What's considered junk?

[+simpler1773]

So I'm looking in some of the caches and obviously if there is real garbage (wrappers or whatever), you'd remove it, right?

 

But, I've seen a few things like 2 different caches today had wiring nuts/connector things, do people pick those up? I'm not trying to be snide...I'm wondering if they are useful for something besides wiring or if it's something different than I think it is?

 

Also, Starbucks free itunes download song, those expire each week, don't they? Maybe I'm wrong on that.

 

And one I found the other day had a couple of buttons... unremarkable, like a white button from a shirt.

 

We are new to this so I'm not really sure of the protocal. We always are adding more than we take to make sure the containers are fluffed...heck, that's half the fun for me!

 

Just wondering thoughts on the above mentioned items, since I'm new!

[+simpler1773]

Oh, also! Among other purchased items, I have been leaving a sand dollar wrapped in tissue paper when it fits. Is this okay? I collected them for free but I think they are neat and not everyone gets to the ocean.

 

Thanks!

[+mrbort]

Oh, also! Among other purchased items, I have been leaving a sand dollar wrapped in tissue paper when it fits. Is this okay? I collected them for free but I think they are neat and not everyone gets to the ocean.

 

Thanks!

Items don't have to be purchased to be neat. Your sand dollar sounds great! I think the general rule is if you trade, trade something that you'd enjoy finding (or that you think others would). I wouldn't put a button in a cache because I'm not really in the button collecting game. Things that expire probably would be a waste, especially in the week-scale timeframe... better to use it yourself I like that you enjoy adding to the caches; I think from reading these posts that you have the right idea already and will be really enriching the caches you visit! Good luck and welcome to the game!

[+mfamilee]

What's considered junk?

Anything that's not properly sealed, thus increasing the possibility of becoming wet & moldy.

[+briansnat]

Anything that is reasonably likely to be useful or interesting to others would make good trade items. Anything you would ordinarily throw in the trash should go in the trash, not a cache.

[+Arrow42]

I'm being to think stickers are a really bad idea too. They just don't last in a cache.

 

Maybe if they have their own baggie or something.

[+uxorious]

But, I've seen a few things like 2 different caches today had wiring nuts/connector things, do people pick those up? I'm not trying to be snide...I'm wondering if they are useful for something besides wiring or if it's something different than I think it is?

 

If the wiring nuts/connectors are new and usable there is nothing wrong with them. Why would they have to be useful for something besides wiring? I have done wiring repairs around the house and have used these.(though I have never got any from a cache, I could see someone liking them.)

 

As for the buttons, if they are clean and in good shape, someone might take them. I just hope whoever left them traded even or up when they did.

 

As far as coupons are concerned, if a cache is popular someone may get them before they expire. I suppose that would be OK. But most coupons I've seen in a cache are wet and expired.

 

I think briansnat has it just about right. Just remember though what you might throw in the trash someone else might mount and show for a collection. I once knew someone who collected short pieces of barbed wire. He had a lot of different examples of types of barbed wire sold through the years. He would be thrilled to get a 2 inch chunk of the stuff. Most of us would see that and toss it. Bagging and labeling such swag might be a good idea.

[+Col. Flagg]

I really hate it when people put batteries in the cache as swag. In theory it's a good idea, but in practice I usually find them all rusted and corroded.

[knowschad]

In my opinion, everything you listed as suspect are things that I would also remove. Old golf balls is another. The idea of "trading up or trading even" seems to be twisted into some strange version of "one man's trash is another man's treasure", where they leave trash behind, thinking that just maybe someone will come along and treasure it. They know darned well they're leaving trash, and certainly taking something of greater value for it. Glad to hear that you're not buying into that sort of delusional denial.

[+NanCycle]

Sand dollars are really neat, but very fragile--personal experience speaking here. Could you come up with some kind of a little box to give them a bit more protection, along with the tissue paper?

 

I like that you enjoy leaving more than you take. I do that too; hardly ever trading except for leaving new stuff in exchange for removing soggy maps, etc. I consider this a situation where McToys (not broken of course) are a "trade up."

[+simpler1773]

I will look into a box for the sand dollars, although I have only put them in a chache that seemed approprietly sized so they wouldn't get smooshed...I see you're point.

 

I stand corrected on the wiring nut, I am obviously not a handy gal

[Sunkiist]

So my beads aren't trash are they? I hope not, because I put in a green plastic easter egg, a little parachute man, some beads, and a shell. Is that good stuff?

[+Zolgar]

I really hate it when people put batteries in the cache as swag. In theory it's a good idea, but in practice I usually find them all rusted and corroded.

 

's one of the reason I wrap the ones I leave as swag to make sure the terminals never hit anything conductive.

 

It can happen that they rust over time, but the same can be said about anything metal. Anything plastic can become brittle. *shurg* nothing is eternal.

[knowschad]

I really hate it when people put batteries in the cache as swag. In theory it's a good idea, but in practice I usually find them all rusted and corroded.

 

's one of the reason I wrap the ones I leave as swag to make sure the terminals never hit anything conductive.

 

It can happen that they rust over time, but the same can be said about anything metal. Anything plastic can become brittle. *shurg* nothing is eternal.

 

Rusting batteries is one thing... leaking batteries, quite another.

[knowschad]

So my beads aren't trash are they? I hope not, because I put in a green plastic easter egg, a little parachute man, some beads, and a shell. Is that good stuff?

 

You could put that bass into one of my caches, Sunkiist. (your bookshelf looks like it has the same books as mine, by the way!)

[+flask]

batteries, stickers, things that get soggy- these can all be made acceptable swag when placed in their own little ziplocs.

