FTF Prizes... Do you leave one?

[+ssoutherngurll]

I was just curious to hear other peoples thoughts and/or ideas on FTF prizes...

 

Do you leave one? If so, is only for larger caches or do you also find something that will work for a micro? What kind of things do you leave?

 

Just want to hear some peoples ideas on this....

 

Thanks!

[+Casting Crowns]

I do.....I leave money, pins I've ordered online.....or just knick-knack stuff like patches, necklaces, etc.

 

*edit* I also like to leave pathtags.....

Edited July 28, 2009 by Casting Crowns

[+Rainbow Spirit]

I have left scratch lottery tickets, AA batteries, and small tools as FTF prizes.

Lately around here only two cachers appear to grab all the FTFs, so I have stopped leaving FTF prizes, as I might as well give them the prizes directly!

[+ssoutherngurll]

I have left scratch lottery tickets, AA batteries, and small tools as FTF prizes.

Lately around here only two cachers appear to grab all the FTFs, so I have stopped leaving FTF prizes, as I might as well give them the prizes directly!

 

ohhhh scratch offs are a good idea.... i haven't thought about that! what dollar amount do you buy and leave in there? $1? $2? $5 or more?

[+bittsen]

I have left scratch lottery tickets, AA batteries, and small tools as FTF prizes.

Lately around here only two cachers appear to grab all the FTFs, so I have stopped leaving FTF prizes, as I might as well give them the prizes directly!

With FTF hounds running around, I also think its pointless to leave FTF prizes. One of the FTF hounds brags of over 200 FTFs. So if everyone had left $5 he would have gotten $1000+

What's the point?

 

Now, if I do a fairly "good" hide, I might. Something to sour the milk for a FTF hound. Something like a 5 mile hike would probably do it since my son posted a cache at the 5 mile mark on a trail and it still hasn't been found over a week later. It's only 15 miles outside of the circle of FTF hounds.

 

BTW, this does not mean I don't like FTF hounds. I could be seen as one of them but I don't chase all FTFs in the area. I only chase the ones close enough to have a good shot at beating out the other FTF hounds.

[+TotemLake]

Gotta love the cynism over a simple game and the way people play it.

 

Caches hidden during the Hike of the Month I organize receive the below contribution for the FTF hunter.

[+Casting Crowns]

I have left scratch lottery tickets, AA batteries, and small tools as FTF prizes.

Lately around here only two cachers appear to grab all the FTFs, so I have stopped leaving FTF prizes, as I might as well give them the prizes directly!

With FTF hounds running around, I also think its pointless to leave FTF prizes. One of the FTF hounds brags of over 200 FTFs. So if everyone had left $5 he would have gotten $1000+

What's the point?

 

Now, if I do a fairly "good" hide, I might. Something to sour the milk for a FTF hound. Something like a 5 mile hike would probably do it since my son posted a cache at the 5 mile mark on a trail and it still hasn't been found over a week later. It's only 15 miles outside of the circle of FTF hounds.

 

BTW, this does not mean I don't like FTF hounds. I could be seen as one of them but I don't chase all FTFs in the area. I only chase the ones close enough to have a good shot at beating out the other FTF hounds.

 

*off topic* yes, it does seem like you're bitter about FTF hounds....I love the hikes and would find yours if it were here in Fort Worth!

 

*back on topic* Also, people have started to leave those $1 gold coins in caches lately as an FTF prize. Usually, I like ANYTHING that's in there for the FTF. I have a bag 'o swag (my wife calls trash) but I love it! LOL! I don't know why....I told my son and daughter that when I die, they can plant it at my gravesite and people can trade from it. May need a gravesite of it's own by then!

[+fegan]

Usually I put a FTF Buck ($1) in my hides.

[oakenwood]

I must be stupid, generous, or both.

 

One of my hides, a reasonably challenging puzzle cache, had $10 and a brand new CD. The other is a micro, so it had an old coin worth about $10.

[+Loch Cache]

Leave an FTF prize???

 

NO! I take them when I find them.

 

Seriously, I do when I can afford them, but usually only in the nicer cache I place. (Yes I have placed some park and grabs and some so-so caches.) I have even been known to recycle some FTF prizes.

 

One prize I have used often is an uncirculated US One Dollar coin in a case. (Cost $1.50)

 

For one multi I placed five Dunkin Donut's gift cards worth $10, $5, $2, $2, an $1 in the cache for the first five finders but did not mark them so it was a bit of chance on how much they got.

 

I would say not even half of the caches I have been FTF on have had a FTF prize. More like 30 %. (Yes that is a rough guess and not a solid stat.)

 

Loch Cache

118 FTFs

[+Geoaddict]

I do leave an FTF prize in all but the micro caches. The prize value ranges from $3 to $10. I have put in geocoins (trackable and non-trackable), a mini multi-tool w/o a knife, an inspection mirror and magnetic pickup stick, a CD featuring songs performed by Jeff Daniels (a Chelsea, Michigan native), and a AA battery holder that clips onto a belt. As my finances have become more restricted, I try to look for deals on items that might make for a good FTF prize. I do have a person that has claimed FTF on several of my caches, but I do have a variety of cachers claiming FTF so I don't have to feel that I oversupplying one cacher over others.

 

Ultimately, financial circumstances may force me to discontinue the FTF prize.

[aniyn]

I don't leave them. The FTF itself is good enough on its own.

[+mrbort]

I've never left a FTF prize but I do tend to stock my ammo cans with (among other in my mind lesser prizes) lots of good books that I buy at our wonderful library bookstore and so I guess that the reading inclined should be happy! I should note that the FTF shouldn't feel obligated to trade anything for a book perhaps That way they can be happy with a new book and get some time to read!

