Worst swag?

[+Bushwalker53]

A condom, thank goodness it wasn't used, I've heard about a few used ones in caches. I've also come across many squishy half dissolved lollipops in caches, chewing gum in a micro had gotten all wet and mouldy, I couldn't sign the log, it was all wet!

[Andronicus]

...snipped

 

While a clean bouncy ball may be fun, it is a serious safety hazard for small children (who havn't learned not to put things in their mouth yet). In another year, I will not have kids in that age catagory anymore, and then I will start thinking they are great swag. But for now, they are really anoying.

 

it seems those small children wouldn't be opening and checking out the swag in a cache by themselves. it's the parent's responsibility to make sure their child doesn't put a baggie with a bouncy ball in their mouth.

Yes yes, we all get that. If you read my original statment, my complaint was that the older kids wanted to trade for the fun bouncy ball, but I wouldn't let them because of the younger kid, then they all complain. It is the complaining that I don't like. I realize I am responsible for my kids safety. That is not in question here.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Anything inky. The culprit here was the little orange thing.

 

Edited June 1, 2014 by The_Incredibles_

[+niraD]

Anything inky. The culprit here was the little orange thing.

Maybe anything inky in a leaky container.

 

There's a local open space district that has a geocaching promotion. They have one cache in each open space that is part of the promotion, and each of those caches has a self-inking stamp, just like the one in the photo. You can print a PDF "passport" with a blank area for each of the open spaces, and stamp it with the stamp in each cache. If you complete them all, you get a geocoin.

 

But the only problem I've seen with those self-inking stamps is that people trade for (or simply steal) them. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it can take a while before they arrange to have a volunteer replace the stamp.

 

Of course, it helps that the series uses good weatherproof containers.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Anything inky. The culprit here was the little orange thing.

Maybe anything inky in a leaky container.

 

My container is a lock n lock.

[+edscott]

A chunk of already chewed gum and some loose M&Ms in a powdered detergent container that had not been rinsed out prior to adding the "swag". BTW I got the FTF.....

[+The_Incredibles_]

A chunk of already chewed gum and some loose M&Ms in a powdered detergent container that had not been rinsed out prior to adding the "swag". BTW I got the FTF.....

 

Are you sure you found the cache?

[+repcosy]

Well what rubbish have we found...

 

Mmm back of a mobile phone had to be top of the list!

A piece of a game at least I think that's what it was it was a square piece of card with some weird image.

Clothes tags

 

It does make me laugh sometimes the things you find its unbelievable that people actually make the effort to take that out to put in ha!

[+DragonsWest]

Water turns any swag into "Worst Swag" this is why we have ammo boxen, to protect valuable McToys (I just returned from a look in the year 2114 and McToys are the basis of the World Currency Units.)

 

That aside, any food/candy is a no-no, gets worse when wet, but attracts animals and who in their right mind would put something from a cache into their mouth?

 

Business cards, just CITO the things.

 

Knives, sorry, I won't leave them if I find them. I'll usually leave some none-bladed swag in its place, but unless we're talking Back Country, don't leave knives.

 

Needles, used dope bags, etc. Yeah, only a non-cacher would do this, but it's kinda scary.

[+Leo+3]

Worst thing I've ever found in a cache is melted soap..

 

That ruined a trackable and the logbook.

[+sholomar]

nothing so bad around here, it's a low population area, the worst actually comes from the cache creators using substandard containers and then abandoning the hobby, leaving their faded, cracking peanut butter jars to fall apart after a few years.

 

I've got a stash of lock N locks, 2 liter preforms, and trinkets for when i get back into geocaching again here in the next couple months. I plan to put instructions under the lids of the lock n locks specifying closing the lid securely and hiding it as found, because not closing the lid has the same effect.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Today I found a cache which was a big sticky wet mess. I couldn't figure out what the problem was until I found a Halls wrapper.

Edited June 6, 2014 by The_Incredibles_

[+narcissa]

Worst thing I've ever found in a cache is melted soap..

