Return of the quality cache

August 29, 2009

I'm looking for a bit of commitment, starting with your caching tomorrow, a pledge to start treating caches with the care and attention they require!

I have read a number of posts both here and on GAGB.org.uk about the quality/ volume of cache contents dropping. I have also noticed this in the last 18 months and have decided to start making that extra effort to return both mine and the caches I visit to a more pleasurable experience.

I have a collection of goodies which I am planning to place in my caches in the coming week and am pledging to carry swops for my future finds. I normally have nothing with me!

Anyone else out there willing to join the mission 'Return of the quality cache'?

RuberyBlue

Keep right on!

Edited August 29, 2009 by RuberyBlue

August 29, 2009

I'm looking for a bit of commitment, starting with your caching tomorrow, a pledge to start treating caches with the care and attention they require!

I have read a number of posts both here and on GAGB.org.uk about the quality/ volume of cache contents dropping. I have also noticed this in the last 18 months and have decided to start making that extra effort to return both mine and the caches I visit to a more pleasurable experience.

I have a collection of goodies which I am planning to place in my caches in the coming week and am pledging to carry swops for my future finds. I normally have nothing with me!

Anyone else out there willing to join the mission 'Return of the quality cache'?

RuberyBlue

Keep right on!

For me personally quality has nothing to do with what is in the box, that's my 4yr old son's domain.

Quality to me means a good hunt and a clever hide. Pine cone nano's and the sorts mean nothing to me if it doesn't fit the above. I am not interested in playing 'camowarsonline'.

with the above in mind, awesome, but please stick it in caches we will remember and we will be most grateful

edit : I'd like you to make me think, not frustrate me (puts flame suit on)

Edited August 29, 2009 by Ryuchan

3.8k · August 30, 2009

Good Luck for I think you shall need it. People don't care what they leave behind in place of the good contents they take. I am long past digging into my pocket to refill my caches, just for people to deplete them within weeks and sometimes days of restocking them.

August 30, 2009

I still keep topping mine up, they are aimed at kids, so the kids deserve to find some decent goodies.

August 30, 2009

I'm completely with you on this one.

I've a number of caches that i try to keep topped up. It is potentially quite expensive though as i have seen many cachers do love to leave trash (Although they are disliked by many the micro/ nano gets around this problem.).

I have now pulled back from very frequent restocking for time and money reasons. Instead i have two larger caches i focus on and check monthly whilst on the school run!

My bigger grip about caches is more quality of the hide location surely they should be in places that are nice to visit? Some just seem to be pumped out at random, 'just because'.

So i say LESS is MORE!

August 30, 2009

this has been my gripe for a long time.i can count on one hand out of say the last hundred caches the number of well stocked caches i have seen.yes the quality of the hide and the place is important but it is still nice to see well stocked caches so yes im with you on this one i promise to make sure my caches are kept well stocked from now on.

August 30, 2009

ive actually posted tonight about my cache which has been out there less than a month and already the £10 worth of goods within are now worth less than a few quid and have already halved where dishonest cachers have helped themselves and not swapped. Cant see myself putting out such good caches in the future if this is how some dishonest cachers treat new caches.

August 31, 2009

I think it's quite clear that the low quality of swaps is due to the fact that people take them and leave lower quality swaps or worse, without replacing them. This in turn makes hiders put lower quality swaps in the new hides.

I've got to the point where I don't bother taking anything unless I see a bug with a mission I can help with and won't leave anything unless it's a bug. I just go for the experience, sign the log and log online. I'll leave the swaps to the kids.

August 31, 2009

Out of curiousity, would you consider an Australian flag pin to be a decent swap? I'm thinking of ordering some of these.

Thanks

August 31, 2009

...and have decided to start making that extra effort to return both mine and the caches I visit to a more pleasurable experience.

In that case I must take a nice big bag full of decent sized tupperware out with me to replace all the nasty micro film pots that are cropping up everywhere these days

On a serious note though this is a good idea. We're all guilty of letting standards drop and a deliberate effort to make caches better will hopefully raise standard and make caching a bit more like it was in the good ole days when mircos were rare, cache swaps were decent and you could always find a cache big enough to fit a TB into

2.3k · August 31, 2009

Good Luck.

