippermark

[+FootTracker]

Hmmmm???? Maybe I can become a Official Geocaching Guide?

 

Maybe I could get people to pay me to take them out looking for caches?

 

FootTracker Geocaching Adventures, Inc.

 

$100.00 per person

 

Hmmmmm????????

[+FootTracker]

oops double post, can you delete this one?

Edited October 30, 2008 by FootTracker

[+succotash]

Uh oh...

 

[Skippermark]

Hmmmm???? Maybe I can become a Official Geocaching Guide?

 

Maybe I could get people to pay me to take them out looking for caches?

 

FootTracker Geocaching Adventures, Inc.

 

$100.00 per person

I've thought that would be a good thing to do as well. I love planning trips, looking for best airfares and things like that. I LOVE to plan cache runs. Maybe we could team up.

 

We'll find what cache styles people want to find, then I'll get them the best deal on airfares and plan the route using the latest software provided by those that endorse me, and then you can take over from there and take them to the caches and things like that.

 

We'd need to check to see if they want us to supply GPSs and stuff, but other than that, I think it's a sure bet. If they want us to log their finds for them, we'll have to charge extra for that.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Skippermark

[+Buggheart]

I do quite nicely for myself by emptying out the contents of the various lock & lock containers I've found and resell them on the Home Shopping Network.

[comfortablynumb63]

 

When I cache, I wear a shirt similar to the pro fishing teams, complete with logos and patches from various companies.

 

 

I find that I get really chaffed when wearing the geocaching.com bumper stickers on my fanny [pack].

 

Luckycharm retired her spinnerbait earrings for two travel bug keychains, and now has a piercing with a micro geocoin lodged in it.

 

You'd be surprised what Garmin pays for us to wave at their building every day while we drive off to another cache!

[+markandsandy]

I make a moderate income from selling all the Hamsters I find in caches to pet stores.

[+Sioneva]

As Vinny already knows, but for some reason forgot to mention, I supplement my earnings from my current job quite handily: I produce and sell maps to the houses of prominent geocachers. You would be amazed at the number of people who just want to walk their dog on KBI's lawn, or peek in Keystone's window, for example.

 

Please contact me if you would like to order such a map. Costs increase according to the number of finds the cacher you want to find has. I accept cash, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, as well as unique coins, coordinates to prominent geocachers' houses, rides in alien spacecraft, cookies, Platimum memberships, and FTF armchair rights to new caches. I do not take personal checks.

 

Thank you.

[+Snoogans]

Every penny I make comes from geocachers and geocaching.

 

I get paid 49% if the gate from every event I attend and I charge $100 per head to attend the events I host regularly.

 

My followers and minions, The Snoogys, are geocachers who give all their worldy possessions to me and foreword their incomes into my offshore accounts. They visit caches and either take from or trade poorly to stock my world wide chain of dollar stores where they work for food and shelter in the back room. They spend all their free time when they are not working, or caching, making discovery logs on travel bugs and geocoins.

 

I am the greatest micro proliferator of all time. So, not only did I ruin geocaching by releasing 12,500+ micros into the wild at GW4 for my ODS project, but I'm also responsible for world wide cache swag degradation since 2003 when I and my minions started caching.

 

Not to mention that I was one of the loudest voices for counting coup on trackables before the scourge known as the discovery option was enabled. Groundspeak had to pay me one million dollars for the rights to that option and look at how much bandwidth it's sucking up now. SUCKERS!

 

It has been predicted more than once that I would destroy geocaching.... It's only a matter of time before me and my minions succeed and then......

 

MY SNOOGANSCACHING WEBSITE WILL BE LAUNCHED! MWAHAHAHA! MWAHAHAHA! MWAHAHAHA!

 

I'm stinkin' RICH, I tells ya!

[+webscouter.]

Vinny, I can't believe that you are so thoughtless to bring up such a painful subject. You know that I am still not over being banned from the American Geocaching League circuit. I never would have thought that prewalking the course the day before would disqualify me from an event. And the railroad job you and your cronies did that forced the board of AGL to permanently ban me and retract my quad colored coat is especially painfull after I sponsored so many of your Psycho Urban Caches.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Vinny, I can't believe that you are so thoughtless to bring up such a painful subject. You know that I am still not over being banned from the American Geocaching League circuit. I never would have thought that prewalking the course the day before would disqualify me from an event. And the railroad job you and your cronies did that forced the board of AGL to permanently ban me and retract my quad colored coat is especially painfull after I sponsored so many of your Psycho Urban Caches.