 

That ruined a trackable and the logbook.

 

Ugh, soap. Where geocaches are concerned, people need to treat soap like a foot item. It's just as enticing for critters, and also potentially very messy. I once had another cacher go off on me on a forum for pointing out that soap was a bad trade item. Live and learn, I guess...

[explorersrwe!]

Oh my goodness. Today is our first day geocaching and I was looking for advice on what swag to leave... After reading this thread, I'm kinda scared to go out again! And am also rethinking the little notebook & crayons we left today, as it could be confused for the logbook, or get wet & unusable... So much to think about!

[+colleda]

I think the worst we have found is the used business end of an electric toothbrush.

[+cerberus1]

Oh my goodness. Today is our first day geocaching and I was looking for advice on what swag to leave... After reading this thread, I'm kinda scared to go out again! And am also rethinking the little notebook & crayons we left today, as it could be confused for the logbook, or get wet & unusable... So much to think about!

Happened to all of us. A learning process.

Working for the World's largest crayon manufacturer, we thought caches, kids, n crayons would be perfect.

- Until we saw what Summer heat and crayons did to one of our own hides.

Bottles of bubbles are much worse.

Grab a bagga dinos or similar at the dollar store.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Bottles of bubbles are much worse.

...any liquid, really.

Ever see what 5-hour energy drink looks like after it has leaked and permeated a cache? You don't want to.

It ruins anything and everything inside of a cache that itself has never leaked.

 

But yes, bottles of bubbles really do... well, let's just say are bad.

[+J Grouchy]

Anything someone is expected to put their mouth on: whistles, bottles, toothbrushes, etc.

 

It's gotten so I really don't even want to see the "swag" since it's usually nasty and moldy anyway. To me the only advantage to having a small, regular or large cache is seeing how well the CO was able to hide it...especially in an urban/suburban setting.

[JASTA 11]

We found a seagull's leg bone, broken in half, stuck inside a film canister yesterday.

 

Hard pressed to trade equal or trade up to that one.

[+bnemmie]

It makes me really hope that the caches were found by someone else first who diddnt know what they were. Makes it easier to explain the trash, bones, junk food and other crap...

[+Creeping jesus]

Haven't been doing this for long but I found them tacks in one

[+WithSprinkles]

Just found an ammo can filled with some nasty, stinky, falling apart dog-chewed base balls Oh, the cache smelled sooo gross! It was hard to deal with. It also had two used crazy straws and some cruddy loose stickers. This was supposed to be a kids cache; mine were bummed. We filled it up with some new goodies, though, so the next finder will have a better time.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

Knives, sorry, I won't leave them if I find them. I'll usually leave some none-bladed swag in its place, but unless we're talking Back Country, don't leave knives.

 

I wish. Knives aren't allowed in any cache, even in Back Country. It's too bad, because you know I'd make a cache with that as the primary initial swag item.

[ground control 1]

Junk in geocaches is one of the things which upsets me the most about this hobby. How disappointing for excited children eagerly opening up a cache to find rubbish inside. Just done a maintenance check on one of my own geocaches and removed the junk! Someone had put some beach pebbles in as swag. It is a beach cache and the whole beach is covered in pebbles. How stupid is that? What's wrong with these people?

[+The_Incredibles_]

Someone had put some beach pebbles in as swag. It is a beach cache and the whole beach is covered in pebbles. How stupid is that? What's wrong with these people?

 

I had a similar experience with one of my beach caches. I was so mad I nearly archived it. Not only did someone put the rocks in, but other cachers did not remove them.

 

People are morons. There's no other explanation.

[+6NoisyHikers]

 

People are morons. There's no other explanation.

 

Pebble gnomes?

 

 

[+frinklabs]

People are morons. There's no other explanation.

 

Today's XKCD strip is weirdly prescient of this:

 

[jholly]

Someone had put some beach pebbles in as swag. It is a beach cache and the whole beach is covered in pebbles. How stupid is that? What's wrong with these people?

