LAME cache swag

4.8k · July 20, 2009

Someone complained about fishing lures. I think a fishing lure (packed so you don't get hooked) is good swag especially if said lure can be used near the cache. Imagine Colonel Blake from M*A*S*H out caching. He'd pop a lure off his hat and trade for a pin or something. Seems like it is in the right spirit to me.

peace

A packaged fishing lure, or fly would be AWESOME for many.

Yeah, a child could, conceivably, poke their finger after walking along a trail with poison oak, nettles, ticks, chiggers, spiders and snakes, but what are the chances?

1.4k · July 20, 2009

Most of the stuff I see in Caches (besides Trackables) is what I refer to is GEO-TRASH.

ScubaSonic

July 20, 2009

As for business cards: I don't view business cards as trade items. I view them as signatures, the equivalent of someone’s geo-name written in the log or printed on a sticker. Maybe it's their proof of their visit. And I would never erase another cacher’s signature from a logbook.

Whoa. Hold on a second. I never said I removed a cacher's signature from the log. I'm talking about the random pile of soggy business cards that are usually stuck to the inside of ammo cans. They're nit "signature items" of any worth, like a ceramic custom coin with the cacher's sig. They're paper advertising, and if the cacher who left it was counting on that business card being the same as a log signature, they need a refresher in the guidelines. The same goes for leaving anything of a commercial nature - advertising, etc. That's also contrary to the guidelines.

I generally choose to be entertained by such things rather than letting them annoy me. It’s a valuable outlook – I highly recommend it. smile.gif

I'm never entertained by laziness, sloppiness or anything that diminishes the sport. But you're free to get a chuckle from it all you want. I'll continue to clean such trash from caches when I come across it

July 20, 2009

I have seen some pretty lame stuff. The lamest is when some one just leaves a card with their name or team name. Great if ya want to leave that to show you were there, but could you put in something else cool? Ticket stubs, and other lame things.

I try to leave good things. I was leaving unused glow sticks, thought they would be great if some one was night caching. I feel it should be something that some one would find interesting to have. Doesn't it say that you must leave something of equal or greater value to the thing you take?

I found some pins and patches related to geocaching. I like those the best because I can put them on my pack.

I want to get a bunch of patches to put in caches.

July 20, 2009

Damnit, I hate when this forum hicups. I refreshed the page to make sure it didn't post even tho it it had a fatal error, and it didn't, but after I tried again, there was 2 posts.

BAH!

Edited July 20, 2009 by mchaos

2.4k · July 20, 2009

Damnit, I hate when this forum hicups. I refreshed the page to make sure it didn't post even tho it it had a fatal error, and it didn't, but after I tried again, there was 2 posts.

BAH!

Glad I am not the only one getting the fatal errors....

3.2k · July 20, 2009

As for business cards: I don't view business cards as trade items. I view them as signatures, the equivalent of someone’s geo-name written in the log or printed on a sticker. Maybe it's their proof of their visit. And I would never erase another cacher’s signature from a logbook.

Whoa. Hold on a second. I never said I removed a cacher's signature from the log. I'm talking about the random pile of soggy business cards that are usually stuck to the inside of ammo cans. They're nit "signature items" of any worth, like a ceramic custom coin with the cacher's sig. They're paper advertising, and if the cacher who left it was counting on that business card being the same as a log signature, they need a refresher in the guidelines. The same goes for leaving anything of a commercial nature - advertising, etc. That's also contrary to the guidelines.

I generally choose to be entertained by such things rather than letting them annoy me. It’s a valuable outlook – I highly recommend it. smile.gif
I'm never entertained by laziness, sloppiness or anything that diminishes the sport. But you're free to get a chuckle from it all you want. I'll continue to clean such trash from caches when I come across it

This is a major misrepresentation of what I posted, therefore there is no meaningful way for me to respond.

You seem to be arguing with a fictitious version of KBI at this point. Have fun. I'm done.

9.3k · July 20, 2009

Most of my caches don't suffer from swag degridation, as they require a considerable amount of effort to reach.

When I do pay a visit to one of my hides, I clean up what little bit of trache I find inside and move on.

One thing I hate to find in a cache is bubble soap. I've had the contents of three ammo cans ruined from this crap.

