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Personal Token Overload


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A preemptive question:

 

We have two caches - one "sandwich-sized", one "snack-sized" - and we keep them stocked with swag, leaving enough room for TBs and coins as they pass through. What we notice as we geocache in our community is that many cachers leave behind personal calling cards in a cache; poker chips, golf tees, crayons and the like. We don't think these items are meant to be tradeable, we don't take them ourselves, but I worry for our smaller cache that it will fill up with personal items and not have room for stuff to trade or travel.

 

In short (because the lead up was long!): Would it be okay to remove some of these personal items from our caches if they were getting short of space? How would you feel if they were your calling cards? I'm not saying we would throw them away (maybe the mouldy golf tee), but would you mind? And if it would bother you, does anyone have any ideas of a good alternative?

 

Thanks!

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Some people do collect sig items (signature items), as they are often called, but obviously not enough of them do if your cache is filling up with stuff. It's your cache and as such you are in charge of its maintenance, so I would say it's perfectly ok to clear things out now and then. And not to worry, if sig items are being left in your cache, it's a good bet that they're being left plenty of other places as well. Do with them as you deem appropriate. :lol:

Edited by Brooklyn51
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Non caching-related items such as business cards and religious tracts I dump into the nearest trash can.

 

Signature items - including personal cards - are appropriate for the cache. If there are simply too many to fit you can collect them. I have a collection of signature items from various geocachers and have been known to leave a Thrak button behind in caches - especially when caching out of state. It is meant as a collectible items for anybody to take who might want it as well as a means of letting others who may know me I've been there before them.

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Signature items - including personal cards - are appropriate for the cache. If there are simply too many to fit you can collect them.

 

But what if the cache owner does not want to collect them?

 

They're filling up the cache, no one is a collector of sig items in the area, and the cache owner doesn't collect sig items either....

 

seems mean to throw them out, but that's the only solution I can think of.

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Signature items - including personal cards - are appropriate for the cache. If there are simply too many to fit you can collect them.

 

But what if the cache owner does not want to collect them?

 

They're filling up the cache, no one is a collector of sig items in the area, and the cache owner doesn't collect sig items either....

 

seems mean to throw them out, but that's the only solution I can think of.

I collect them. Mail them to me!

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Signature items - including personal cards - are appropriate for the cache. If there are simply too many to fit you can collect them.

 

But what if the cache owner does not want to collect them?

 

They're filling up the cache, no one is a collector of sig items in the area, and the cache owner doesn't collect sig items either....

 

seems mean to throw them out, but that's the only solution I can think of.

Here's my solution: Your Signature Here

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Signature items - including personal cards - are appropriate for the cache. If there are simply too many to fit you can collect them.

 

But what if the cache owner does not want to collect them?

 

They're filling up the cache, no one is a collector of sig items in the area, and the cache owner doesn't collect sig items either....

 

seems mean to throw them out, but that's the only solution I can think of.

I collect them. Mail them to me!

 

Yeah, don't think I'm going to pay for the postage to do that.

 

Here's my solution: Your Signature Here

 

Great solution for people who are close enough to find that cache.

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I trade for sig items if they neato. Made my day to find a snoogans smashed penny in one random cache in the middle of nowhere.

 

Sometimes here the sig items will stock up and thin out in newer caches. The local people have each other's items already but they thin out with other swag as time goes on. Except those business cards/laminated cards with caching names on them. They don't tend to move here.

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Thanks for all the input everyone! I suppose because it is our cache, it is technically our stuff... at the very least we are responsible for maintaining the cache so that other seekers will always enjoy it.

 

I guess when the time comes, we will sort through the sigs (thanks for the lingo info too!), keep the really creative ones and then pass along those that are still in good shape to a hollow ammo can somewhere - I can think of one that we just found yesterday.

 

Thanks again!

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I vote for trash can.

 

Whoa...whoa...WHOA! Wait a minute there, buddy!

 

I presume you are referring to the non-caching related business cards? Yeah, RECYCLE those.

But, the hand-made one-of-a-kind sig item left because someone really enjoyed the cache? :(

 

If you don't want them for yourself, move them to a larger cache somewhere...I'll eventually stop by to add them to MY collection. B)

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I vote for trash can.

 

There's a difference between "business cards" and "sig items that look like business cards". Not much difference, in my opinion, because they all tend to end up as a mushy pile of ick at the bottom of caches.

 

I don't know just how many solitary poker chips are out there, but they don't seem very unique.

 

HOWEVER...thoughtful, imaginative, handmade signature items are not likely to linger in caches for very long.

 

No one would ever think for a minute to throw something like this in the trash:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=274065

 

Well, I certainly hope not.