 

I had a similar experience with one of my beach caches. I was so mad I nearly archived it. Not only did someone put the rocks in, but other cachers did not remove them.

 

People are morons. There's no other explanation.

As Keystone has pointed out many times you should trade for those rocks. Perhaps no one had a suitable trade for rocks. Or perhaps they were trading rocks. I know when I find a condom in a cache I rarely have a day care pamphlet to leave so I just leave the condom.

[+Team Dredd]

Business cards for a shop, some small business or a local politician 500 miles away. Do I really need a business card from a kitchen cabinet shop from Montana when I am out caching in Florida? And to make it worse we ususally find business cards stuffed into 35mm film canisters (or other small containers) that a log barely fits into. I can see a card that has something to with caching, or a mugle card from a caching team or something, but a wet and mushy business card from Farmer Johns Toilets in Alaska? Business cards or political candidate cards from miles away are pretty darn worthless pieces of swag.

[+The_Incredibles_]

 

People are morons. There's no other explanation.

 

Pebble gnomes?

 

 

 

ROFL. Yeah, blame it on the gnomes. They are known for opening caches in the rain too.

[+The_Incredibles_]

People are morons. There's no other explanation.

 

Today's XKCD strip is weirdly prescient of this:

 

 

Thanks, but my trophy case is already full. It's a curse having such a large brain.

[+Roman!]

People are morons. There's no other explanation.

 

Today's XKCD strip is weirdly prescient of this:

 

 

Thanks, but my trophy case is already full. It's a curse having such a large brain.

 

Average IQ in the US is 98 so if even 10 % of the population is above that, some by a lot it means the vast majority have to dumb it up and be below the average IQ so yes, on average people are stupid.

[+The_Incredibles_]

[+Roman!]

 

Don't know about you, but yes, I am.

[Andronicus]

Junk in geocaches is one of the things which upsets me the most about this hobby. How disappointing for excited children eagerly opening up a cache to find rubbish inside. Just done a maintenance check on one of my own geocaches and removed the junk! Someone had put some beach pebbles in as swag. It is a beach cache and the whole beach is covered in pebbles. How stupid is that? What's wrong with these people?

When I was first showing my sister and her kids about geocaching, her kids proptly found a 'cool' rock and wanted to us it as a trade item to trade for a bouncy ball or something. this sort of thing seems to be in kids nature. Without a parent who is willing to enforce the rules (many parents are not willing, more worried about keeping the kids happy), it will always happen.

[+J Grouchy]

Just today I found two caches that each had a piece of candy inside...

 

...in 90+ degree heat.

 

Both candies were in sealed wrappers, but I could tell they were both almost completely liquefied.

Edited June 26, 2014 by J Grouchy

[+1962penny]

Was doing a maintenance run on one of MY caches based on some unsavory logs,, and uncover it to find it filled with pee. No logbook anymore, no swag left, JUST pee. And it being my cache I knew it was te correct container.

Even worse, the logs before talked about it. That's why I went to check it out. But some People, even after the first pee-mentioning log(before I had one chance to go fix it),, had gone (knowing what they were going to find), found it, and put it right back!

[+6NoisyHikers]

Was doing a maintenance run on one of MY caches based on some unsavory logs,, and uncover it to find it filled with pee. No logbook anymore, no swag left, JUST pee. And it being my cache I knew it was te correct container.

Even worse, the logs before talked about it. That's why I went to check it out. But some People, even after the first pee-mentioning log(before I had one chance to go fix it),, had gone (knowing what they were going to find), found it, and put it right back!

 

[+niraD]

Was doing a maintenance run on one of MY caches based on some unsavory logs,, and uncover it to find it filled with pee. No logbook anymore, no swag left, JUST pee. And it being my cache I knew it was te correct container

Yeah, there was a rash of that going on around here a few years ago. Apparently some kids discovered these hidden containers in their neighborhood and decided it would be funny to relieve themselves into the containers. So the soiled caches were archived or disabled, and after a couple months, the disabled ones were replaced and re-enabled. By then, the vandals had moved on to some other pursuit, and the caches in the area have been fine.