3.2k · July 20, 2009

Most of my caches don't suffer from swag degridation, as they require a considerable amount of effort to reach.

I think what you really mean to say is that your hides suffer slower swag degradation than caches which get more frequent visits. ALL cache swag degrades over time. Reducing traffic by ensuring obstacles only slows the natural process.

One thing I hate to find in a cache is bubble soap. I've had the contents of three ammo cans ruined from this crap.

I’m with you there. I think any container of liquid of any kind is pretty much a bad idea. Hard to control, though – ain’t it? If people can’t follow an unambiguous published rule like 'no blades,' how can we expect them to follow the less obvious bits of common sense?

July 20, 2009

I have to agree with the OP's post/rant whatever. I hate to admit it, but I'm kind of a magpie and I like my goodies, darn it! I go so far as to not even look for micros or even smalls, because I prefer to dig through a "goodie box" such as it is.

I have found broken pens, a broken Chinese finger puzzle, business cards (which I agree are lame), and lots of broken toys.

I think what bums me out the most are those friggn' fast-food toys, even if they are new-in-bag. They bum me out because when my little kids find them they are so excited - the toys seem to have so much potential, being so colorful and strangely shaped - and then when my kids get them out of the little bags and figure out what they do (nothing) they are disappointed.

I try to up the ante wherever I go. I leave 1) New items from our local dollar store, and 2) Crocheted washcloths that I make. I read all over the forums before to see what people said they liked and keep that in mind when I go shopping.

I have been watching the logs where I put the washcloths. I'm not looking for a ticker-tape parade or anything, but I was hoping that someone would at least make a note that they traded for one. I kinda wanted some indication that someone out there thought it was cool. I haven't seen any reference to one yet. What do you guys think? Would you think it's cool or lame? It IS just a washcloth after all. I guess it could be considered kinda weird.

</end pity party>

Some one pointed out to me on another post I spawned that ended up talking about swag, that if everyone always traded up, eventually you'd find the keys to a BMW. So in reality it is unrealistic to expect that swag will always be traded up.

Edited July 20, 2009 by nericksx

July 20, 2009

<slightly off topic pity party>

I have been watching the logs where I put the washcloths. I'm not looking for a ticker-tape parade or anything, but I was hoping that someone would at least make a note that they traded for one. I kinda wanted some indication that someone out there thought it was cool. I haven't seen any reference to one yet. What do you guys think? Would you think it's cool or lame? It IS just a washcloth after all. I guess it could be considered kinda weird.

</end pity party>

I would love to find one of those washcloths! So if you get up to Ocean Shores, WA and leave one...let me know! LOL All I use are hand knit/crocheted washclothes I find at sales or am given as gifts.

Do you have a tag or anything on them to let people know they are hand made? A lot of people don't know anything about the time or talent that goes into a handmade item like that. I would wrap a cloth ribbon around it with a tag that said something like "hand crocheted washcloth by nericksx", happy caching!"

I am contemplating some swag to sew, and that's what I plan to do...sort of makes it your sig item.

July 20, 2009

<slightly off topic pity party>

I have been watching the logs where I put the washcloths. I'm not looking for a ticker-tape parade or anything, but I was hoping that someone would at least make a note that they traded for one. I kinda wanted some indication that someone out there thought it was cool. I haven't seen any reference to one yet. What do you guys think? Would you think it's cool or lame? It IS just a washcloth after all. I guess it could be considered kinda weird.

</end pity party>

I would love to find one of those washcloths! So if you get up to Ocean Shores, WA and leave one...let me know! LOL All I use are hand knit/crocheted washcloths I find at sales or am given as gifts.

Do you have a tag or anything on them to let people know they are hand made? A lot of people don't know anything about the time or talent that goes into a handmade item like that. I would wrap a cloth ribbon around it with a tag that said something like "hand crocheted washcloth by nericksx", happy caching!"

I do actually. I put it in a ziploc baggie to protect it and have I have a little card that has our logo and my handle on gc.com and a note that says that it's 100% cotton, brand new and hand made, and that my research showed people liked stuff that was hand made or useful, so hopefully this is both! It's my sig item but I only put one in if 1) The container is good so it won't get ruined, 2) The hunt was particularly good and/or the swag quality is good.

