Cache "coupons"....is this okay with everyone?

[+CaveMountainBrewers]

My wife and I own a restaurant and pub and want to leave business cards with coupons attached in cache locations as a prize or reward for your search and find. I hope this is okay. It will be kind of a cool way to bring in a little more business and meet some other geocachers if we are there personally to verify the coupon when they redeem it.

 

Anyone have any ideas like that for their businesses?

[+GeoGeeBee]

My wife and I own a restaurant and pub and want to leave business cards with coupons attached in cache locations as a prize or reward for your search and find. I hope this is okay. It will be kind of a cool way to bring in a little more business and meet some other geocachers if we are there personally to verify the coupon when they redeem it.

 

Anyone have any ideas like that for their businesses?

 

There's no rule against it. Some people will think it's tacky, some people will take the coupons and use them. Some of the coupons will get wet and turn into moldy mush in the bottom of the cache.

 

A coupon for a free drink will be better received than a coupon for 10% off, or a two-for-one special.

 

Among non-prohibited trade items, I would rank it about like this:

 

1) handmade signature item

2) Potentially useful item (flashlight, compass, etc)

3) Brand new happy meal toy

4) used happy meal toy

5) broken happy meal toy

6) golf ball

7) free drink coupon

8) loose change

9) rock

10) business card/10% off coupon

11) religious tract

[knowschad]

My wife and I own a restaurant and pub and want to leave business cards with coupons attached in cache locations as a prize or reward for your search and find. I hope this is okay. It will be kind of a cool way to bring in a little more business and meet some other geocachers if we are there personally to verify the coupon when they redeem it.

 

Anyone have any ideas like that for their businesses?

 

There's no rule against it. Some people will think it's tacky, some people will take the coupons and use them. Some of the coupons will get wet and turn into moldy mush in the bottom of the cache.

 

A coupon for a free drink will be better received than a coupon for 10% off, or a two-for-one special.

 

Among non-prohibited trade items, I would rank it about like this:

 

1) handmade signature item

2) Potentially useful item (flashlight, compass, etc)

3) Brand new happy meal toy

4) used happy meal toy

5) broken happy meal toy

6) golf ball

7) free drink coupon

8) loose change

9) rock

10) business card/10% off coupon

11) religious tract

 

Note that numbers 7 and 8 may swap positions depending on the amount of number 8 found in the cache and the cost of a drink.

 

Also, to the OP... stuff like coupons and business cards very quickly get dirty, bent up, and often even moldy. Consider the impression those would give of your brew pub.

[knowschad]

My wife and I own a restaurant and pub and want to leave business cards with coupons attached in cache locations as a prize or reward for your search and find. I hope this is okay. It will be kind of a cool way to bring in a little more business and meet some other geocachers if we are there personally to verify the coupon when they redeem it.

 

Anyone have any ideas like that for their businesses?

One more think I will add. I assume your user name is from the name of your business (Cave Mountain Brewers). I also see that as of now, you have no finds and no hides. That leaves me with the distinct feeling that you see our activitity as nothing more than a free advertising venue. I think that you will find an adverse reaction among geocachers if they also perceive you that way.

[+Too Tall John]

From time to time, I'm tempted to answer a question posed in a thread based solely on the title, and with just once sentence. So, here's that answer:

 

No, I'm sure it isn't ok with everyone.

 

To expand upon the answer, I hold up GeoGeeBee's ranking your offerings below Broken Happy Meal Toys.

 

IMHO, those (BHMT's) actually go on the bottom of the list. Somebody out there might have a use for anything else on his list, but a broken hunk of plastic? Unless they're gonna recycle it, what good is it?

[+joranda]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

[+GeoGeeBee]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

And list it on that other website

 

Seriously, you COULD put it near your place, and fill it with coupons, but you have to be careful about how you word your cache page. If you mention the name of your business, or say that it is full of coupons, it will probably be rejected by the reviewers for being commercial.

[+Ecylram]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

 

Careful, he'll take you serious. I know of a cache that was archived for that reason.

[+joranda]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

And list it on that other website

 

Seriously, you COULD put it near your place, and fill it with coupons, but you have to be careful about how you word your cache page. If you mention the name of your business, or say that it is full of coupons, it will probably be rejected by the reviewers for being commercial.