You wanna know my reaction to your pity party? You do? Here it is:

 

Meh... what is it they say on those TV shows? "I don't care if you're sad, get out of here, just suck it up and deal with it! Get a life!"

 

Anyway, everything that the American Geocaching League (AGL) bigwigs and I did to you, including the faked test results from you blood tests for detecting abuse of steroidal performance drugs, was totally justified, because it profited us in the long run! Do we care that it ruined your whiny life? No! Not one whit! Why don'tcha go try to find a 1/1 urban micro? That is about all that you are good for!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+FootTracker]

Hmmmm???? Maybe I can become a Official Geocaching Guide?

 

Maybe I could get people to pay me to take them out looking for caches?

 

FootTracker Geocaching Adventures, Inc.

 

$100.00 per person

I've thought that would be a good thing to do as well. I love planning trips, looking for best airfares and things like that. I LOVE to plan cache runs. Maybe we could team up.

 

We'll find what cache styles people want to find, then I'll get them the best deal on airfares and plan the route using the latest software provided by those that endorse me, and then you can take over from there and take them to the caches and things like that.

 

We'd need to check to see if they want us to supply GPSs and stuff, but other than that, I think it's a sure bet. If they want us to log their finds for them, we'll have to charge extra for that.

 

I like that idea....

 

Special airfare or travel services????

 

Hmmmmm, 30% surcharge

 

Rental fees for GPS's???

 

$25.00 fee

 

Charge for the downloads???

 

$1.00 per download

 

Charge for logging the finds??

 

$25.00 per find

 

MMMMMUUUUHHHHHAAAAAAA, I love Capitialism....

Edited October 31, 2008 by FootTracker

[+CaddyCachers]

 

The scientific community has been known (through various university sponsered grants) to pay handsomely for any stable wormholes, time portals and various other space/time anomolies you may run across while out Geocaching. Of course precise coordinates are required.

 

A few other covert agencies will pay for previously unkown alien body parts and/or spacecraft crash sites.

 

They are also timesharing the systems that run PQ's with SETI. That's why they are especially slow on Thursdays and Friday's. All the ET's are planning their weekend runs and lining up the GeoGuides at $100. a pop.

[+J-Way]

As Vinny already knows, but for some reason forgot to mention, I supplement my earnings from my current job quite handily: I produce and sell maps to the houses of prominent geocachers. You would be amazed at the number of people who just want to walk their dog on KBI's lawn, or peek in Keystone's window, for example.

The first time I read that, I was mentally picturing walking Addy on KBI's lawn (that's her picture to the left) when I read the Keystone's window bit so I accidentally omitted the "k" from "peek". And Keystone is such a nice moderator. Who'd want to peek in his/her/it's window?

[+doingitoldschool]

You missed my method - I replace caches I find with cheap knock-offs (gladware for ammo cans/film cans for bisons/etc.) and sell the contains for a good profit. It's kept me going for the last several years.

I once joked on a forum thread (one about stolen caches that was drifting into the humorous aspects of the matter) that I make a living by stealing all geocaches within a 90 mile radius of my home and selling them on Ebay. Amazingly, I received PMs and emails within the next few days from two Canadian geocachers (each from eastern Canada), each of whom expressed OUTRAGE over my "behavior" and over my post. I have, in the aftermath of having received those two messages, wondered if Canadians from eastern Canada are perhaps humor-deficient. Scary....

 

I can reply as a Western Canadian that your hunch is correct. Eastern Canadians are indeed humor-deficient. Newfies help make up some of the deficit, and the Royal Canadian Air Farce stand out as counterpoints, but overall they just aren't as appreciative of good humour as we folks to the west.

Mind you, both sides of our nation have you Yanks beat

[+ickster]

There is a "pro" offshoot" of Geocaching (actually, the sponsors of the game indicate the contests are pre-geocaching) but after expenses, we usually end up in the red. The prizes do help cover costs. Here's the link to the current series being worked on.

