junk in geocaches

[+Team McInnes]

Isnt it annoying when you get to a cache and people leave junk in them. Especially annoying for kids. They look in there and there is just a baloon with a hole in it, a half used toiletry item and a broken toy! Why do people think anyone wants that! The kids get upset that we usually put a few toys into every cache we go to, but dont take anything as there is usually just rubbish. We have even started removing the rubbish from caches. Is the the same everywhere or is it just that Perth geocachers are inconsiderate?

[+va griz]

Same everywhere.

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

All you can do is trade up. I regularly clean my caches of junk.

[jonnyblond]

My friend leaves string. According to him it's a valuable thing. He said that people just have to use their imagination. Its odd cause he's a power engineer and it's not like he can't afford decent swag. But I guess it's his signature item. I was going to leave guitar picks as my signature item but I heard that's pretty unoriginal, so most times I have an abundance of unopened mcdonalds toys and just leave those for now. But I'm going to school in a month and will be in the same city as a geocaching shop, so I'll upgrade and pick up some stuff from there.

 

I'm in it for the find but I can see some people bring along the kids and it would be disappointing to find a pretty weak ammo can full of broken junk. It's nice to find a pretty new cache that the owner has left some great stuff but those are rare and to be expected. Usually if the cache date is old then I don't expect a lot from it.

[knowschad]

My friend leaves string. According to him it's a valuable thing. He said that people just have to use their imagination. Its odd cause he's a power engineer and it's not like he can't afford decent swag. But I guess it's his signature item. I was going to leave guitar picks as my signature item but I heard that's pretty unoriginal, so most times I have an abundance of unopened mcdonalds toys and just leave those for now. But I'm going to school in a month and will be in the same city as a geocaching shop, so I'll upgrade and pick up some stuff from there.

 

I'm in it for the find but I can see some people bring along the kids and it would be disappointing to find a pretty weak ammo can full of broken junk. It's nice to find a pretty new cache that the owner has left some great stuff but those are rare and to be expected. Usually if the cache date is old then I don't expect a lot from it.

 

If he is leaving string as a signature item, while I personally think its a dumb idea (string?!? ) there is nothing really wrong with it. But if he is using string as swag to trade for other items, I would have major problems with that. Despite the old, worn out phrase of "one man's junk is another man's treasure", we pretty much know the worth of things.

[+Stoka]

From what i've seen far I think kids may be partially to blame, at least in my neck of the woods. I've found a fair few caches that have had rusted up toy cars, pokemon cards etc that are sticky as hell covered in muck, hair bobbles etc.

[+Team McInnes]

At least string isnt useless like some crap! I usually buy jewelery at car boot sales and put that in caches as it is small and pretty. The kids put toys in, but not broken ones! I think you cant blame kids for putting junk in because the parents should be keeping an eye on what they are up to.

[+luvvinbird]

Stones, golf balls, bits of colored paper, etc., I think it is often children who leave that sort of thing, who feel they would like to leave something. I don't worry too much about it, I just toss it out.

[+L0ne.R]

I regularly clean my caches of junk.

 

Exactly. It really comes down to cache owners performing maintenance visits to clear out the junk, wipe down the box and add a couple of new clean trinkets. Hoping that finders will keep the cache clean and filled with decent stuff is not likely going to happen.

 

Personally, I find by keeping the caches clean and filled with decent swag, finders tend to follow the behavior. If the cache starts to go messy, it continues to deteriorate. I know when I find a dirty, rusty container I don't want to leave anything that will only end up spoiled by the muck and mire.

Edited July 29, 2011 by Lone R

[+Too Tall John]

I take kids caching all the time as part of my job. Even with explaining the "Trade Even/Trade Up" idea beforehand, once you get to the cache, there's always the question "Can I leave this acorn for that Matchbox Firetruck?"

 

My best response is "So, when the next kids find this cache, which do you think they'd rather find in the cache? That's what you should leave." Most usually get it, but there's always someone who whines about it. I've even witnessed, while caching with family groups, parents giving in to that whining and OKing the trade, despite my previous explanations.

 

In my opinion, most swag degradation happens when A: parents aren't paying attention to what their kids are trading B: parents give in to that whining/crying C: adults acting like the whining/crying kids.

 

It doesn't take much to reason it away. If, with every trade, swag degrades in quality by 5%, you can go from "WOW, COOL!" to "AWW, NUTS!" within a very short period of time.

[+briansnat]

It's been a complaint everywhere basically since geocaching began.