 

I am sure it could be listed there too.

 

He could always twisted the builds name around to make it within the guidelines and say he filled the cache with his personal swag. It wouldn't be a lie since he is calling the cards and coupons his swag. Give it a shot. I am sure you will get vistors.

[+Castle Mischief]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

 

I'd agree except for the observation below:

 

...I also see that as of now, you have no finds and no hides.

[+joranda]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

 

I'd agree except for the observation below:

 

...I also see that as of now, you have no finds and no hides.

 

He or she is a Premium Member so don't jump the gun on them.

[knowschad]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

 

I'd agree except for the observation below:

 

...I also see that as of now, you have no finds and no hides.

 

He or she is a Premium Member so don't jump the gun on them.

 

So it is highly unlikely that this is just a sock account that some experienced cachers used to post in the forums.

[+Brooklyn51]

hmm.. despite the rather overwhelming negativity to this idea, (I guess it's the 'advertisement perception') there will be cachers who might enjoy a coupon for a drink and a chance to meet other cachers in a social setting. One very good point someone made was how paper coupons quickly degrade inside a cache to point of nastiness. Make it a kind of signature item rather than a business card with your coupon attached and wrap it up in a baggie to protect it. Maybe a token of some kind that can be presented at your pub or even simply kept if the finder collects sig items.

[+nittanycopa]

hmm.. despite the rather overwhelming negativity to this idea, (I guess it's the 'advertisement perception') there will be cachers who might enjoy a coupon for a drink and a chance to meet other cachers in a social setting. One very good point someone made was how paper coupons quickly degrade inside a cache to point of nastiness. Make it a kind of signature item rather than a business card with your coupon attached and wrap it up in a baggie to protect it. Maybe a token of some kind that can be presented at your pub or even simply kept if the finder collects sig items.

 

I've seen plastic tokens for drinks / discounts placed in caches. Not sure if they were still good. Maybe I'll pick one up and try for a free beer

[+joranda]

hmm.. despite the rather overwhelming negativity to this idea, (I guess it's the 'advertisement perception') there will be cachers who might enjoy a coupon for a drink and a chance to meet other cachers in a social setting. One very good point someone made was how paper coupons quickly degrade inside a cache to point of nastiness. Make it a kind of signature item rather than a business card with your coupon attached and wrap it up in a baggie to protect it. Maybe a token of some kind that can be presented at your pub or even simply kept if the finder collects sig items.

 

I would think if the cache was placed near the buisness that the cache owner owns he would be able to keep the contents of the cache clean and updated. So there shouldn't be much worries of the coupons degrading.

[+Ecylram]

Put me down as someone is not a fan. Most of the coupons I've seen have either been in bad condition or expired. Now, the strip club coupon I found a couple of weeks ago...it was still valid.

[+CanadianRockies]

Your idea seems reasonable to me. I'd enjoy an opportunity to meet a fellow geocacher (especially when the coupon is free!).

 

What I don't like is people leaving fast food or supermarket coupons as trade items. Somebody gets a $2-off McDonalds coupon as junk mail. Rather than toss it in the garbage, they leave it in a cache and remove $2 worth of swag. Nobody trades for the coupon because it costs them $2 in trade items to get $2 off at a specific fast food chain. At the end of the month, the coupon expires and gets removed from the cache as litter. Now the cache is $2 poorer in swag.

[+tozainamboku]

One of the best FTF prizes I got was coupon for free donuts.

[+Isonzo Karst]

The North East Florida Geocaching Association got its start from coupons, in a way.

 

IceCreamMan used to leave a card with his shop's coordinates on one side, and "good for one free ice cream" on the other. No business name just coords ;-). This was in '03. That got most of the N.E. Florida cachers into his store at one time or another, and pretty soon they formed a group.

 

I always liked the way he did it. Coords + giveaway. No store name, no address.

[+StarBrand]

I once retrieved a $35 gift certificate from a cache to a local steak place. Yum!!

 

Place the coupons/free certificate in a baggie at least and make sure its value and directions to the place are all spelled out clearly or I see them becoming mash in the bottom of the cache quickly.