 

http://vigps.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=924

 

These contests are not associated with geocaching and therefore step outside the guidlines (things like buried bars on beaches, etc.).

[+vwaldoguy]

I know some kids who charge $10 to find a level 5 difficulty cache in northwest Missouri. They're about 4, 8, and 12 years old. I think they've stopped selling lemonade now and are just hustling geocachers for the "real" hiding spot that they've moved the nano cache to. Ingenious.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I know some kids who charge $10 to find a level 5 difficulty cache in northwest Missouri. They're about 4, 8, and 12 years old. I think they've stopped selling lemonade now and are just hustling geocachers for the "real" hiding spot that they've moved the nano cache to. Ingenious.

Too funny... we have one like that here! It's a nano on the iron railing of a fountain around a big waterfall. There are benches around the area that the homeless sleep on. When cachers show up the bums offer to show them where it is for a dollar!

 

BTW, this railing is maybe 4 feet high by 150 linear feet of ornate ornamental iron; looking for the magnetic nano can be an all-day proposition. It's worth it to pay them to show you where they've moved it to, because you can count on that they've moved it!

[+TropicalParadise]

I once joked on a forum thread (one about stolen caches that was drifting into the humorous aspects of the matter) that I make a living by stealing all geocaches within a 90 mile radius of my home and selling them on Ebay. Amazingly, I received PMs and emails within the next few days from two Canadian geocachers (each from eastern Canada), each of whom expressed OUTRAGE over my "behavior" and over my post. I have, in the aftermath of having received those two messages, wondered if Canadians from eastern Canada are perhaps humor-deficient. Scary....

 

We're very funny! You must just not be good at telling jokes! And people from BC think EVERYTHING is funny from all the you-know-what.

 

(Am I just proving your point?)

[+doingitoldschool]

I once joked on a forum thread (one about stolen caches that was drifting into the humorous aspects of the matter) that I make a living by stealing all geocaches within a 90 mile radius of my home and selling them on Ebay. Amazingly, I received PMs and emails within the next few days from two Canadian geocachers (each from eastern Canada), each of whom expressed OUTRAGE over my "behavior" and over my post. I have, in the aftermath of having received those two messages, wondered if Canadians from eastern Canada are perhaps humor-deficient. Scary....

 

We're very funny! You must just not be good at telling jokes! And people from BC think EVERYTHING is funny from all the you-know-what.

 

(Am I just proving your point?)

 

You know what? Whaddyamean? Cedar bark, chantrelle mushrooms, mountian air, caffeine from starbucks on every corner, what?

 

And I love that later post ahbout the kids charging people to find the cache.

[+paleolith]

It was a lot easier before TPTB banned cash caches. Not only banned but de-published, so that you can't even review the history. I was easily netting $2K/day just trading cash -- no bonds or stocks. Well, all good things must come to an end. Would have been nice if they'd grandfathered a few of them though, just for old times' sake.

 

Edward

[+scrabbles]

Reading this just gave me a money making idea. Use my husbands remote control airplane with the camera attached, which he uses to take aerial photos for realtors, to scout out the thickest brush and widest areas underwater to hide 5/5 caches (since we live in South Florida, there are a lot of these). Or maybe he can be hired to take aerial photos at a cache site to see if the finders are really finding the cache, or just logging fake finds. Prints will be extra.

[Keystone]

As Vinny already knows, but for some reason forgot to mention, I supplement my earnings from my current job quite handily: I produce and sell maps to the houses of prominent geocachers. You would be amazed at the number of people who just want to walk their dog on KBI's lawn, or peek in Keystone's window, for example.

The first time I read that, I was mentally picturing walking Addy on KBI's lawn (that's her picture to the left) when I read the Keystone's window bit so I accidentally omitted the "k" from "peek". And Keystone is such a nice moderator. Who'd want to peek in his/her/it's window?

Many reviewers are dogs. I regard someone peeing on my window as just saying "hello, I was in the neighborhood and wanted to let you know I stopped by."

 

Oh, and I charge $20. Sioneva has my PayPal info.