Ocean Shores, huh? I'll try to make it a point to get up there, and I'll give you a heads up!!

July 20, 2009

I agree with you Kit Box.... the adventure and the fun times with my sons are my treasure. Do I get dissappointed when the stuff in a cache sucks? sure, but I am not there to take things. The time spent searching for the cache is fun and that is what counts.

This is not meant to be offensive only a personal observation of what i've seen in five years of geocaching.

What you are experiencing is the Tragedy of the Commons. This phenomenon occurs almost exclusively with park and grab type caches that are readily available to any and all cachers. If you started hunting caches requiring long hikes, and extra effort, you will notice an improvement in swag quality. Stop looking for 1 to 2 star terrain caches expecting priceless treasure.

Another thing to ponder is that "half the treasure is the hunt, and half the treasure is the find." I did an eight mile hike yesterday for two caches one being a decon container with few trade items, and the other being a micro. Was I disappointed in the lack of swag, absolutely not. The treasure for me was the hike, the comraderie, the scenery. Look at the images I posted to the cache galleries, this was my treasure.

As the "great Snoogans" once said, "If you're not having fun geocaching, you only have yourself to blame.

You make a great point: You're not there to TAKE things. Agreed. The swag is for trading, I think I've taken 2 things out of 24 or 25 caches I've found so far, and put in two things on those occasions as well, plus about 20 other occasions too.

I guess what I'm saying is that sure, I'm not doing this to get stuff.... it's just nice when the stuff to trade isn't obviously used or damaged (and not from sitting in a cache for a while, I'm talking prior to being placed into a cache...)

July 20, 2009

KBI -
I am by no means trying to rip on someone who doesn't put the best, top quality swag into caches, I understand it's not everyone's game, my comment was purely a comment.

No worries.

I don't really see the value in your type of venting, but that's just my opinion.

As you said yourself:

I know I can't change anything, it's just good to vent ...

I say: If it feels good – and if it's not hurting anyone – then knock yourself out. Vent away. If anyone tells you you don’t have the right to express your opinion, I’ll defend you.

I am even guilty of the same thing myself sometimes, except with me it involves venting against snooty intolerance. I know, I know, it is futile to struggle against the hard-core condescenders, but I can't ignore it; I am intolerant of intolerance. Hypocritical, no?

Actually, I don't really see the value in venting either... but, this is a message/forum board, so I post....

And.... look at the great thread it's generated so far!

Edited July 20, 2009 by GreenLantern5000

19k · July 20, 2009

(1) Some people trade to their own advantage, intentionally taking trade items they estimate as being more valuable than what they leave behind. They know they are trading unfairly.

(2) Many other people see value in what *I* see as crap, and vice-versa (Oops, I almost said it) and these folks truly believe they are trading fairly or better. They know they are trading fairly – yet they sometimes leave behind what I perceive to be a diminished inventory of swag.

(3) (And here is the important point) It is almost impossible to tell whether a person fall into category (1) or (2) ... even if you know what they traded.

I am still going to continue to trash out used, dirty golf balls, rocks, and bottle caps. They're trash. Period.

Edited July 20, 2009 by knowschad

July 20, 2009

I was offering him other ways to enjoy geocaching other than the hunt for priceless fast food toys.

I gotta agree with this.

The fun in caching lies not in the swag. The fun in caching lies in how you get to the swag.

Published public trinket boxes are not the place to find precious treasure.

Kit fox is right. There are ways to enjoy geocaching other than the hunt for priceless fast food toys.

I get this, and know that it's not about the kewl swag completely, but it is a part of the caching experience, at least on the regular and large sized containers.

I'd have to say that what you said about applies perfectly to small or micro caches completely.

July 20, 2009

Someone complained about fishing lures. I think a fishing lure (packed so you don't get hooked) is good swag especially if said lure can be used near the cache. Imagine Colonel Blake from M*A*S*H out caching. He'd pop a lure off his hat and trade for a pin or something. Seems like it is in the right spirit to me.

peace

agreed. The lure I found, was sitting in the cache bottom w/ other misc. swag, waiting to be snagged in a person's finger.

but yeah, packaged properly, a good swag idea! I saw 50 people fishing a few days ago, as I walked along the river w/ my pals!