[+wolfslady]

My thought would be to make it a signature item. A laminated card or even a wooden nickel. Make the front something interesting with your geoname and a picture. On the back put the coordinates to your place and maybe a message to stop by and meet us sometime. If it’s a card you could add show us our sig. item and we will give you (insert whatever here) if it’s a wooden nickel you could put it in a baggie with a note. I use a small plastic baggie I got from the craft store to hold the wooden nickels Wolf’s Song paints, it has a business size card with his caching name that says it was hand painted by him, the year and his age along with the picture of something he painted to make it look nicer. A lot of people love to collect signature items. And there are some who like to collect business cards. If you could make yours a crossover I think it would be better received and less likely to be CITOed by those who don’t like them.

 

[+Chrysalides]

It will be kind of a cool way to bring in a little more business and meet some other geocachers if we are there personally to verify the coupon when they redeem it.

You could hold an event at your business. Since they're often held in restaurants anyway, why not yours?

[Andronicus]

I once retrieved a $35 gift certificate from a cache to a local steak place. Yum!!

 

Place the coupons/free certificate in a baggie at least and make sure its value and directions to the place are all spelled out clearly or I see them becoming mash in the bottom of the cache quickly.

I put a gift card for a free pizza in a cache outside of a Little Cisers Pizza. ($5+tax) The next finder appriciated it.

[+BlueDeuce]

My wife and I own a restaurant and pub and want to leave business cards with coupons attached in cache locations as a prize or reward for your search and find. I hope this is okay. It will be kind of a cool way to bring in a little more business and meet some other geocachers if we are there personally to verify the coupon when they redeem it.

 

Anyone have any ideas like that for their businesses?

 

Fine by me, but I think you'll discover for yourself that a cache does nothing to stir up business.

[LordShamrock]

As long as the coupon is in good condition and worth a trade I don't mind. I've actually changed giftcards for giftcards and it doesn't bother me any.

 

Although you might wanna consider how often a cache is visited. If it's visited like once a year then that's probbably not a good cache for it lol.

[+Chokecherry]

I tend to not take business cards and coupons in caches seriously unless they are a FTF prize or something like that. Typically I find it tacky when businesses advertise in caches and typically I will then avoid said business coupon or not in the future. This is my hobby. I get enough advertisement listening to the radio, surfing online or when I watch tv. When I go out to cache I'm out there only to have fun not get more advertising.

 

I'm biased though as I found a cache at a business that also was nice enough to go dump a bunch of coupons into all the easy to get to local caches which I was doing that day with my mom. It was really annoying to have to sift through the advertising to get to the log book or pens and whatever. Even better was that it was outdated advertising/coupons on top of it. So basically they just peppered my hobby with their garbage.

[NeecesandNephews]

I am not against it. But I usually forget the coupon whenever we dine out, or stop for drinks. The little woman would insist on stopping by just because we had a coupon. She's "frugal" that way!!!

[knowschad]

Look, if you really want to do this the right way, do some forum searches and research the "APE caches" and "Jeep Travel bugs". Don't mess around with puny little paper coupons... think big!!

[+power69]

My wife and I own a restaurant and pub and want to leave business cards with coupons attached in cache locations as a prize or reward for your search and find. I hope this is okay. It will be kind of a cool way to bring in a little more business and meet some other geocachers if we are there personally to verify the coupon when they redeem it.

 

Anyone have any ideas like that for their businesses?

i'd have no issue if its a "no strings" coupon e.g. I can walk in with no money and get something free.

sour taste in my mouth if i had to buy something to get it[sorry, i get enough of these on junkmail tuesdays and junkmail wednesdays.

the BEST thing a pub could offer is a FREE BEER!

[+briansnat]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

And list it on that other website

 

Seriously, you COULD put it near your place, and fill it with coupons, but you have to be careful about how you word your cache page. If you mention the name of your business, or say that it is full of coupons, it will probably be rejected by the reviewers for being commercial.

 

I am sure it could be listed there too.

 

 

I think he would want people to actually find it.

[+firemanjim903mfd]

I have thought about putting in a new cache a gift certificate($10.00 ) to the Hardware store I work at . It would let me meet cachers and help our business . How about that would that be OK .