 

1. The cache starts out with junk and stays full of junk

2. The cache starts out with nice stuff and it is replaced with junk over time.

[+sword fern]

It's been a complaint everywhere basically since geocaching began.

 

1. The cache starts out with junk and stays full of junk

2. The cache starts out with nice stuff and it is replaced with junk over time.

 

Is that why someone took a super bowl ring and left a quarter?

[+LookingintheLight]

This is why maintenance is important! I almost always clean out the rotting bits of paper and rocks (unless they are the cool polished ones)... my favorites to leave are a sealed deck of playing cards or light up yoyo. Both are two for a dollar and everyone loves them.

[+Ambient_Skater]

The other day I found a cache with the plastic part of a Ring Pop in it. Someone young enough to be eating a Ring Pop obviously didn't travel to and find the cache themselves, so a parent or guardian decided to drop that in.

[+Too Tall John]

The other day I found a cache with the plastic part of a Ring Pop in it. Someone young enough to be eating a Ring Pop obviously didn't travel to and find the cache themselves, so a parent or guardian decided to drop that in.

How old is too old to have a ring pop? I bet most everyone in this pic has a driver's license:

[+Ambient_Skater]

Well first of all the ring wouldn't fit on my finger.

[+Q10]

Same in Denmark. I often clean caches, that I find - and regularly clean my own caches of junk.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Our caches are not that bad. Some of the ones that have been neglected for years are like that, but most have some decent stuff in them. Cheap stuff, but not garbage, like you described.

Edited August 1, 2011 by The_Incredibles_

[+Chokecherry]

I tend to like the more adult oriented swag because it seems less trash like to me. I did a cache not long ago that was filled with super cheap party favors for kids. They were new but still kind of junky and I imagine that if they don't break in the cache that the trades for them are going to be pretty unimpressive. I tend to lean toward putting items in caches that adults would appreciate (though I have some kids like too) when I trade swag or add swag to caches.

 

But I've seen kids too with their parents just taking swag especially if they are newer cachers.

[+sixsix210]

I'm near the 20 find mark at this point, and I've got to say that expired coupons are rapidly rising on my &^%$ list...

[+briansnat]

I'm near the 20 find mark at this point, and I've got to say that expired coupons are rapidly rising on my &^%$ list...

 

After about 100 finds you'll add dirty golf balls to that list.

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

The other day I found a cache with the plastic part of a Ring Pop in it. Someone young enough to be eating a Ring Pop obviously didn't travel to and find the cache themselves, so a parent or guardian decided to drop that in.

 

Or a teenager. They can be obnoxious too.

 

Ban all swag!

Edited August 1, 2011 by SeekerOfTheWay

[+AmphibianTrackers]

I have only been geocaching for one month. I have 118 finds. So, I am a complete newbie. When I first started caching, I believe it was the 2nd week of July, I went online to read about it. Somewhere, in the explanation of what SWAG was I read that it was small toys that children would enjoy finding. My experience to that point certainly indicated that is what people were leaving in caches. It was not until I read threads like this one where I started to hear that there were people who preferred us to leave items that adults would enjoy. That gave a new perspective to the idea of SWAG and I ordered additional items to leave along the way.

 

We have certainly found our share of trash caches and we clean them out the best we can but so far, and I realize I am a complete newbie, it has only been at the poorly maintained caches that we have found everything inside to be trashed with muck and dirt and trash.

 

We have found some awesome newer hides and some well maintained caches where the CO's placed very fun and inexpensive SWAG and we squealed with delight. One was a critter cache where every SWAG item was a small toy animal, another was a creepy crawly cache filled with party favor type plastic bugs and things and the third was a newer cache filled with Independence Day themed items all of which were fantastic. There were post-it notes, silly sunglasses, etc.

 

So, my point is that trash is trash but inexpensive well maintained caches are fun!

 

I would love to know how the person presents his string? Does he wind it up and leave his user name or does he just drop in a bit of string or what?

[+Nature Kids]

When we first put out a cache, and we read about the trade up thing, we figured we would be getting Black Berries, I phones & hundred dollar bills by now.....

Edited August 1, 2011 by Nature Kids

[+TerraViators]

I'm near the 20 find mark at this point, and I've got to say that expired coupons are rapidly rising on my &^%$ list...

 

After about 100 finds you'll add dirty golf balls to that list.

I hear and read that alot, but I like the golf balls. They're great for spares in your bag or putting around the house. I'll take a golf ball, so please leave then in DFW area caches.

