Cashe Dissapointment?

[+mrgeoff]

Did our first Geocashing at the weekend in the UK, 15 of them in the end, the kids loved it.

 

My personal dissapointment though was the poor quality of the cashe goods in most of the tins.

 

When I read the review of the cashes, some had a list of what they had in them when first placed, torches, bottle openers, key rings.

But now, generally there isnt anything better than the kind of toot found in christmas crackers.

 

This is of course fine for the kids, but its a bit of a deception for newbies, who dont know what to carry, like I carried some real nice key-rings, a 1gb compactflash card, a brass thimble, a mini torch etc.

 

Also, as there "was" some good stuff in the boxes at some point, and the rules say you "must" exchange for equal or better, I guess some people are effectively stealing value from the game.

 

So I now know what sort of toot to carry for my swaps, its all good, I wil of course carry maybe 1 good item in case I strike lucky, but will this happen? Is it better in other countries?

 

Thanks - MrGeoff and Family.

Edited April 19, 2010 by mrgeoff

[+simpjkee]

Over time, the quality of swag in a cache degrades. Ideally, the cache starts with decent enough swag and as long as cachers "trade up, even, or not at all" then the cache should be full of quality items, but it never really works out that way. I hear that this is typically the case in all countries. It's always good to carry a little swag though because you never know when you may stumble on to something you want.

 

If you are interested in trading from caches I would recomend keeping a keen eye for trackable items like Travel Bugs and Geocoins that you can pick up from a cache and move to a new cache. You can log those online when you move them and see how far they've traveled all over the world.

[+Indotguy]

I appreciate nice swag but that is not what Geocaching is about. Geocaching is about the thrill of the hunt, being outdoors, and having fun with cool electronic toys. If the quality of the stuff in the box is your primary interest, I would suggest looking for a different hobby.

[+The Chaos Crew]

The "swag" aspect for me is for the kiddies....my boys are more than happy with a box full of grubby mcToys, they're easily pleased, it seems They also really enjoy sorting through our trade bag for stuff to put back in (and I hasten to add we always trade up, especially if the cache is looking particularly barren - the other day my son put 4 items into a cache that had nothing in it but a butterfly hairclip - and he left the hairclip too - pink's not really his colour )

[+mrgeoff]

Hi, thanks for all the replys so far, dont think I need anymore to get the idea

 

Myself and the girls traded similar value items, and indeed put a couple more items in a nearly empty box, after reading the comments that this particular box was completely empty a while back.

 

Agreed, its not about the absolute swag value, I was just trying to get an idea about the value of toot for us to carry. Agreed, that the kids loved it regardless of value.

 

I will still carry the odd good item in case I get lucky!!!

 

PS, we did find a TravelBug, didnt know what it was about till we got home, but once we did, we followed the instructions of both TBs, and the owners

 

Cheers.

[+Bear and Ragged]

I have a theory.

 

Along the lines of:

The closer to town, the more visited a cache is, the lower the quality of trade items...

Always happy to be proved wrong!

 

Cache in the country, requires a walk, higher diff/terrain -possibly a multi - infrequently visited -better swaps.

[+eightwednesday]

I have a theory.

 

Along the lines of:

The closer to town, the more visited a cache is, the lower the quality of trade items...

Always happy to be proved wrong!

 

Cache in the country, requires a walk, higher diff/terrain -possibly a multi - infrequently visited -better swaps.

 

This seems to be true, except for when caches out in the sticks get wet, then it's a bunch of top quality stinky, moldy goodies.

 

I've run into some with the theory that people just have a different idea of the value of something. But five bandaids =/= a mini am/fm radio (happened with one of my caches--but that's also a cache in town). Thankfully, this game is about getting outside for me, it helps keep the disappointment to a minimum when you find a crap cache, and on any given day of caching there'll be at least one where you go, really?!

[hoosier guy]

I have a theory.

 

Along the lines of:

The closer to town, the more visited a cache is, the lower the quality of trade items...

Always happy to be proved wrong!

 

Cache in the country, requires a walk, higher diff/terrain -possibly a multi - infrequently visited -better swaps.

 

This has always been my experience as well.

[+Anno Lynke]

I have never been disappointed it the crap swag I have found in other peoples caches

I dont expect much, even though I enjoy going thru it.

I put out my first cach with swag last Nov

5 months later I return to check on the container. just to see how it withstood the winter.

I was highly disappointed in what was traded?

I had 5 or 6 items worth about a dollar a piece.

I return to find 2 plastic toys a nickle and a foreign coin

One of the toys was cool the other was broken.

The nickle was put there by a cacher that leaves a nickle in all the caches he finds, almost as a signature item.

So that is 4 items that didnt get traded just taken

[+StarBrand]

We have always tried to lead by example. We always tade up or even. We tend to leave lots better than we take. If the cache is empty we will leave a few items for the next cacher. About all you can do.