[+joranda]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

And list it on that other website

 

Seriously, you COULD put it near your place, and fill it with coupons, but you have to be careful about how you word your cache page. If you mention the name of your business, or say that it is full of coupons, it will probably be rejected by the reviewers for being commercial.

 

I am sure it could be listed there too.

 

 

I think he would want people to actually find it.

 

Now that was funny I say, really funny.

[+Manville Possum]

My wife and I own a restaurant and pub and want to leave business cards with coupons attached in cache locations as a prize or reward for your search and find. I hope this is okay. It will be kind of a cool way to bring in a little more business and meet some other geocachers if we are there personally to verify the coupon when they redeem it.

 

Anyone have any ideas like that for their businesses?

I like the idea. We find coupons for free frys at a regional drive-thru. Also got a free cup cake for FTF, the kids really love them. Beats the heck out of a molded happy meal toy anyday.

[+bflentje]

.

Edited March 30, 2011 by bflentje

[+NYPaddleCacher]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

 

I'd agree except for the observation below:

 

...I also see that as of now, you have no finds and no hides.

 

He or she is a Premium Member so don't jump the gun on them.

 

On the other hand, if he or she is just seeing geocaching as a medium for commercial solicitation, they'll probably write off the premium membership fee as an advertising expense on their taxes.

[+GroveBird]

I dont see it as a problem.

[+joranda]

It's ok with me. If I found the coupon and I was close to your place I would visit you for a drink. It is always great to meet new cachers. You can always place a cache by your place and fill it with coupons.

 

I'd agree except for the observation below:

 

...I also see that as of now, you have no finds and no hides.

 

He or she is a Premium Member so don't jump the gun on them.

 

On the other hand, if he or she is just seeing geocaching as a medium for commercial solicitation, they'll probably write off the premium membership fee as an advertising expense on their taxes.

 

What is the point? Are they not welcomed here?

[+CaveMountainBrewers]

Thanks to everyone who sees it as a benefit to the geocaching community, it's not intended solely for personal gain and advertisement. My wife and I just discovered geocaching and plan on hiding/seeking in our area soon. We'll be sure to leave some weather-resistant coupons that benefit hungry families as well as beer drinkers...things like 2 for 1 deals, discounted growler fills, half-price food items, merchandise, and free stuff too. If you like beer, we make our own, and usually have at least 10 different styles on draft...homemade root beer for the kids too.

 

I'll post on the forum when we get some out there.

[+Jayman11]

Just to help a little...this is straight from the Groundspeak guidelines:

 

Solicitation and Commercial Content

Geocaches do not solicit for any purpose. Geocaches perceived to be posted for religious, political, charitable or social agendas are not permitted. Geocaching is intended to be a light and enjoyable family-friendly hobby, not a platform for an agenda.

Commercial caches are disallowed. As a general rule, reviewers will not publish cache pages that seem commercial. A commercial cache has one or more of the following characteristics:

 

It requires the finder to go inside a business, interact with employees and/or purchase a product or service.

It has overtones of advertising, marketing or promotion.

It contains links to businesses, commercial advertisers, charities, political agendas or social agendas.

It contains the logo of a business or organization, including non-profit organizations.

The name of a business or commercial product is on the cache page.

On very rare occasions, Groundspeak makes an exception for a commercial cache. Arrangements are made before placement. If your cache is commercial in any way, please contact Groundspeak for clarification about how to comply with cache listing guidelines.

[knowschad]

The name of a business or commercial product is on the cache page.

Unfortunately, the cache hider's name will always be the name of a business or commercial product.

 

I still say that this has all the smell of an advertising attempt. If the OP had some finds and hadn't used the name of his business as his caching name, I'd probably feel differently, but this just feels too much like the only reason for the geocaching account in the first place is for commercializtion and advertisement, and I, for one, am not thrilled by it. But ultimately, its up to the reviewer, as always. Just offering my 2 cents.

[+joranda]

Thanks to everyone who sees it as a benefit to the geocaching community, it's not intended solely for personal gain and advertisement. My wife and I just discovered geocaching and plan on hiding/seeking in our area soon. We'll be sure to leave some weather-resistant coupons that benefit hungry families as well as beer drinkers...things like 2 for 1 deals, discounted growler fills, half-price food items, merchandise, and free stuff too. If you like beer, we make our own, and usually have at least 10 different styles on draft...homemade root beer for the kids too.

