I think we made a rookie mistake

[+classiccanadianblizz]

Ok . . i will try to keep this short. We took our boys age 2 & 4 out a while ago for our first ever geochaching adventure ... we did not find it at that time So I went by myself a few days later and found 2 so that the boys could have a guaranteed find. we went again tonight and found one is now gone; with the hiding area totally destroyed. So we went to the second one ( which we found). We signed the log that we were there and that we put in 2 small LED keychain flashlights and took 2 pens. It was getting dark by this time and the boys wanted to go home . . then changed their minds about the pens and wanted a parachute man and (what I thought was a small magnet) smiley face with sun glasses. When we got home we found on the back of the smiley face it says Found it! TFTC ... So my question is "Should we put that geocoin ( I think thats what the smiley face is ) back? Put it in our next find? keep it? or what? Any help on this greatly appreciated.

Edited March 19, 2009 by classiccanadianblizz

[+Max and 99]

Good question! I would think if the Smiley Face doesn't have a GC tracking number on it, then it's just a trade and you are fine to take it and put something in its place. My kids love looking through the swag and trading at caches. Our family joke is that my daughter almost always inadvertently takes an item that I just placed in the cache container as a trade.

Have fun caching with your boys!

[+classiccanadianblizz]

The coin has no numbers on it just " found it! TFTC". And thank you . . "WE" have been out twice now and the boys loved it both times BTW what is the frogs name?

Edited March 19, 2009 by classiccanadianblizz

[+Max and 99]

The frog's name is Signal. Cute, isn't he?

[jholly]

The frog's name is Signal. Cute, isn't he she?

 

Fixed.

 

Jim

[+Crow-T-Robot]

The coin has no numbers on it just " found it! TFTC".

 

Sounds like it's another cachers signature item that they drop into a cache whenever they make a find. I'm not sure what the "etiquette" is with sig items, but I would consider it swag that you can take as long as you trade/swap for it.

 

Bruce

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The coin has no numbers on it just " found it! TFTC".

 

Sounds like it's another cachers signature item that they drop into a cache whenever they make a find. I'm not sure what the "etiquette" is with sig items, but I would consider it swag that you can take as long as you trade/swap for it.

 

Bruce

 

Signature items are meant to be traded. Some people will collect signature items from other cachers. As long as you have something of equal value to drop into the cache it's perfectly acceptable to keep them. This particular item may have caused some confusion because the "Found It. TFTC" sort of indicates that it's for the cache owner. Swag is typically not intended for the cache owner, but for anyone else that subsequently finds the cache.

 

If the item you took *does* have a tracking number (typically 5-8 numbers and digits) it should probably *not* be returned to the cache from which it was taken, but instead, placed into another cache. See the pages on the website for how to log trackable items.

 

Finally, I hope that the the OP posted a needs maintenance log on the cache that was subsequently discovered as missing. As a cache owner I really appreciate when someone that has found one of my caches and for some reason revisits the cache only to find a problem with it, lets me know via a Needs Maintenance log. On the other hand, I got a message the other day from someone that DNFd one of my caches that was with someone that had previously found it. There have been three found it logs posted since so, while it might not be in exactly the same place, it's still close enough to be found.

[+classiccanadianblizz]

Thank you all for the advice. . and confirming the frogs name (yes he is cute) The coin we found has NO numbers on it at all, so it must be a signature item. I feel very confident that we traded very fairly and my wife and I had talked about leaving hot wheels cars at any more caches' that we find, so I guess that would be our signature item and wouldn't want them to stay in one place forever. Again thank you.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Thank you all for the advice. . and confirming the frogs name (yes he is cute) The coin we found has NO numbers on it at all, so it must be a signature item. I feel very confident that we traded very fairly and my wife and I had talked about leaving hot wheels cars at any more caches' that we find, so I guess that would be our signature item and wouldn't want them to stay in one place forever. Again thank you.

 

My son now has a huge selection of hot wheels cars and is one of the few items I actually trade for (the other is foreign coins).

 

I'm not sure I would consider them signature items as they're frequently used as trade items. Typically signature swag is a bit more unique and usually has the name of the geocacher on it. A lot of it is custom made or purchased but occasionally it's an item that when anyone in the local community finds it in a cache, they know who put it there. For example, on cacher in our area workds for a place the makes cables and usually leaves ethernet cables in caches. Another found a huge box of 1" diameter copper balls at a yard sale and leaves them as signature swag.

[+The Blorenges]

Welcome to the game!

 

You may be interested in finding out more details about that smiley frog called Signal.

 

Happy hunting!

 

MrsB

[+StaticTank]

Ok . . i will try to keep this short. We took our boys age 2 & 4 out a while ago for our first ever geochaching adventure ... we did not find it at that time So I went by myself a few days later and found 2 so that the boys could have a guaranteed find. we went again tonight and found one is now gone; with the hiding area totally destroyed. So we went to the second one ( which we found). We signed the log that we were there and that we put in 2 small LED keychain flashlights and took 2 pens. It was getting dark by this time and the boys wanted to go home . . then changed their minds about the pens and wanted a parachute man and (what I thought was a small magnet) smiley face with sun glasses. When we got home we found on the back of the smiley face it says Found it! TFTC ... So my question is "Should we put that geocoin ( I think thats what the smiley face is ) back? Put it in our next find? keep it? or what? Any help on this greatly appreciated.

 

I have found coins that are not trackable that have a smiley face and the letters TFTC on them before. They come just like a Geocoin (in a sleeve) but are not trackable. I am at work so I can't look at it and tell you who made it but it was one of the bigger Geocoin companies.

 

StaticTank