[+Team Dredd]

I forgot about one of the worst things we ever found in a cache until I was posting in another thread about garbage in caches. We found a copied porn DVD in North East Florida's Oldest Cache, complete with an inappropriate picture on the front of the DVD case. We took it from the ammo can, broke it, and tossed it in the nearest trash can near the parking lot. Really no reason for that with all the kids that go caching with their parent cachers. I remember we were talking about it and wondered if they made a bunch of copies and were distributing them around, but thankfully we never found any others in the area.

[CallMeCrazyKB]

First post, but I had to chime in. Recently we were looking for a place to drop off a TB, looked up a cache in a good location, and went to it... well, the pen had poked a hole in the lid and the cache was already full of ACTUAL bugs... earwigs, to be precise. Ick. Fortunately when we logged that the container was no longer sealed, the CO quickly posted a note that they were replacing it Also, this doesn't really count since it wasn't IN the cache, but last weekend my mom and I found a cache that must not have been found in a while, because a spider had laid its egg sac right by the lid, as in you would have to touch it to open the cache... so my mom went to scrape it off, and hundreds of tiny spiders scattered everywhere. She said it was the 'worst cache ever', lol. It was also at the top of a hill at an intersection and I fell in a drainage ditch twice, and contained a lincoln log, a lego, and a couple similarly useless things, lol. We put in a couple things to liven it up.

[+joshua863]

condom, tampon, and used deodorant.

[+glenn37216]

recently , I found 4 klonopin and 2 joints in a prescription drug cache near me . The cache was placed under a lamp post skirt in a known druggie part of town. I emptied the container , signed the log and got the heck outta there as quickly as my dodge journey would take me .

Edited July 14, 2014 by glenn37216

[CallMeCrazyKB]

I totally don't understand why druggies would put their drugs in caches... like seriously, don't they either want to take or sell them?? What are they gonna do, leave a business card in case you want more?

[+Team Dredd]

I totally don't understand why druggies would put their drugs in caches... like seriously, don't they either want to take or sell them?? What are they gonna do, leave a business card in case you want more?

 

[+Rapaladude]

Ive found a condom before. Theres a video on youtube of a guy finding a bottle of Corona in one of his caches. Thats probably the worst I've heard of.

[Jack_Dullahan]

So far I've only seen a Little styrofoam ball(maybe a packing peanut) with a little glitter on it,I've had it pretty tame so far lol

[+Sunmill]

I have to say that it does take some pretty heavy persuasion to convince my kids that leaving an acorn, cool rock, animal bone or pretty flower in a cache is not okay.

They are enamoured by these items themselves and have a hard time understanding why other people wouldn't appreciate them the same way

 

I hate GC business cards...especially when people don't sign the log, they just toss a business card in that takes up precious space. Kind of lame IMO.

[+cerberus1]

I have to say that it does take some pretty heavy persuasion to convince my kids that leaving an acorn, cool rock, animal bone or pretty flower in a cache is not okay.

They are enamoured by these items themselves and have a hard time understanding why other people wouldn't appreciate them the same way

Agreed.

I went caching one day with a local and her 4 year old son.

He had everything from small rocks to live bait in his pockets.

Wanted a superball at the cache, was gonna trade with a hickory nut and small quartz rock.

Mom pitched in something a bit newer.

Back to the cars, bait had to go, but he insisted on keeping his cool stick.

[+ClaraJean/JLDossett]

The typical condom, JW track, candy, bottle of bubbles and tampon. I was doing a maintenance run two weeks ago and found that a muggle had taken a large dump with soiled tissue, he used to clean himself afterwards, from a fast food joint within a foot and a half of my very well hidden cache. Plus some used dental floss sticks. This is an area that is open to a nearby biking/hiking trail and his "droppings" were in full view of the trail. Lovely.