[+MSalisbury]

I've never left a FTF prize but I do tend to stock my ammo cans with (among other in my mind lesser prizes) lots of good books that I buy at our wonderful library bookstore and so I guess that the reading inclined should be happy! I should note that the FTF shouldn't feel obligated to trade anything for a book perhaps That way they can be happy with a new book and get some time to read!

 

Oooh! I like this idea - Never thought about stocking a cache with books. It owuld be something differant form theusual Mc-Toy swag. I've been wanting to put a cache out near the local library, adn this might be a good theme.... Hmmm <setting thinking cap firmly on head> ....

 

Back on topic - If I have a nice piece of swag and a regular sized cache that I'm hiding I'll put in a FTF prize. Usually though I just stock the cache with nice stuff following whatever theme the cache has. If I have any TB's I've "seeded" the cache with the TB for good luck on occasion. But micros or nanos the FTF will have to be prize enough.

Edited July 29, 2009 by MSalisbury

[namiboy]

i usually leave a crisp hunnert dollar bill. that's just me and i don't expect anyone else to do it. maybe a twenty.?.?.?

[+crackofnoon]

I am planning my first hide - taking my time - want it to be good. I was considering a FTF prize, but just can't think of anything original yet. Guess I'll keep thinking.

[+StarBrand]

I have found only 5 or 6 FTF prizes amoung the 70 or so caches where I was FTF.

 

Of the 145 caches I have placed - I left a FTF prize in no more than 5 of them. It is certainly not an expected or even very common practice around here.

 

Oddly - many times, if an out of area cacher is FTF they will grab some trade item and proclaim that they took it as the FTF prize.

[+The Blorenges]

If you do want to leave a FTF prize then I think it's good if it's related to either the theme of the cache, or the area in which it's hidden. MrsB

[knowschad]

i usually leave a crisp hunnert dollar bill. that's just me and i don't expect anyone else to do it. maybe a twenty.?.?.?

 

<<snicker!!>>

 

 

PS: What's an FTF?

Edited July 29, 2009 by knowschad

[+Puppy Dawg]

I leave an unactive geocoin on the really evil ones, like 4's and 5's and challenges. Otherwise they get nuthin.'

[+Lakebum]

I always leave a Lakebum coin for FTF.

If I did not have my own coin though I probably would not leave much unless it was a particularly hard cache to find.

[JJ NEWTON]

Hey! thanks for the idea! I put an FTF prize in my hope-to-be-published cache Under A Cement Block.

[+flask]

i do not leave FTF prizes. FTF whores do not need any further encouragement.

 

what i will do is to leave good stuff in the cache that i expect anybody will be pleased to find.

 

there was a time in which i was the first finder on almost every cache in this state, as well as parts of neighboring states and part of quebec. i've gone to some extreme lengths to be the first finder, and being there first is plenty reward.

 

i also do not make a fuss over the first find in the log, and i do not wish for the cache owner to congratulate me on the cache page. my signature at the top of the first page is enough, and it's just silly to write "FTF!" with that signature, 'coz that just gets filed under "really? duh."

[knowschad]

To me, FTF "prizes" feel too much like a "please hunt my cache" bribe.

[+flask]

to me, the prizes feel like a way to fuel the attitude that something is owed the first finder. while gifts are gracious and pleasing, too many people seem to expect them.

[+Team Veverca]

I leave a certificate if it's a good hide (at least 2 stars for terrain and hide). My easy to find caches don't have anything special.

[+Gamaliel]

I don't anymore because it's the same 2-3 FTF hounds who grab the FTF most of the time.

 

Fair is fair, though. For last FTF I grabbed (a rarity for me), I left the FTF prize for the next cacher.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I left someting nice in one, but I forgot to label it FTF Prize, so it's probably still thee.

Of haow ever many FTFs I have, I can only remember two prizes. Starbucks gift certificate (that I have not used yet.), and a bison tube, which I will use very soon!

[+DragonsWest]

I figure at some point I'll indulge in an FTF find prize, but so far I do not see a lot of point. There are several cachers around here who will sprint toward a new cache so swift as to alter weather patterns.

 

Back in 2003 when I planted an ammo box on a lonely peak an unactivated geocoin or sommat would have been a good encouragement as it took months for the first cacher to find it.

[+WRASTRO]

A blank log is all the FTF should hope for or expect. I have placed nice swag in a few caches long after the FTF and not mentioned it just to see what logs might appear. Sometimes there is a mention but most of the time nothing. No "wow, I found an unactivated coin!", so now I just don't see any sense in the practice. If I really like a cache and happen to have something nice with me I will leave it. Otherwise I just sign the log and move along. I expect most cachers do the same or similar.

[+BirchSnooper]

While I realize that there are FTF Hounds, I like the idea of leaving something special. In particular, I'm hoping to encourage more kids to try geocaching so I love the idea of FTF coins but I've only found a two versions. So, I'm curious, are there any nice FTF coins available or are they just not that commonly used?

 

We are having pathtags made, so we can always leave one of them in any caches we hide.

 

BirchSnooper

[+busterbabes]

I get discount movie passes from work, so I tend to leave a movie pass or 2.

[+geodarts]

I have never designated a prize for the first one to visit a cache. They can trade among any of the items that are in the cache before it is otherwise depleted, and get the glory of using the three initials if they are so inclined. Some finders have just taken their pick of the cache and assumed it was a some kind of prize.

 

As I mentioned in another post on this topic, I have designated prizes for the third to find (or used a board game piece to pick out a number by random). There will always be mavens who will go after a cache for its blank log, but by the time it gets further down the line, perhaps they are coming for the cache itself and I like the idea of rewarding that effort. I have left everything from geocoins to rare bobbleheads.

Edited July 31, 2009 by Erickson