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Signature items - including personal cards - are appropriate for the cache. If there are simply too many to fit you can collect them.

 

But what if the cache owner does not want to collect them?

 

They're filling up the cache, no one is a collector of sig items in the area, and the cache owner doesn't collect sig items either....

 

seems mean to throw them out, but that's the only solution I can think of.

 

If the cache owner doesn't want (or wants) certain types of swag in there cache they could add a little not asking that finds not leave signature items. Finders are under no obligation to comply but it might reduce the amount of sig items.

 

On the other hand, I don't believe caches should only cater to other cachers in the local area. Someone visiting the area for a day or more might be a collector of signature.

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I collect wooden nickles, had a few tray to convince me that the ones concerning geocaching should be separated. Ain't gonna happen.

I sew pathtags to my jacket rendering the camou pointless.

I have a business card organizer for the non business cards.

I look at sig items as tradeable if I get to a cache and it has multiples. If it is in my cache, even multiples are considered a gift if I want it bad enough. No pathtag is safe if it does not have a copy on my jacket or a note stating it was left for the CO.

 

I guess you can tell by the "My cache...considered a gift" how I deal with the obvious sig items. The not so obvious are treated like swag.

Let it be known to the hand craters out there...

You have taken the extra step to put a special touch into your sig, go one step further and label it so it isn't treated like ordinary swag.

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Non caching-related items such as business cards and religious tracts I dump into the nearest trash can.

 

Signature items - including personal cards - are appropriate for the cache. If there are simply too many to fit you can collect them. I have a collection of signature items from various geocachers and have been known to leave a Thrak button behind in caches - especially when caching out of state. It is meant as a collectible items for anybody to take who might want it as well as a means of letting others who may know me I've been there before them.

 

I have a Thrak button YOU gave me and another I found in a cache in Idaho. B)

 

Sig items are all I collect and trade for from caches. I have a massive collection.

 

If you find more than 2 of my sig coins in a cache it's because I traded for any sig item I didn't already have. Or it's just a really cool cache.

 

Any item not specified or understood as not a trade item is fair game IMO. Just try to trade even. My sig coins will sell for $2-$3+ each on ebay or other exonumia collector sites, but for trade value at a cache I only put a personal value of .50 per coin. People gladly trade unactivated geocoins for a complete set (12 total) of my sig coins.

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I have collected many things in my life; no longer have room, but still have the desire. So, I trade for signature items and make them into travel bugs. I let the cachers know what I have done. Only one requested that their name not be on the travel bug, so I changed the name of that one. Sadly, as with most TBs, they go missing. Some of my bugs:

 

Two 2Escudos

Trenchtromper

NOVW

Friendly Manitoba Geocachers

Let's Go Caching

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I have collected many things in my life; no longer have room, but still have the desire. So, I trade for signature items and make them into travel bugs. I let the cachers know what I have done. Only one requested that their name not be on the travel bug, so I changed the name of that one. Sadly, as with most TBs, they go missing. Some of my bugs:

 

Two 2Escudos

Trenchtromper

NOVW

Friendly Manitoba Geocachers

Let's Go Caching

 

Neat idea! B)

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Signature items - including personal cards - are appropriate for the cache. If there are simply too many to fit you can collect them.

 

But what if the cache owner does not want to collect them?

 

They're filling up the cache, no one is a collector of sig items in the area, and the cache owner doesn't collect sig items either....

 

seems mean to throw them out, but that's the only solution I can think of.

I collect them. Mail them to me!

 

Yeah, don't think I'm going to pay for the postage to do that.

 

Here's my solution: Your Signature Here

 

Great solution for people who are close enough to find that cache.

 

Hide one of your own.

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Thanks for all the input everyone! I suppose because it is our cache, it is technically our stuff... at the very least we are responsible for maintaining the cache so that other seekers will always enjoy it.

 

I guess when the time comes, we will sort through the sigs (thanks for the lingo info too!), keep the really creative ones and then pass along those that are still in good shape to a hollow ammo can somewhere - I can think of one that we just found yesterday.

 

Thanks again!

 

Works for me. Although now we'll get a thread about people leaving bags full of sig items in their ammocans, taking up room. :anibad:

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i leave a custom wooden nickle, its for the CO or anyone who likes to collect them, i never use it a a trade item, i dont trade, my son does. once i leave it its open for anyone to take, but in my mind i left it for the CO as a thanks for hiding something for me to find.

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We don't think these items are meant to be tradeable...

Oh you'd be surprised.

 

You obviously can't keep all the stuff since you would have to continually increase the size of the container of your cache. Take the stuff out and keep what's good as swag or just to keep, and throw out the moldy golf tee, soggy name card, broken crayon, or leaking battery.

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