August 31, 2009

Out of curiousity, would you consider an Australian flag pin to be a decent swap? I'm thinking of ordering some of these.

Thanks

Yes they would be much better then the broken pencil sharper, a out of date train ticket, half of pencil and the top half of a toy car I found in a cache today. Had a decent log book and good containner so I can only think people put tat in and took goodies out. Either do a decent swap or TNLN.

3.8k · September 1, 2009

Out of curiousity, would you consider an Australian flag pin to be a decent swap? I'm thinking of ordering some of these.

Thanks

I don't see why not, but it should still be relative to what you take in place for the flag pin. For example I had placed a new extremely well stocked cache and was there when the first finders came along. I was rather annoyed to see a torch which I had in the cache being swapped for a stupid Mr Blobby rubber toy, that the owners had bought in bulk. I said nothing as the torch was given to their kid who was there and I didn't want to upset the kid.

As another example I set up a farm themed cache in the local city farm along with my daughter. It was an ammo box and I half filled it with animal themed toys (that's a lot of toys and farm animals aren't cheap to buy). Less than two months after it going live and 13 visitors, I made the following log -

HayLin and I took a trip out today to drop off the TB's and coins that we had from the CITO event. We dropped some in here.
After a suggestion from roolku I had already visited here last week. So I knew what to expect, but HayLin was like myself dismayed at the contents of the cache. As they say a picture says a thousand words.

Saddened

HH & H

The last of the themed items.

The non themed items left as swaps which still hardly makes up the rest of the container.

September 1, 2009

I think we have managed to prove that the members of our community who "trade up" or "trade even" are considerably outnumbered by those who "trade down". The fate of almost every cache is to become a repository for junk. I no longer trade or re-stock my caches.

September 1, 2009

I have to say, having been introduced to geocaching with my brother-in-law in Canada, on coming back to the UK I did notice an incredible drop in the quality of swag. It left me quite disappointed.

However, since my first few UK caches, I have come across some reasonable swag and keep a bookmark for any caches which seemed to be well-stocked.

I've cito'd out items which are really bad. Ocassionally you see soap left in a cache - but when it gets damp the soap starts to dissolve and ruins everything!

I don't mind the low quality though, it seems to me to be a British thing (I'm British btw) to be quite cheap. I know North Americans tend to be more generous from experience in other walks of life.

3.3k · September 2, 2009

I think we have managed to prove that the members of our community who "trade up" or "trade even" are considerably outnumbered by those who "trade down". The fate of almost every cache is to become a repository for junk. I no longer trade or re-stock my caches.

Personally I only very rarely trade at all. Most caches contain tat that might be interesting to a child but isn't to an adult and I'm not really interested in carrying a bag of tat around for the sake of trading. Then there are the caches that contain some good stuff - if I did find one it's unlikely I'd take anything for the simple reason I probably wouldn't have anything suitable to leave.

September 2, 2009

I recently visited my mum and cleared my old bedroom at her house of all the ornaments and trinket boxes and things that I'd accumulated as a young teenager. I don't want these anymore, but it's nice quality stuff and there are probably lots of geokids who will like it, so I'm dropping stuff into each cache I find that's big enough to take it. As a bonus, it's not costing me anything to do this! :-)

September 2, 2009

I recently visited my mum and cleared my old bedroom at her house of all the ornaments and trinket boxes and things that I'd accumulated as a young teenager. I don't want these anymore, but it's nice quality stuff and there are probably lots of geokids who will like it, so I'm dropping stuff into each cache I find that's big enough to take it. As a bonus, it's not costing me anything to do this! :-)

Same here, I did that, I knew there was a reason I kept all those random items over the years!

September 2, 2009

Good Luck for I think you shall need it. People don't care what they leave behind in place of the good contents they take. I am long past digging into my pocket to refill my caches, just for people to deplete them within weeks and sometimes days of restocking them.

I'm not quite at that stage yet, but I feel your pain. I purposely include this banner on most of my caches..

And I still get people actually admiting to "took garmin cable, left old eraser" type logs. :rolleyes:

September 3, 2009

I'm not quite at that stage yet, but I feel your pain. I purposely include this banner on most of my caches..