 

I'll post on the forum when we get some out there.

 

I wish I lived near your place. I bet there would be a great first to find gift in your caches.

[+FloridaFour]

How about wooden tokens with your geocaching name and good for one free drink at (name of restaurant), that way it's signature swag OR a free drink? That would be cool for anyone.

[+E_ZIG_A]

Thanks to everyone who sees it as a benefit to the geocaching community, it's not intended solely for personal gain and advertisement. My wife and I just discovered geocaching and plan on hiding/seeking in our area soon. We'll be sure to leave some weather-resistant coupons that benefit hungry families as well as beer drinkers...things like 2 for 1 deals, discounted growler fills, half-price food items, merchandise, and free stuff too. If you like beer, we make our own, and usually have at least 10 different styles on draft...homemade root beer for the kids too.

 

I'll post on the forum when we get some out there.

 

FREE things yes (merchandise, free beer no strings, etc) but the 2 for 1 deal and discounts is just solicitation IMHO. As soon as you require someone to buy something in order to get half price or whatever, then that is not appropriate for a cache.

[Mr.Yuck]

The name of a business or commercial product is on the cache page.

Unfortunately, the cache hider's name will always be the name of a business or commercial product.

 

I still say that this has all the smell of an advertising attempt. If the OP had some finds and hadn't used the name of his business as his caching name, I'd probably feel differently, but this just feels too much like the only reason for the geocaching account in the first place is for commercializtion and advertisement, and I, for one, am not thrilled by it. But ultimately, its up to the reviewer, as always. Just offering my 2 cents.

 

I think I'm going to have to agree with everything the dog with glasses says here. At least it's a dog with glasses on the day I'm replying.

 

It should be noted that I'm replying a couple weeks after the OP in the thread, and they have gone on to have 11 finds and one hide. But I suppose that just means the advertising has begun, rather than being proposed.

 

EDIT: I had reversed their number of hides and finds. Now if it were 11 hides and 1 find, that would really have been an advertising attempt.

Edited April 13, 2011 by Mr.Yuck

[+A & J Tooling]

Advertising for your own business is tacky to say the least. I own a wood working business but I'd be danged to make wooden nickles with my business address on them. I can see leaving coupons for other businesses but your own? That will open up one big can of worms. Let advertisment company's know that they can advertise in a cache?!

[+LizzyHoops]

The North East Florida Geocaching Association got its start from coupons, in a way.

 

IceCreamMan used to leave a card with his shop's coordinates on one side, and "good for one free ice cream" on the other. No business name just coords ;-). This was in '03. That got most of the N.E. Florida cachers into his store at one time or another, and pretty soon they formed a group.

 

I always liked the way he did it. Coords + giveaway. No store name, no address.

Now that's classy!

[+Chokecherry]

The North East Florida Geocaching Association got its start from coupons, in a way.

 

IceCreamMan used to leave a card with his shop's coordinates on one side, and "good for one free ice cream" on the other. No business name just coords ;-). This was in '03. That got most of the N.E. Florida cachers into his store at one time or another, and pretty soon they formed a group.

 

I always liked the way he did it. Coords + giveaway. No store name, no address.

Now that's classy!

 

As a non-supporter of coupons in caches I would have to make an exception for this. It's not in your face. You don't have to buy anything. I like it.

[+roziecakes]

I'm usually not excited about finding coupons in caches, but I do admit that I like finding the wooden nickels for free cups of clam chowders at Mo's (a great restaurant on the Oregon coast) yum!!

[+A & J Tooling]

So, if I had the co-ordinates to my shop and offered a free token made to your specs out of wood, marble or corian, for dropping by, that'd be okay? It'd bring me business but I think that it is still wrong.

[+Chokecherry]

So, if I had the co-ordinates to my shop and offered a free token made to your specs out of wood, marble or corian, for dropping by, that'd be okay? It'd bring me business but I think that it is still wrong.

 

If it was exactly one thing like this I wouldn't be as bothered by it in a cache. If it was a pile of things like this I would be bothered. If it caught on and I saw a bunch of businesses doing this I would be bothered.

 

I wouldn't take it and use it. But it wouldn't annoy me nearly as much.