[+ihorn]

A cache my fiancee and I found yesterday had pretty crappy swag, but thats not the point of the game. It had stuff like baseball cards, stickers, and some change. We didnt care though, the fun was in the hunt of the cache. I do have some swag that is worth a little like a Disney Pin for pin collecting to trade if we see something of value we want like a TB.

[+chachi44089]

What is a mini torch?

[Motorcycle_Mama]

In the US, we would call it a flashlight.

[+buttaskotch]

Being that you are caching with your family I can understand wanting to trade. But I often don't trade. Once in a while I will see a patch that I may want and trade for a lanyard or button, more often or not, I just don't trade anything or just add swag to the cache.

 

Also, trading for equal or greater value is highly subjective, remember the old adage one man's junk is another man's treasure...

[+Chokecherry]

Being that you are caching with your family I can understand wanting to trade. But I often don't trade. Once in a while I will see a patch that I may want and trade for a lanyard or button, more often or not, I just don't trade anything or just add swag to the cache.

 

Also, trading for equal or greater value is highly subjective, remember the old adage one man's junk is another man's treasure...

 

I believe this is my first ever post on this forum. Anyhow, I've been lurking here since last week when I discovered geocaching. I've never been more thrilled to find cheap stuff in anything as I was to find it the caches we found. Being a newbie on an extremely fixed budget it meant that this was a sport that my friend and I could afford to enjoy because we can afford cheap stuff to trade in the caches.

 

Moreover, what I found profoundly interesting about random garbage is how some of it really spoke to the personality of the person leaving it. Yeah over all it's meaningless. Found little laminated papers and love stories, also useless but so interesting to look at and read.

 

I don't know. I know some people just toss some new garbage into the containers and it's meaningless but some people gave what they could. This thread kind of killed the bit of fun my friend and I were having trying to figure out what our signature cheap thing would be. I guess I'm idealistically excited.

[+roziecakes]

I think you can still make something cheap that's fun enough for people to find. Don't let this thread kill your excitement!! There are so many people out there who aren't caching just for the quality of the swag (most I think actually).

[+patren]

 

Moreover, what I found profoundly interesting about random garbage is how some of it really spoke to the personality of the person leaving it. Yeah over all it's meaningless. Found little laminated papers and love stories, also useless but so interesting to look at and read.

 

I don't know. I know some people just toss some new garbage into the containers and it's meaningless but some people gave what they could. This thread kind of killed the bit of fun my friend and I were having trying to figure out what our signature cheap thing would be. I guess I'm idealistically excited.

 

I'm like you, I love digging through whatever is in the cache. I used to trade swag, even had a really cool chest in my room holding all the stuff I found. But then I moved, and realized I had a lot of stuff in my car. I also used to leave Magic the Gathering cards with mustaches drawn on the faces(as a signature, not really for trading). I don't do it so much anymore, but I'm thinking about doing the whole custom wooden nickel thing and trade them for other wooden nickels.

 

But regardless of whats in the cache I still enjoy looking through it.

Edited April 20, 2010 by patren

[+StarBrand]

A cache my fiancee and I found yesterday had pretty crappy swag, but thats not the point of the game........

 

I beg to differ.....it may not be the 'main' point or even major to you but the original intent was have folks do some trading. See this thread....

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=247515

[+gcfishguy]

Like someone else said, don't let the quality of swag discourage you.

 

We've all found caches that had been reduced to a trash can.

 

Some of it is because newbies find it and take stuff, not knowing they're supposed to trade (or trade up), and a lot of it is just human nature (unfortunately).

 

The vast majority of caches start out great, but eventually they're reduced to a paper clip and a "toot" from a Christmas cracker. (Words I've never used, but I know exactly what you mean...my parents ALWAYS had crackers at Christmas....thanks for reminding me of that...I think I still have a scar where a little plastic 'toot' hit me)

 

Anyway...I was big on swag when caching with my daughter...she loved finding stuff and leaving good stuff for the next child to find. Now my daughter has found way cooler things to interest her...so I just sign the log, read a few entries and write my note and away I go.

 

Now, I often will re-stock a cache that's looking crappy. I hit my employer up for swag (a phone company) and explained what it was for, and how it would travel around and change owners. Well, they jumped at free advertising like that, and sent me a BIG BOX of all sorts of little promo items, the stuff you would collect at trade shows. (keychains, 4" frisbees, little lawn chairs that unfold and sit on your desk as a cell phone holder, keychain compasses, and that sort of stuff). Nothing that's worth anything, but the sort of stuff that kids like.

 

i rarely trade now but if i find a cache in a good spot that's getting lean, it will get a bunch of my stuff dumped into it. I say 'good spot' because if a cache is in a high muggle area, I'm not wasting good swag on it, for it to be muggled the next day. Some people get off on the 'stealthy' stuff, I don't. If I'm going to be seen and questioned, or if the cache will be muggled after I leave, I just don't bother with it. But again, that's just me.

 

Anyway....it would be nice if more people carried re-stocking swag. A lot do, though..

 

And most cache owners will run right out and re-stock one of their caches if they're sent a note and advised that it's getting bad.