I've gone back though my larger cache listings and added this banner too, it hasn't stopped the rot but makes me feel better that I have done my bit

Oddly enough, my originally best stocked cache has remained my consistently best stocked cache, not sure why ?

placed with permission adjacent to a permissive footpath far across the parkland grounds from an old stately home which has been converted to a rather expensive, adults only hotel - a hidden gem perhaps ?

Edited September 3, 2009 by SaltercreaseRangers

September 3, 2009

ive already decided im not restocking mine with anything worth while, i already tnln at caches unless the little one desires something (which we have a few bits n bobs). If i find stuff around the home or the little one has some old trinkets she doesnt want then fair enough we will use them, but as i see it if ive spent £10-15 on each new cache then why should i have to re stock it again for some thieving dis honest cacher (and i know which members they are too).

The only other option is to make the cache a member only cache, but this would exclude many non paying members who are honest.

September 3, 2009

I am in the process of setting my first cache and this is a point that has been bothering me. I go caching with my kids and they all love to trade, so we have put together a swag bag to take with us every time we go out. I got my children to go through they're toys and find anything they don't play with anymore, but I made sure it is either new or nearly new and intact, but when we go out and find caches we end up putting in quite good swag and taking out rubbish. Now I do agree we should trade up or equal but a few times i have stopped my kids from trading because I'm not prepared to trade a new shiny toy car for a broken party blower etc. As was said in previous threads trading is generaly left for children so it does puzzle me that parents let kids take good stuff and leave rubbish, I try to leave every cache as I would like to find it. Why can't everyone do this?

1.4k · September 3, 2009

I thought the trade logo was a great idea and will probably use it on my larger caches.

September 3, 2009

I go caching with my kids and they all love to trade, so we have put together a swag bag to take with us every time we go out. ....

As was said in previous threads trading is generaly left for children so it does puzzle me that parents let kids take good stuff and leave rubbish, I try to leave every cache as I would like to find it. Why can't everyone do this?

I agree. I have a bag of mostly "party bag" style & better new stuff (courtesy of major supermarkets etc), which my children seem to like, so I assume others will too. I could do with more variety though, and I have struggled occasionally with having something of appropriate value to match the shape of the cache.

It does seem a way for the kids to effectively get extra pocket money, but does that matter if we're out in the fresh air as a family? That's worth more than the items over a day's walk, and much cheaper than many of the other types of days out. There is a large cache reasonably close to us, which when we found it was virtually empty except for a few bits of tat (not the fault of the owner) - so no trade done, children disappointed.

More recently, I have occasionally added small items even when not taking anything. Otherwise, we are all in a vicious downwards spiral, as everyone seems to agree.

On a positive note, we did find a 7" teddy bear in 1 cache recently - weren't prepared for that, no way could we trade, so my youngest insisted we took a photo instead!

I'm wondering about buying up some scout county badges - our kids' have camp blankets for Cubs & Beavers & love that sort of thing - they've both swapped for night geocaching pin badges and an Australian pin as previously mentioned would go down well too, although less secure & comfy to sleep on. I'm sure they're not alone. So many individual tastes but we all need to take responsibility for keeping it going.

September 3, 2009

If I leave more items.. especially in a cache that has been plundered, I usually say so and list them on the log.

I'm guessing there's a large number of people who know they are trading unfairly, but then there may be newer folks who don't realise how it should be done - I like to think if they read my log they have get a realisation moment.

A bit like pay it forward, basically. Others have been generous so maybe I should be. Generosity takes faith that you will be rewarded down the line by another generous person.. I think.

September 3, 2009

Generosity takes faith that you will be rewarded down the line by another generous person.. I think.

You been on that "waccy baccy"?

September 3, 2009

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v635/uk89camaro/trade.jpg[/img]

[Thinks/] maybe I should print some of these up and laminate them to drop in plundered caches and to help steer newbie's along the right path ?[/thinks]

September 3, 2009

[quote name='Ashby-Bells' date='Sep 3 2009, 04:42 AM' post='4053234'

I'm wondering about buying up some scout county badges - our kids' have camp blankets for Cubs & Beavers & love that sort of thing - they've both swapped for night geocaching pin badges and an Australian pin as previously mentioned would go down well too, although less secure & comfy to sleep on. I'm sure they're not alone. So many individual tastes but we all need to take responsibility for keeping it going.