[+TreasureKid's]

My 8 year old (who is the one that got our family into this) keeps an ammo can full of different types of swag items, a bunch of different sized craft baggies (for logs) and a box of staples golf pencils with him always. He doesn't trade a lot but if his little brother wants something he is able to replace what his brother takes. Otherwise he uses most of it to refill caches that need it. He is regularly dumping caches cleaning them out, getting rid of all the garbage, refilling the swag and replacing the pencils if needed. He asks to go to the store about once a month and spends about $20 - $30 of his allowance each time to refill his ammo can.

[+Hawkins2.5]

I am still pretty new to this at the moment but from the beginning I knew (and understood!) the rules of trading when caching. I rarely take stuff out of caches and if I do I always trade even/up (I usually only trade when caching with my young cousins and I've taught them the same.) I often take nothing but leave something anyway because I like to find stuff in a cache and look through it even if I'm not taking anything so I figure I'll 'give somthing back.'

 

If people choose to leave junk in a cache then it's a little irritating but no big deal as long as it's not against the rules. What really annoyed me, however, was a previous log in one of the caches I found which said "Took ball, left ticket." The ticket in question was a used train ticket, how is that trading fairly? To leave junk in a cache is one thing but to trade for something clearly better than the item you are leaving shows a complete lack of respect for fellow cachers. I get that some people put different values on things, e.g. I consider thoughtful homemade things that didn't cost anything to be as valuable as something that someone has bought from a shop and I can also see how some interesting shells/stones could be good swag for some people even though they are not for me. But a used train ticket???!!!

Edited August 1, 2011 by Hawkins2

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

I'm hoping to find an unused train ticket out west. Best swag ever.

[AZcachemeister]

My 8 year old (who is the one that got our family into this) keeps an ammo can full of different types of swag items, a bunch of different sized craft baggies (for logs) and a box of staples golf pencils with him always. He doesn't trade a lot but if his little brother wants something he is able to replace what his brother takes. Otherwise he uses most of it to refill caches that need it. He is regularly dumping caches cleaning them out, getting rid of all the garbage, refilling the swag and replacing the pencils if needed. He asks to go to the store about once a month and spends about $20 - $30 of his allowance each time to refill his ammo can.

 

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your 'child' is obviously not human.

 

But, congratulations on being responsible for such an unselfish creature.

[+The_Incredibles_]

I'm near the 20 find mark at this point, and I've got to say that expired coupons are rapidly rising on my &^%$ list...

 

After about 100 finds you'll add dirty golf balls to that list.

 

Found 2 caches already that were full of golf balls. How does that happen, ones asks?

[+The_Incredibles_]

My 8 year old (who is the one that got our family into this) keeps an ammo can full of different types of swag items, a bunch of different sized craft baggies (for logs) and a box of staples golf pencils with him always. He doesn't trade a lot but if his little brother wants something he is able to replace what his brother takes. Otherwise he uses most of it to refill caches that need it. He is regularly dumping caches cleaning them out, getting rid of all the garbage, refilling the swag and replacing the pencils if needed. He asks to go to the store about once a month and spends about $20 - $30 of his allowance each time to refill his ammo can.

 

Either you're exaggerating or your kid's pretty amazing! My child spends her allowance exclusively on candy and on online game points.

[+Rustynails]

All you can do is trade up. I regularly clean my caches of junk.

 

Or you can just find micros and only hide micros. No swag problems.

[+TreasureWatch]

First ever post to any of the Geocaching Forums but Junk Swag is my bigest irritation with the geocaching experience. I've had lug nuts, spoons, used kids stickers peeled off someones shirt, pennies, rocks, etc left for good SWAG I started my caches off with. Now I only set up Premium Member trading caches. That seems to help a little. I personally would like to see everyone have to at least pay a $25 yearly fee to play to cut down on some of this. People who are invested in a thing (geocaching) will at least be more likely to take care of that thing.

[+The_Incredibles_]

First ever post to any of the Geocaching Forums

 

People can be nasty here. Brace yourself! I mean, welcome to the forum.

 

I personally would like to see everyone have to at least pay a $25 yearly fee to play to cut down on some of this. People who are invested in a thing (geocaching) will at least be more likely to take care of that thing.

 

I'm with you. However, this might work or it might backfire. Some people may think that because they've paid, they are entitled to 'get their money's worth' and just take swag without trading.