July 20, 2009

(1) Some people trade to their own advantage, intentionally taking trade items they estimate as being more valuable than what they leave behind. They know they are trading unfairly.

(2) Many other people see value in what *I* see as crap, and vice-versa (Oops, I almost said it) and these folks truly believe they are trading fairly or better. They know they are trading fairly – yet they sometimes leave behind what I perceive to be a diminished inventory of swag.

(3) (And here is the important point) It is almost impossible to tell whether a person fall into category (1) or (2) ... even if you know what they traded.

I am still going to continue to trash out used, dirty golf balls, rocks, and bottle caps. They're trash. Period.

Common sense is all that's needed..... a pine cone from the tree next to the cache isn't swag.....

4.8k · July 20, 2009

I can imagine the look on a bottle cap collectors face, knowing that someone just CITOd a bottle cap from Germany or something.

Some people are just able to leap to conclusions in a single bound.

Edited July 20, 2009 by bittsen

1.9k · July 21, 2009

(1) Some people trade to their own advantage, intentionally taking trade items they estimate as being more valuable than what they leave behind. They know they are trading unfairly.

(2) Many other people see value in what *I* see as crap, and vice-versa (Oops, I almost said it) and these folks truly believe they are trading fairly or better. They know they are trading fairly – yet they sometimes leave behind what I perceive to be a diminished inventory of swag.

(3) (And here is the important point) It is almost impossible to tell whether a person fall into category (1) or (2) ... even if you know what they traded.

I am still going to continue to trash out used, dirty golf balls, rocks, and bottle caps. They're trash. Period.

Common sense is all that's needed..... a pine cone from the tree next to the cache isn't swag.....

As is a broken piece of a nail clippers that was on the ground when i hid the cache. a few finds later there was a log saying took nothing left nail clipper part. its probably still there too unless someone else CITO'd it.

7.3k · July 21, 2009

One thing I hate to find in a cache is bubble soap. I've had the contents of three ammo cans ruined from this crap.

Okay, so I've only had 2 ammo cans wiped out by this stuff.... your three of a kind beats my pair

Bubble Soap? It's gotta be among the weirder items to place in a cache. It's a darn bottled liquid, cheap, cheap container that's going to fail with modest temp changes. Liquids in caches are a bad idea generally. Soap bubbles? and yet it's actually common as a swag leave! Please, just toss in a rock or some leaves off the ground, pocket lint. Anything other than liquid soap.... or gatoraid, or a bottle of water, or a bottle of DEET - I've seen all of those leaking in caches. There's not much sugar in Gatoraid, but enough to draw ants....

6.7k · July 21, 2009

Common sense is all that's needed..... a pine cone from the tree next to the cache isn't swag.....

As is a broken piece of a nail clippers that was on the ground when i hid the cache. a few finds later there was a log saying took nothing left nail clipper part. its probably still there too unless someone else CITO'd it.

Could have save yourself the grief had you cito'd it when you hid the cache.

July 21, 2009

This is not meant to be offensive only a personal observation of what i've seen in five years of geocaching.

.

But as long as we are off topic, those cooking pits, or whatever they are called, are a great reminder of the most painful experience of my life. Thanks!

..YOU TOTALLY GRABBED THE DOOR HANDLE, DIDN'T YOU! :laughing:

July 21, 2009

I am still going to continue to trash out used, dirty golf balls, rocks, and bottle caps. They're trash. Period.

I think the distinction on golf balls comes with their newness. I'm always entertained by what my kids want to take from a cache. They tend to like the golfballs, if they're relatively clean/new. The ones with a half-inch cut in them and scuff marks are pretty lame, IMHO. Even my five-year-old daughter wants nothing to do with them.

But even lamer: golf tees. I've seen a lot of them in my month of geocaching.

I'm new to geocaching (about one month) and have been trying to trade up, but to some degree it's a learning process. Although I know not to leave food/liquid, I didn't think about PlayDoh being a bad swag item. I got a six pack of the stuff at a store and have been dropping that in some caches. Whoops. My son has been leaving some nice Pokemon cards in some caches, but on one that I went back to a couple of weeks later (to drop off a geocoin), I found the card crushed from swag getting stuffed on top of it. So it's an ongoing learning process for us.