I am a scout leader and have been putting scout related items in since i started caching. I think this is a great idea as this type of swag is more original and also it helps to publisise the scout association.

September 3, 2009

I am not really sure I understand what all the fuss is about. I think it is very sad to see a cache full of tut as if someone has traded the good stuff in a cache for the rubbish in their pockets but only because it shows disrespect for the activity. We must remember the original intent of swag was to prove you had visited a cache by showing you had an object listed as being in the cache. This aspect of Geocaching has long since disappeared making swag a bit of a relic. Nowadays you imagine swag being taken from one cache and deposited in another, a sort of TB without a tracking code, but this practice makes the actual items of swag of peripheral interest. It is not as if depositing and removing swag is meant to be a barter process. To me swag has no relevance to modern Geocaching except to see the delight and anticipation on the young finder’s face as they eagerly open a cache to see what it might contain. I fully concur with sentiment that if trading swag is part of your enjoyment then trade equally or up and if that is not possible do not resort to depositing items that won’t leave the cache until cleaned out at the next maintenance visit.

September 3, 2009

I have started putting 1d and h'peny coins in decent caches not necessarily as trades, these are cheap to get hold of and many people will not have seen them before. I keep finding 1p or some times a 5p coins in caches, two weeks ago I found a Magnum (lolly) stick in a cache. Presumably these have been used as trades

September 3, 2009

I have started putting 1d and h'peny coins in decent caches not necessarily as trades, these are cheap to get hold of and many people will not have seen them before.

Oh the irony. I've bought bagfulls of pre-decimal coins off fleabay and I put a small selection into money bags and use this as a swap item. Y'know a couple of pennies h'pennies, thruppny bits, shillings, etc.

Last log I got was "x took bag of old coins, left TB"

September 3, 2009

perhaps we should name and shame them

1.4k · September 3, 2009

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v635/uk89camaro/trade.jpg[/img]

[Thinks/] maybe I should print some of these up and laminate them to drop in plundered caches and to help steer newbie's along the right path ?[/thinks]

Already done some and ready to start leaving them.

September 4, 2009

perhaps we should name and shame them

why exactly?

1.1k · September 4, 2009

I have started putting 1d and h'peny coins in decent caches not necessarily as trades, these are cheap to get hold of and many people will not have seen them before.

Oh the irony. I've bought bagfulls of pre-decimal coins off fleabay and I put a small selection into money bags and use this as a swap item. Y'know a couple of pennies h'pennies, thruppny bits, shillings, etc.

Last log I got was "x took bag of old coins, left TB"

My favourite is "Took 300 gb hard drive, left biro"

September 5, 2009

I'm looking for a bit of commitment, starting with your caching tomorrow, a pledge to start treating caches with the care and attention they require!

Haven't you always treated caches with the respect they require :laughing: :anibad:

Rhetorical question.

September 7, 2009

Thanks for the replies about the Australian flag pins.

I don't see why not, but it should still be relative to what you take in place for the flag pin. For example I had placed a new extremely well stocked cache and was there when the first finders came along. I was rather annoyed to see a torch which I had in the cache being swapped for a stupid Mr Blobby rubber toy, that the owners had bought in bulk.

If I didn't have anything of equal value, I'd just leave the pin and take nothing.

1.7k · September 8, 2009

I have started putting 1d and h'peny coins in decent caches not necessarily as trades, these are cheap to get hold of and many people will not have seen them before.

Oh the irony. I've bought bagfulls of pre-decimal coins off fleabay and I put a small selection into money bags and use this as a swap item. Y'know a couple of pennies h'pennies, thruppny bits, shillings, etc.

Last log I got was "x took bag of old coins, left TB"

My favourite is "Took 300 gb hard drive, left biro"

nice! I'm in the wrong part of the country - which cachers are leaving 300Gb hard drives in their caches? I need a new one for my media streamer... :laughing:

Return of the quality cache

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