[+narcissa]

The only thing worse than a dirty golf ball in a cache is someone whining about a dirty golf ball in a cache.

 

If you want cool new stuff, go shopping.

[Mojavian.Ogby]

Hello!

 

I am completely new to this hobby. My girlfriend found a book at a thrift store called "Geocaching For Dummies". I only skimmed through it, but I read enough to get interested. Then she found an app (linked to this site, I believe), and we found there were a small number of caches very close to my area.

 

Yesterday was our 2 year anniversary, and we decided to celebrate by officially finding our first cache. Our "intent" was to find that one in the morning, and another when the Kids got out of school. What "happened", was we found 5, had 3 where we felt we were in the right location, but there were far too many people around, and 1 that we just couldn't find.

 

We knew about the trade even/trade up rule, but I was semi surprised to find pretty much junk that even my 6 and 8 year olds weren't interested in. Today, we went and found 5 more, and the only thing "interesting" that we have found was a business card from a "cacher" based in Colorado (We are in Southern California). Everything else has been small party favor toys you can find in the 5-15 token bins at Chuck E. Cheese. Because we are far more interested in the hunt and find, we have decided to just not trade anything. We leave a shiny 2014 penny in the ones we find that can hold them, since this is the year we began, but we don't take anything.

 

We are talking about starting a vlog to document our geocaching adventures, and I hope to become an active member of this forum.

[team tisri]

I guess one question about junk is whether someone left it there as a trade for something else, or as a last-resort proof they found the cache.

 

I remember a while back in the UK there was a cacher who would regularly "take (something), leave 2p coin". For US readers, a 2p coin is worth a little over 3c. So if people do that the time-lapse effect is the usual drift from some stuff that kids might at least want to take away, to a handful of pocket change.

 

The flip side is that if you get to a cache and realise you don't have a pencil (or it broke, or you left it in the last cache, or whatever else) sometimes the easiest way to prove you were there is to find a stone or a leaf or a bit of stick or something and leave it in the cache.

[+GeoLog81]

 

I remember a while back in the UK there was a cacher who would regularly "take (something), leave 2p coin".

 

Nothing wrong, if it was not UK and something taken was something tiny, at best other coin.

 

But leaving the coins from the same country... yeah, maybe the used tickets would be better, as long as they're not from the same city...

[+TriciaG]

We knew about the trade even/trade up rule, but I was semi surprised to find pretty much junk that even my 6 and 8 year olds weren't interested in. Today, we went and found 5 more, and the only thing "interesting" that we have found was a business card from a "cacher" based in Colorado (We are in Southern California). Everything else has been small party favor toys you can find in the 5-15 token bins at Chuck E. Cheese.

Keep your expectations this low. Happy Meal toys and Chuck E. Cheese favors are the norm; better stuff is the exception.

[+L0ne.R]

Keep your expectations this low. Happy Meal toys and Chuck E. Cheese favors are the norm; better stuff is the exception.

 

Personally I'm happy with inexpensive stuff (under $3). What I especially like is swag that is in good shape - not broken, not worn out, not ruined, not caked in mud, not rusty, not soaked, not moldy.

 

A CO can help make this happen by starting with a quality container and doing the occasional maintenance visit to wipe down the cache and check that it's still water tight.

 

Finders can help by removing junk and dirt, not leaving bubble liquid (or anything that could leak out into the container), and reporting any issues with the container (broken tabs, holes, cracks, not watertight etc.)

[team tisri]

 

I remember a while back in the UK there was a cacher who would regularly "take (something), leave 2p coin".

 

Nothing wrong, if it was not UK and something taken was something tiny, at best other coin.

 

But leaving the coins from the same country... yeah, maybe the used tickets would be better, as long as they're not from the same city...

 

Except "a while back in the UK" says quite clearly it was the UK. So what this particular person was doing was basically buying stuff for 2p.

 

If I'm caching outside the UK then a British coin is a trade item just because where I'm leaving it, it's "a foreign coin" that people might collect regardless of its value. Leaving a 2p coin in a UK cache is lame

[+.LMN.]

I only have a few finds, but the last few had melted candy and a pack of crackers in it. This is wrong...right? I don't want to step on any toes. Is it ok to remove these from other caches I find?

[+narcissa]

I only have a few finds, but the last few had melted candy and a pack of crackers in it. This is wrong...right? I don't want to step on any toes. Is it ok to remove these from other caches I find?

 

Yes, absolutely. Those items attract critters.