One thing that I have learned, however, is to carry a few nice items around with me so we can still trade up if we find something nice that we'd like in a cache.

4.8k · July 21, 2009

This is not meant to be offensive only a personal observation of what i've seen in five years of geocaching.

.

But as long as we are off topic, those cooking pits, or whatever they are called, are a great reminder of the most painful experience of my life. Thanks!

..YOU TOTALLY GRABBED THE DOOR HANDLE, DIDN'T YOU!

No I tripped and fell on the plate on top and ended up with second and third degree burns over the entire palm of my right hand. More minor burns on my left hand.

Had to be rushed to the hospital 60 miles down a very long and windy dirt canyon road. Then follow up surgery to keep my hand from scarring and losing the use of it.

Thank gawd for silvadene cream.

July 21, 2009

I'm new to geocaching (about one month) and have been trying to trade up, but to some degree it's a learning process. Although I know not to leave food/liquid, I didn't think about PlayDoh being a bad swag item. I got a six pack of the stuff at a store and have been dropping that in some caches. Whoops. My son has been leaving some nice Pokemon cards in some caches, but on one that I went back to a couple of weeks later (to drop off a geocoin), I found the card crushed from swag getting stuffed on top of it. So it's an ongoing learning process for us.

One thing that I have learned, however, is to carry a few nice items around with me so we can still trade up if we find something nice that we'd like in a cache.

No worries...my 4 yr old picks up the play-doh every time, and we've never run across a bad one yet.

I find it really hard to find stuff that is durable, inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and can't be ruined by dampness. When I go look for swag I find myself trying to meet all of those conditions and usually fail at one or more levels (usually the environmentally friendly one...made in china plastic anyone?). But my 4 yr old is learning to want better swag so hopefully we'll gravitate away from toy trading.

This morning she wanted to open a hard plastic shell on something and she said...."I should have taken that tool when we were geocaching instead of the toy, then I could have used it to open this" HALLELUJAH!

July 21, 2009

I can imagine the look on a bottle cap collectors face, knowing that someone just CITOd a bottle cap from Germany or something.

Some people are just able to leap to conclusions in a single bound.

Good point. I guess if someone from Tibet is caching in Minnesota and finds a Coca-Cola bottle cap, they might like it............

4.8k · July 21, 2009

I can imagine the look on a bottle cap collectors face, knowing that someone just CITOd a bottle cap from Germany or something.

Some people are just able to leap to conclusions in a single bound.

Good point. I guess if someone from Tibet is caching in Minnesota and finds a Coca-Cola bottle cap, they might like it............

Not all Coca Cola caps are created equal. I have Coca Cola caps from 10 different countries.

July 21, 2009

So, out cachin' today w/ my pals and we came across some fantastic caches, some ordinary one's, but overall it was a great day.

I'm sure the swag I was putting into the caches wasn't the greatest out there, but seriously..... I was amazed at the amount of misc. crap that people put into the caches..... If you're gonna put in a button that came off your pants while you were geocaching.... skip it.

If you're gonna put in some random part to a computer.... you can skip it.

I know there's a thread for the kewlest swag found in a cache, but I looked (not tooooo hard) to see if there was one that said crappied swag in a cache and didn't see one, so here it is.

Post the crappiest junk you've seen in a cache. If you've got a picture, even better.....

Today, I put in a hot rod match-box car, a pewter tractor clock (probably worth some money), an Anakin Skywalker action figure, some other X-Men character pieces from a game, some D&D miniatures (plastic ones) and some collectors comic book cards (in the wrappings still).

Am I aiming too high? My pal sewed some bean-bag toys! she also put in some bracelets (like the livestrong ones, only w/ Darth Vader on them)..... I mean, a little effort is all it takes, you don't have to spend tons of $$$$$$$$, but a used lotto ticket doesn't cut it in my book. Why bother to begin with? At that point, just take nothing and leave nothing......

Sorry for the rant my friends, it's just annoying when I find a regular sized cache and open it only to find a half-used gluestick, a permanant marker w/ no cap, a soda bottle cap, a fraggin' fishing lure w/ hook....... and all that crap was just today.... I wrapped the hook in a plastic bag, but left it, along w/ the rest of the stuff. I'm not saying I'm going to personally be the clean-up police for caches, I just don't get why people bother leaving crap....

