Business Card

[brendakay7597]

Is is against guidelines to put your business card & key chain in the cache if you remove something when you find it? Let me know!

 

Thanks

[Shrekito]

Is is against guidelines to put your business card & key chain in the cache if you remove something when you find it? Let me know!

 

Thanks

 

I don't know if its against the guidelines. But I throw them away. If you want to leave a card fine. Have some cards printed up with your screen name on them. If not don't leave them in the cache. All they do is clog up the cache. And personaly I put them in the same place I put relgious pamplets "the trash".

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Is is against guidelines to put your business card & key chain in the cache if you remove something when you find it? Let me know!

 

Thanks

No, it's not against the guidelines. The guidelines on trade items are very open except when it comes to illegal or dangerous items. There are some questions you should ask yourself though. Stepping away from the business card(since that's just a business card)...let's ask the questions about the keyring(since that's what you're leaving as trade).

 

1. Is the keyring I'm leaving something that would be of interest or value to another player to keep?

2. Am I leaving something of fair trade value to what I took?

3. Is this keyring one that someone else is likely to appreciate, or am I just leaving it to promote myself.

 

You'll hear a lot of negative thoughts on this, but there are some good things to consider. If the items are packaged in a way to prevent them from getting ruined in the jostling, then they will be more likely to be accepted as decent trade(placing the keyring in a little ziplock bag will protect it). I personally would try to find a way to group them together, and include some indication that they are left as a signature item, rather than just trying to promote the business. Some people will view it as trade swag, some people will view it as a signature item and some people will view it as trash.

 

I'd most likely be one of the first two.

Edited April 5, 2010 by WRITE SHOP ROBERT

[+Casting Crowns]

I would only take it if it had your geocaching moniker on it. You can promote your business but I want your geocaching name on it as well for me to want to take it.

[+wimseyguy]

If you are doing it because you think it is neat swag that someone else wants, cool. If you are doing it to troll for more business, uncool.

 

I used to collect keychains for some odd reason when I first started caching. So I used them to stock my first hide.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

I would only take it if it had your geocaching moniker on it. You can promote your business but I want your geocaching name on it as well for me to want to take it.

I agree with this mostly, it will be much more accepted if you also indicate that it's your geocaching signature trade item. You could make a spamp or stickers for the back of the card that would suffice.

 

Just dropping the things in there loose will not be a clear indication that they are meant to represent you as a CACHER.

[+t4e]

a business card is not swag in excahange for something you take out of the cache afaic, you can easily write down the number from the card if its to your interest

[+Chrysalides]

Business card : If the intent is to advertise something that has no relationship with geocaching, it would make me less inclined to visit the business. Some others might geel the same way. For geocaching "calling cards" or whatever you call them, sure, go ahead and leave them. Try to protect them by having them in a baggie or, even better, laminated.

 

Keychains : It's swag, even if promotional.

 

As for taking something from the cache, as long as it is a fair trade.

 

Edit : typo

Edited April 5, 2010 by Chrysalides

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Business card : If the intent is to advertise something that has no relationship with geocaching,

I would feel differently about it than if it was placed to represent YOY as a player...of course I would have no way of knowing your reasons, so it's likely to get left behind, or removed as trash, or grabbed up to place in my collection of sigitems, depending on how I feel that day. My sigitem contains a bunch of things that were just scraps, like ticket stubs business cards etc.

 

Edit for spelling

Edited April 5, 2010 by WRITE SHOP ROBERT

[+brslk]

My thoughts are few and far between but, If it is a business card then it is trash. If it is a card with the cachers ID then it is OK if it is laminated. If it isn't, Trash.

 

A business card I would CITO... a cachers card I would leave alone if it was laminated. A cachers card that wasn't laminated... I would leave alone unless it was a mushy piece of pulp.

[+paleolith]

It seems I disagree with the majority here. I think a business card is great compared with 90% of the crap I've seen in caches. I haven't yet seen a business card that interested me in the business, but partly that's me -- I respond to advertising very weakly compared with most of the population. My tendency is probably magnified by the fact that I don't watch TV.

 

But I have seen business cards in caches which let me know a little bit about cachers whose names I'd seen in online logs. (Obviously in these cases there was something that enabled me to link the card to the gc.com ID, though often that's easier than you might expect -- doesn't always require that the gc.com ID actually be on the card.) And a card takes up a minuscule amount of space compared with a plush toy, a videotape, etc.

 

The only times I've left my card have been when I could not sign the log or for some other reason was going to take the log with me (owner request, etc). In the latter case, the card itself could serve as a temporary micro-log.

 

I've seen peak registers with a lot of business cards when the logs had overflowed. Once on Arc Dome I copied down an interesting-looking email address and had a short correspondence with a biologist who had preceded me up there.

 

Maybe the recommendation should be to leave cards only in a 3x5" plastic bag with a note that others are welcome to add there cards. Sort of an alternative log.

 

Edward

[+wycacher]

I run a NP group out of Cheyenne called Wyoming Ghost Hunters. Everyone in the group has paid for the equipment and we DO NOT charge to perform an investigation. The hardest part of a group like this is getting our name out to the people who need one done. So I am guilty of putting my cards in caches, but NOT in exchange for swag. I just hope that someone who may need some help or answers might find it. I have been wondering if this is ok too!

[+BigAl437]

I am not to fond of the business cards being left in the caches. Most that I have seen are wet or getting dirty from everyone reaching into the cache to pull something out. Besides, if everyone left a business card there would not be any room for swag. Also, my kids are not looking for the cards because that is not what they want. They want the neat little toys they find. Plus, I guess if you want to find out about someone and their business then ask them at the next Geocaching event. Isn't that what they are for? To find out about the other cachers and what they do and what they like. But as others have stated before me if you must leave one at least put it in a baggie to stay dry.

[+Chokecherry]

We recently found a business card in a cache and it was memorable due to the job of the person who left it and because it was someone we knew but didn't know was into geocaching.

 

Other people will likely derive some humor from the card especially after reading his post online. We left it there. I don't want to leave my business card in a cache due to not wanting unsolicited phone calls at my job etc. but I didn't find it particularly annoying.

[viper1986]

I am new to geocaching and i already figured since its wrong to collect TB, why not collect all those business cards?!?!

 

I already got 8 with 26 cache finds

 

I see alot of busness cards and those "geocacher cards", those are too much alike so i skip by those, only personal business cards for me!

 

One person's trash is another treasure

[PghDragonRider]

Hmmm . . . thought provoking.

 

My Dragon and I usually don't like the swag we've been finding, so I'm more into the Sign The Log type of caching. I have been known to leave a "Visiting Card" with my caching name and a link to my personal web page. Personal, no business: photos of other adventures we've done and the like. On the rare times we do find something my Dragon wants to hoard, we always carry some swag of our own and usually it's a "trade up" from what we take.

 

Hope everyone else agrees that's a fair deal!