 

as for used golf balls, i know at least one cacher who loves to find them.

 

for a while in my area it was kind of a running joke to leave kleenex and old hockey schedules. we did not take legitimate trade items in return.

[+tennisgirl42]

To me, a sand dollar or sea shell is a great find. I love them. I agree about carefully wrapping them or putting them in a little box b/c of their fragility, though. I like to leave things in caches even though I rarely take anything, especially hacky sacks, or other things that kids would like to have. That way children will have something nice. I found some cute small hardbound (2"x2" size) notebooks at Michael's crafts that I've left lately. One of the coolest things I traded for recently was an individual pack of bug wipes! lol! I was out without mosquito repellant and they were needed! But, like many, for me, the fun is the hunt. But I also want to enhance the experience for others. Just my 2 cents!

[gojkgo]

I'm surprised at how regularly we come across small McToy type items that are very definitely used, to the point where the paint is rubbing off, or they're dirty, or even broken. Maybe I'm a snob, but they're the type of things you'd be lucky to get a nickel for at a garage sale.

[+runawaybunny]

 

We are new to this so I'm not really sure of the protocal. We always are adding more than we take to make sure the containers are fluffed...heck, that's half the fun for me!

 

 

I agree. I love to fluff up the swag with neat stuff. It's hard to come up with trinkets that are cool/useful, relatively inexpensive, and also will survive the wear and tear of living in the great outdoors. A lot of times my kids will pass over some really cool stuff and fawn over the cheapest things. If there are plastic Mardi Gras beads in the cache, my daughter flips for them.

[+flask]

If there are plastic Mardi Gras beads in the cache, my daughter flips for them.

 

whenever i see someone wearing mardi gras beads, i always ask what they did to get them.

[+WRASTRO]

If there are plastic Mardi Gras beads in the cache, my daughter flips for them.

 

whenever i see someone wearing mardi gras beads, i always ask what they did to get them.

I know I shouldn't post this, but are there pictures?

[+The Cachebergers]

As a newb I am glad to read this post. I was just thinking about this today as I was trying to explain to my five year old why her dilapidated (sp) matchbox car with paint rubbed off it would NOT be an acceptable trade in a cache.

 

She is befuddled because, well, the thing is in such bad shape because she LOVES it and thinks it is cool to play with.

 

Children just do not get it. Or rather, children GET IT...sometimes a thing of value is such not because of what you might pay for it but because of what it means to you.

 

I realize this in no way answers the question but somehow I felt compelled to share.

 

Carry on.

[+bittsen]

Seashells, including sand dollars, are OK if you can keep them from getting broken.

Beads, if kept together somehow, are a good idea. I know someone who makes dreamcatchers while vacationing and would love to find beads in geocaches.

My mother has collected buttons all her life. She would always cut buttons from clothes before trashing them and had a large box of buttons from all over the US.

A used golf ball is great for the beginner golfer. When I was first starting out, half of my golf round was spent looking for my ball, and finding others. It wasn't uncommon for me to lose 9 golf balls in a round, though I would usually find at least five along the way.

If you can think of a use for an item, it's not junk.

If its junk when you put it in the cache, you will know it without asking.

[K-9Patrol]

We always bring my 2 year old caching. Naturally, he doesn't understand the game, yet, but he does enjoy pawing through swag. He'll happily set aside what you and I would consider "nice swag" just to get to a rubber ball or old scratched up toy car. His delight at finding a "new" toy is worth more to me than anything I could possibly pull out of a cache for myself. Some of his favorite toys are old cars he's claimed while caching. Sure, I've come across a lot of junk in caches, but don't write off everything that's used and a little banged up. A lot of little kids are perfectly happy with such items. Many a night I've come home from work to find his store bought toys sitting in a corner while he's driving a cache found toy car around the house.

[poker88]

I would LOVE to find a sand dollar in a cache but, like the other posters here, I can't imagine one surviving intact very long in a cache. I try to leave a couple items in each cache I find regardless of whether or not I take anything. In fact, I like to leave the Off Wipes that someone mentioned above if I find a cache that's in a buggy place.

[+EraSeek]

One man's trash is another man's trash. Rarely do I find anything in caches worth trading for. My list includes a few pins, a piton, a painted metal ball with a bell sealed inside. That's about it. Everything else I've seen may have started out ok but became dirty, or moldy before long. I don't like swag. I generally only place ready-to-go-caches in my caches for the taking. Occasionally a book. Other than that I love to take and leave trackables! (no trade required). If I had my way the cache boxes would only contain true quality item( how to define?), seed caches, and trackables. I am not a fan of caches that are garage-sales-on-a-hill. Caches full of junk that get worse with every rainy day. I generally start my caches with only one or two items. Yeah, I'm cheap. but generally it is to keep the junk pile down.

[+ras_oscar]

Most of my swag comes from

 

1. the dollar store

2. M kid's tow drawer

 

When we go caching they each put together a bag of items they are willing to part with. That makes it more real for them.

[+Coyote's Girl]

I like to leave: Seashells, Charms I've made from crystal beads in the Geocaching colors, Small figurines, quartz crystal points if I can find them cheap, toys for the kiddies (Not used from McYucks) I've left earrings I made and bracelets. I'd like to to find a way to leave books (our collection of these is holding up the ceiling in places) but you know... mildew. Being unemployed over this summer has made it near impossible to come up with good trade, so for now I'm just leaving the charms I've made and only trading them for something if my son is with me.

[+Beanie!]

My kids LOVE finding buttons, bottle caps, and golf balls. Its amazing some of the things they pass up to take those things.