Again, I'm not talking about beaded bracelets that someone put some time and effort into making, that's kewl, that's great, and maybe people are saying that the swag I put in is crap, I don't know... But they're not used items or anything......

I don't know.... What are your thoughts? I know I can't change anything, it's just good to vent, at 11pm, after a good day of caching w/ my pals in St. Paul, MN.

Good night, and good luck.

3.6k · July 21, 2009

One of the oddest things we found was a wheel from an old bed frame.

I've been out doing cache maintenance and have found lots of different things in some of my caches including rusty nail clippers, a smiley stamp that had leaked all over, dental floss (opened, not wrapped up in original packaging), scented candles and various other things.

7.7k · July 21, 2009

I can imagine the look on a bottle cap collectors face, knowing that someone just CITOd a bottle cap from Germany or something.

Good point. If something is of collectible value but might be mistaken for trash by the uninitiated, try placing it inside a plastic baggie. It helps protect it as well.

I bought a bunch of plastic baggie from eBay a while back. After using them very liberally, I think I have 98% left... maybe I should start leaving small bundles as swag.

Edit : typo

Edited July 21, 2009 by Chrysalides

July 21, 2009

For me personally, I have to agree with what Kitfox said, and I find the most pleasure in the hike, the hunt and the find. Getting to a cache with some nice swag items is just icing on the cake, and I will trade items that I find interesting to me personally.

But here is the problem that I have in my local area. I cache with my 4 year old son and his friends, and there is no greater pleasure than finding a reg or larger container with good swag items for them to trade. The problem is that many of these caches are often depleted of items, regardless of how recently they had been found. I was actually thinking about this Saturday when I came across a cache that had recently been logged and wondered why people that cache dont carry more trade items with them. I have enough short sig pencils to last, the penny is sort of lame as was the broken in half crayon

I understand, to some its the numbers, to others its the hike, to others its the trade. But to carry a few trade items is that not hard to do. A small fanny pack will hold more than you think.

I carry a pack with all sorts of goodies, glow sticks, hot wheels cars in box, mini kites, figurines, little bouncy glow in the dark balls, collapsible frisbees to name a few. Also in my pack are my wooden nickel sig items and various pins that I leave as well. At times I will have to move a bug or coin along or we have friends in town and I will take them to the caches that I know I have left good items in since they have kids too. Often times to my dismay, the items I have left are gone, understandable, but it seems they often times dont leave anything, just take something. Once I left 4 hot wheels in a cache, only to come back 3 days and find the cache MT except for the log, a broken pencil and a single penny, dated 2002.

There are many good points in this entire thread, and its obvious what one person likes to trade is way different from what someone else likes to trade. But the kicker is that if you add the young ones into the mix, having some nice quality swag in a cache is a great reward for the little buggers who just hiked with you thru itch weed, poison ivy and skeeters. Getting to an ammo can, 2 miles (one way) into the timber, only to find a moldy yule tide hat, the letter "A" fridge magnet with no magnet, a penny and a bottle of used mascara is very disappointing to say the least

19k · July 21, 2009

I can imagine the look on a bottle cap collectors face, knowing that someone just CITOd a bottle cap from Germany or something.

Some people are just able to leap to conclusions in a single bound.

Good point. I guess if someone from Tibet is caching in Minnesota and finds a Coca-Cola bottle cap, they might like it............

Not all Coca Cola caps are created equal. I have Coca Cola caps from 10 different countries.

Would you collect one that has been bouncing around loose in the bottom of an ammo can full of used golf balls? I think you know what I was referring to in my post.

July 21, 2009

I'm finding the "hunt" for the cache, is often more exciting than the actual "treasures" inside...I usually hope for something cool, neat, or useful in the box. - If not for me, atleast the kids. (It's been a little while since we found something to brag about. )...In the meantime, we always try swapping, as good or better, SWAG.

And yes, I've been known to "maintenence" a few caches that have had a warm Tootsie Roll left inside, or several business/identity cards(?) that are so wet & musty, the printing isn't even ledgible. - The pebble and acorn may get tossed, too. ...I guess I feel it's more right, than wrong, to remove the "trash". - It's really meant to be out of courtesy for the next cacher/s and the owner. (I'm really not the "cache police"; just a concerned citizen. )

July 21, 2009

I agree that beat-up golf balls are kind of lame, but my kids like the shiny clean ones. Not sure if it's a Minnesota thing or not, though, but lately I've been running into lots of golf tees. What's with that?

