Signature items

[+team_lkp]

Hi everyone

 

Myself and Mr lkp are new to geocaching, but we're loving it - we've already been out, got extremely muddy and found four - we're hooked!!

 

My question here is regarding signature items (apologies if this has been covered elsewhere - I couldn't find the answer). On a couple of caches we've found what I think are signature items - ie cards, or (in one cache) a fridge magnet. What is the etiquette regarding trading - are they meant to be left there for the cache owner, or can we trade as with other items in the cache (ie like for like)? As they're personal, I wasn't sure whether the same guidelines applied.

 

Thanks!

 

Mrs lkp

 

EDIT - Just realised this is probably in the wrong section of the Forums... Sorry!!

Edited January 13, 2009 by team_lkp

[+Arrow One]

To answer your question, from my point of view... I leave signature items all the time, unactivated geocoins or other things I have made. They are for whoever wants them. If the cache owner gets there before another cacher, then its theirs. I dont usually note in my online log as far as what I left (especially unactivated geocoins) so the next person has first dibs on weather they want to take it or not.

[+ePeterso2]

Signature Items have always baffled me just a little bit.

 

I mean, I can totally understand the idea of creating something more than just a signature to indicate you were at a particular cache, especially if it expresses your personality or reflects your user name in some way. I saw one cacher with the word "cat" in her username had left hand-signed mousetraps (unarmed!) as a sig item, so that's kinda clever. And another with "floss" in his name would leave plastic floss picks as a sig item.

 

But on the other hand, once the cleverness is out of the way, they just seem like more geotrash. I mean, they're not your items, so why would you take them? And if the point is to indicate that a particular cacher visited a particular cache, then there's no real point in treating them as trade items, per se. I bet that sig items largely just accumulate in caches, going nowhere, taking up an ever-increasing amount of space.

 

Having said that, I know there are cachers out there that collect the signature items of other players. I tried playing that game a while back (I have one of the aforementioned mousetraps), but I lost interest pretty quickly. More power to you, if that floats your boat.

 

My favorite signature items have been ones that have a use beyond just getting me to appreciate the talent of the person that created the item. A personal geocoin is an obviously cool sig item, but those don't ever stay in one place (or, if they do, they're out of sight in someone's caching bag or coin notebook).

 

Right now, I have a pen in my pocket (no protector - my wife won't let me use one ;-) ) that has a local cacher's name and a cute geocaching quote printed on it. The same cacher has also used a whistle on a key chain with his name printed on it as a sig item ... that was entertaining for my kids to play with.

 

I toyed with the idea of getting a personal coin minted or crafting some other sort of sig item, but then I started thinking thoughts that I've expressed here already and changed my mind. But I've since found what I consider to be an even better personal sig item for me - my active puzzle caches :-)

 

My $0.02 is now spent.

 

-eP

[+WRASTRO]

I enjoy seeing the many different signature items that so many cachers have created. Sometimes I will pick one up and move it to another cache as swag. At one point I had quite a few signature items so I placed a cache called "Whose Sign Is It Anyway?" and placed all of the items in that cache as the initial trade items.

[+BlueDeuce]

Trade even, trade up, or don't trade at all.

 

The only extra consideration that should be given to a signature item is that once you have one you might want to consider leaving another to the next person.

 

If you want to move one further along, have at it.

 

That's about it.

[+scuba dude]

The first signature item I came across was one of JamGuys wooden nickels. I thought it was pretty neat (I still have it). Then I came across some of JetMonkey's nickels. So now, I collect those when I find them. I have just designed my own nickels, so in a few months when I get home I will start dropping them in caches.

 

It's just a cool way of saying "I was here, and left this for the next guy". If you don't want it, thats fine. I'd love to find some of these in the caches I own. They would be added into the collection.

[Mr.Yuck]

Trade even, trade up, or don't trade at all.

 

The only extra consideration that should be given to a signature item is that once you have one you might want to consider leaving another to the next person.

 

If you want to move one further along, have at it.

 

That's about it.

 

As BD always says, eeyup. This has come up several times, and I think the consensus would be to trade for something of equal value. Sometimes that's hard to tell of course. That's assuming you don't have a sig item of your own, as I don't.

[+team_lkp]

Thanks all for the advice!!! It's much appreciated

Edited January 14, 2009 by team_lkp

[+Sparticus06]

IMO - A sig item is just that, a sig item. It is not normal swag and therefore does not need to be traded for. If I seen someone elses sig item in a cache, I will take it, but I usually leave one of my sig items if I happen to have any on me. I collect sig items that I have found and so far have a pretty good collection. Think I might get a coffee table built with a glass top in it to put all the sig items in.