[+T.D.M.22]

I only have a few finds, but the last few had melted candy and a pack of crackers in it. This is wrong...right? I don't want to step on any toes. Is it ok to remove these from other caches I find?

 

Any food or drink should be removed. As well as scented items such as air fresheners. food smells like, well food. Anything scented can smell like food as well, or smell like something that could be food. Also no liquids-either they can smell-as posted above-or they will leak and make a big mess.

[JASTA 11]

It's been a complaint everywhere basically since geocaching began.

 

1. The cache starts out with junk and stays full of junk

2. The cache starts out with nice stuff and it is replaced with junk over time.

 

Is that why someone took a super bowl ring and left a quarter?

 

Depending on which Super Bowl it was it could be trading up.

 

Acorns, broken sea shells, broken glass, business cards. Those are some common items around here.

 

Our favorite still has to be the moldy opossum skull that we found in a cache in Rhode Island. The container and all of it's contents were permiated with that nasty stench.

[+DragonsWest]

Pulled some fireworks out of one on the weekend.

 

Often find gum sticks, which are disgusting when they get wet.

[pugsley&wednesday]

The most common thing we've found is wet -- and moldy -- log books. Pugsley is highly allergic to mold, and some of those wet caches could result in a trip to the hospital. Illinois cachers really don't understand the use of plastic bags without holes in them, or containers that actually seal.

[+TriciaG]

I don't think anyone will avoid mold in geocaching. If I were that highly allergic, I'd limit my cache finds to caches placed within the last month or two. Plastic bags get holes in them quickly. Moisture gets into caches (even those that seal well) when they're opened. I wouldn't blame the COs.

[+jazzmonster]

I find that the more clean and tidy my caches are with nice swag, the more nice swag gets left (along with the trash!) If I'm out caching I always have my swag bag with me and will generally add swag if the cache is large enough and is dry. My swag bag contains items that are fun for kids or useful for adults like a puncture repair kit or something. It doesn't generally cost much but it's all new and all in little resealable bags to keep it clean and dry.

 

I would leave swag more often than I do - my pet hate is finding a tiny cache somewhere that a bigger cache would easily fit. I love to leave something fun or useful, especially for an interesting hide but often the cache is too small. I think smaller caches encourage trash - they're often the ones with nothing in other than a couple of stones. If you find a good sized clean cache, somehow it makes me think it's more deserving of better swag although that's not necessarily the case.

 

I like the Favourite points for favourite caches and I'd love to see up a "Thumbs Up" system for cachers who leave great feedback, who help out with cache maintenance such as leaving spare paper where a log is full (perhaps the CO has a option to mark the cache as PLEASE LEAVE CACHE AS FOUND or CACHE MAINTENANCE WELCOME) or for those cachers who leave good swag or drop a handful of TBs.

 

I love to receive favourite points for my caches and in return, I like to keep them in good condition to encourage more favourite points. Perhaps a "Thumbs Up" system would encourage more responsible caching?

[+DanTh3Man]

I find that the more clean and tidy my caches are with nice swag, the more nice swag gets left (along with the trash!) If I'm out caching I always have my swag bag with me and will generally add swag if the cache is large enough and is dry. My swag bag contains items that are fun for kids or useful for adults like a puncture repair kit or something. It doesn't generally cost much but it's all new and all in little resealable bags to keep it clean and dry.

 

I would leave swag more often than I do - my pet hate is finding a tiny cache somewhere that a bigger cache would easily fit. I love to leave something fun or useful, especially for an interesting hide but often the cache is too small. I think smaller caches encourage trash - they're often the ones with nothing in other than a couple of stones. If you find a good sized clean cache, somehow it makes me think it's more deserving of better swag although that's not necessarily the case.

 

I like the Favourite points for favourite caches and I'd love to see up a "Thumbs Up" system for cachers who leave great feedback, who help out with cache maintenance such as leaving spare paper where a log is full (perhaps the CO has a option to mark the cache as PLEASE LEAVE CACHE AS FOUND or CACHE MAINTENANCE WELCOME) or for those cachers who leave good swag or drop a handful of TBs.

 

I love to receive favourite points for my caches and in return, I like to keep them in good condition to encourage more favourite points. Perhaps a "Thumbs Up" system would encourage more responsible caching?

 

I think this is an excellent idea. I haven't done any repairs to caches (I only recently started finding them) but most of them in my area are pretty old, with the most recent finds being last year so they could use a bit of help. After reading this topic I think I will start cleaning them out and adding some swag.