But this thread has been helpful to me. I'm pretty new to geocaching, and although I know to not put food/liquid into caches, I hadn't thought through PlayDoh. I got a copule of six packs of the stuff and have dropped a few containers into recent caches. I'll stop doing that.

I have learned to carry some nicer items on me so that I can still trade up if my kids stumble onto something that is particularly nice.

And lastly, I've learned that it's important to consider that things inside a cache can get quite a bit of wear in there. My son likes to leave nice Pokemon cards in caches, and I went back to one to drop off a geocoin and found the card still in there, but bent and smushed by the other stuff in the cache. Whoops. Didn't think through that one either.

19k · July 21, 2009

I once had someone put a tube of superglue in one of my caches, and it punctured by bumping up against other swag. Boy, was that a mess to clean up!

Yeah, golf tees are another issue. But I'd never CITO those out... never know when it might be a rare collector's golf tee from Tibet!!

July 21, 2009

Hi,

First a disclaimer: I have never commented on any forum, let alone this one. I have only 45 finds so far. Also, I didn't read all the entries so I apologize if I repeat someone else's opinions:

I once saw a log that said the finder left a ticket to an amusement park in the cache. Excitedly, I rushed to the cache thinking my kids would love to go to the park. When I found the cache there indeed was a ticket to the amusement park in it. Unfortunately, it was only good for three days previous. I just laughed and didn't feel upset about it at all. Of course, if that was the kind of stuff there was in every cache it might get kind of irritating.

I have to admit that I have sometimes found a cache and been rather ill prepared with SWAG. When this has happened with my kids I have let them take something without putting anything in it . Also, I have put some lame thing in too. I suppose I violated the Geocache code but I figure if I don't do it everytime it's not a huge deal. I also try to up the quality of SWAG fairly often.

As far as golf balls, fishing lures and such go, I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Obviously, a golf ball would be as worthless as a "nodule of wood" to someone who doesn't golf. That doesn't it automatically make it bad swag.

I'm interested in hearing your responses, thanks!

July 21, 2009

I have to admit that I have sometimes found a cache and been rather ill prepared with SWAG. When this has happened with my kids I have let them take something without putting anything in it . Also, I have put some lame thing in too. I suppose I violated the Geocache code but I figure if I don't do it everytime it's not a huge deal. I also try to up the quality of SWAG fairly often.

Not a huge deal unless you're the one tracking 2 miles in with kids in tow that are hoping to find at least one useable swag item but didn't because the person in front of them took it without leaving anything in return.

But really, the swag issues don't really bother me that much as we follow very simple rules. We ALWAYS leave something at the cache whether we take anything or not. We ALWAYS trade 1 for 1...meaning we don't take 3 things out and only put 1 in. And if we're ever in a situation where we are swagless, we simply don't take anything out. I don't care how much my kid wants that special bouncy ball...if we don't have anything to trade, they don't get it.

Like many said, it's the hunt that we enjoy, not the swag. However, it would be nice to find a good one every now and then.

What I really don't understand is the signature items. Are those placed with the mind that someone is to take them or are they placed there with the intent to stay in the cache? I just never figured out why the signature safety pin is supposed to impress me?

4.8k · July 21, 2009

Hi,

First a disclaimer: I have never commented on any forum, let alone this one. I have only 45 finds so far. Also, I didn't read all the entries so I apologize if I repeat someone else's opinions:

I once saw a log that said the finder left a ticket to an amusement park in the cache. Excitedly, I rushed to the cache thinking my kids would love to go to the park. When I found the cache there indeed was a ticket to the amusement park in it. Unfortunately, it was only good for three days previous. I just laughed and didn't feel upset about it at all. Of course, if that was the kind of stuff there was in every cache it might get kind of irritating.

I have to admit that I have sometimes found a cache and been rather ill prepared with SWAG. When this has happened with my kids I have let them take something without putting anything in it . Also, I have put some lame thing in too. I suppose I violated the Geocache code but I figure if I don't do it everytime it's not a huge deal. I also try to up the quality of SWAG fairly often.

As far as golf balls, fishing lures and such go, I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Obviously, a golf ball would be as worthless as a "nodule of wood" to someone who doesn't golf. That doesn't it automatically make it bad swag.

I'm interested in hearing your responses, thanks!

In my first week of caching I was pretty unsure how to trade but I learned pretty quick.

As for the golf balls, I know a few that if they find a golf ball, anywhere away from a golf course, will pocket it to hit later. It doesn't matter the condition at all since they hit them on their property and lose them pretty quick. I showed them a property that used to be a driving range and they walked away with a couple buckets of throwaways. Keeping in mind that they hit a lot of them into a lake.

As you implied, a fishing lure would be worthless to someone who doesn't fish unless they knew a fisherman, and even then they probably wouldn't trade for it. A bottle cap is worthless to most people but some collect them. GOlf tees, as mentioned above, equally valuable to the right person.

Now I would never need a #4 crochet hook but I could look at one in a cache and think that someone will pick it up.

It's all subjective. When people CITO swag, most do not see the value because they don't take the time to see how "someone" could find it valuable. No, I'm not talking about tootsie rolls, business cards, or broken tubes of superglue. Those are just messy. Otherwise, think hard to see if anyone "could" decide they want it, for whatever bizarre reason.

JMO

1.6k · July 21, 2009

A pair of broken pine cones, a wadded up ball of aluminum foil with bits of paper napkin sticking out (I didn't open it), and a mostly empty snuff can. Several months earlier I'd had to clean out the whole cache because someone had left a bottle of bubble solution that had leaked out and soaked everything.

8.6k · July 21, 2009

A fairly new cacher (with a slightly warped sense of humour ) went through a phase of leaving eggs (raw, still in shells, fortunately) in local caches. He put one into one of ours and mentioned it in the log

I'm pleased to say that the next finder removed it.

MrsB (No bacon was involved)

1.4k · July 21, 2009

Personally, I love Golf Balls... Golf tees... heck I even like army men. Just as long as I don't open an ammo can full of dookie, I am normally happy just finding the cache. -Goose

July 23, 2009

I removed a small rock and A PIECE OF BROKEN GLASS from one of my caches. One of the cachers I know was there 3 days before that and removed 2 cigarettes from that same cache.

I blame muggles.

7.7k · July 23, 2009

93 posts, and no one mentioned hamsters yet?

July 23, 2009

93 posts, and no one mentioned hamsters yet?

That's because hamsters aren't LAME cache swag. They're AWESOME.

7.7k · July 23, 2009

93 posts, and no one mentioned hamsters yet?

That's because hamsters aren't LAME cache swag. They're AWESOME.

How about hamsters with injured feet? Wouldn't they be lame?

Edited July 23, 2009 by Chrysalides

19k · July 23, 2009

93 posts, and no one mentioned hamsters yet?

That's because hamsters aren't LAME cache swag. They're AWESOME.

How about hamsters with injured feet? Wouldn't they be lame?

All I know is that I don't think we're supposed to call them "handicapped", and that you should only put them in caches with a terrain rating of 1.

July 23, 2009

Just removed live .22LR shells from a cache the other week. My 10 year old daughter had grabbed the ammo can from it's spot and was running over to us shaking it. I was a little surprise to see those two shells rolling around in the bottom of the can when I opened it.

July 23, 2009

some of the crappy swag I leave

Edited July 23, 2009 by tango501

July 23, 2009

When we started out caching and popped those first ammo cans, we weren't sure what to expect. There was some weird stuff in those boxes--feathers, a polished rock, a Barbie head, bleached animal bones, a dashboard saint, dog-eared playing cards, various antenna balls, some loose metal Jacks, whole squads of green Army men, snapshots of strangers, a whittled stick, lurid religious tracts, empty mini-liquor bottles, a busted naked-lady hood ornament...

Inexperienced idiot that I was, I thought this was the coolest thing I'd ever seen--a three-dee collage of oddities. Took a long time to learn that this was trash and I wasn't supposed to find it so amusing. Dang. Now I don't look at the swag much anymore, though I do leave the occasional hand-knotted gear/knife lanyard.

LAME cache swag

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