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Geocaches are sadly lacking swag, ideas?


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Granted, I'm fairly new to geocaching, but we've purchased and put out several trackables, and tried to put something valuable in every cache we come upon, and what we see time and time again are business cards, rocks, and coupons. Every now and then we come upon a half-broken toy the kids might have liked but you can tell it's been there a bit too long and has been passed over by others.

 

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. If the geocaching community thinks pebbles and cards are swag, so be it. But I'd like to try to find some relatively cheap things to put in caches that are also wanted by kids, so I'm looking for suggestions. I've browsed the Oriental Trading Company catalogue, and had some ideas from my kids, but was wondering if there were any popular swag sites for the veteran Geocachers. I'm looking for things that are fun, but also relatively inexpensive.

 

Thanks,

 

BryanFamily4

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Degradation of SWAG in a cache is pretty much inevitable. There are quite a few cachers that carry items to 'replenish' junked-out caches but world-wide, they are few and far between. Mostly, it's those that are clueless as to a "trade even or trade up" concept. Pesonally, I am beginning to believe that today's society doesn't even know what that means.

 

Although I cannot speak for others, that is probably why so many have gravitated to leaving only calling cards/business cards. But that too has a downfall (we've all seen it) -- caches littered or filled with moldy, mildewy masses of what used to be paper.

 

Admittedly... not very many people are willing to give away good stuff (SWAG), but we also see this type of garbage all the time:

go into a dollar general and buy 20+ pieces of swag for like $15

Pretty much, it's that super-duper "imported from ......." stuff that curtailed our trading.

 

If you want decent SWAG in caches for trading, the only thing you can do is to Lead By Example.

 

Problem is.... probably less than 10% of cachers ever find or come to the forums to read these 'complaints'. They just wander about, enjoying their little "ME" world.

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Most of the swag I put out is for kids. For this, I like to go to our local thrift store. They have bags of little plastic animals, bouncy balls, cars, McToys etc. I got most use out of the smaller toys as they will fit in just about any small container. I also like buying the little shiny rocks you put in fish tanks. Kids seem to like these.

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Swag ideas: The mother lode of swag exists underneath your child's bed. (Well, at least it is if your child's pre-teen. Once they hit their teens, suddenly the batman toys and polly pockets vanish and all you find are doritos, empty yogurt containers, and used xbox points cards.) :D

 

Foreign coins are cool for smaller sized caches. Craft stores have a wealth of unusual swag - not as cheap as the dollar store, but some interesting stuff.

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I recently went nuts on Amazon purchasing some swag to include "finger lights", "mini compasses" and "credit card sized magnifiers." They're all goofy (and not even the highest quality stuff), but local cachers have told me their kids are going crazy for them in caches. All told, I think I've spent about $50 over 150 or so finds. And that's after recently replenishing my swag box back to full.

 

Amazon has worked well for me. Others have recommended Orientaltrading.com. There are also specific geocaching swag websites. I've bought a few upscale items ($3-5) to put in a cache that I REALLY like, or as a FTF gift for a few caches I have coming up.

 

Clean out the junk each time and make a note in your log that you did so. I've removed movie ticket stubs, business cards, rusted bottle caps and a 7.62 mm rifle cartridge.

 

Terrkan78 also has some good suggestions. Scrape the bottom of the kids' toy boxes. Foreign coins have been a big hit, lucky we have a local art walk where you can get a handful for $5.

 

Kudos to you for taking the lead in improving the quality of the swag in local caches. Hopefully others follow suit!

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I'll get inexpensive stuff at yard sales and garage sales. You can find unopened stuff for .25 to .50 cents. I've found a big box of McDonald happy meal toys, unopened for a quarter each at a garage sale. At my thrift store another big basket of unopened McDonald toys for fifty cents each. Cars and balls for .10 to .25 cents each in original wrappers at rummage sale. Also scour the close out and dollar bins in stores -you never know. Having this inexpensive stuff allows me to replenish caches that might be getting empty.

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I'll get inexpensive stuff at yard sales and garage sales. You can find unopened stuff for .25 to .50 cents. I've found a big box of McDonald happy meal toys, unopened for a quarter each at a garage sale. At my thrift store another big basket of unopened McDonald toys for fifty cents each. Cars and balls for .10 to .25 cents each in original wrappers at rummage sale. Also scour the close out and dollar bins in stores -you never know. Having this inexpensive stuff allows me to replenish caches that might be getting empty.

+1

 

Best form of recycling there is!

Edited by Gitchee-Gummee
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I am hoping to have my new multi-cache done and posted early next week. Just came back from a swag run. I got all of this stuff for a whopping $11.50. I tried to get stuff for the little guys and gals. There is an item I bought on Amazon last night for $9.00 that will be the FTF prize.

 

55657633861187289744119.jpg

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There's a seller on Amazon.com (can't recall the name) that sells coinage from countries outside the US in lots of 50. Each bag is around $6 and comes with a decent drawstring pouch. I bought two a few weeks ago and have been using them for swag. A lot of people enjoying finding foreign currency and more importantly it doesn't take up much room in my bag.

 

Something else I've been doing lately is going to the Goodwill and buying books to place in caches. You can get paperbacks for $1, hard covers for $2. If you can stand to browse through the shelves you may find some old, unique books that would be good trade items....that is if you don't keep them for yourself! :)

 

Other than that I buy carabiners, emergency whistles, ponchos, sudoku puzzle books, things like that. Toys for kids, useful things of an outdoors nature for adults.

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You can't go wrong with dinsaurs, I tend to try to get the rubbery plastic ones because they are nearly indestructable, you can get these at dollar stores and sometimes buy them in bulk sets for less than 80 cents a piece. I've yet to take swag myself but I do my best to try to leave something pretty good. Another thing I also leave are pins, members of my family have been pin collectors for years so sometimes they give me a big bag of canadian flag pins or some other type and I distrbute. So Pins and Dinos are my main staple, both of which are inexpensive but offer a little bit of quality amongst caches that are otherwise filled with some not so good items.

 

The only time I've wanted to take it was usually a sig item, which I refuse to take until I have a sig item of my own to trade for. :)

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Thanks so much for the ideas! I really like the world coin and the garage sale hunt suggestions. I'll definitely do a better job of keeping an eye out for swag. I've taken other families geocaching with us, and even though the hunt is always exciting for the kids, there's a certain letdown when the cache is full of garbage. It's not that they're expecting anything in particular, it's more like it would be better if it were empty and just had a log book. The rocks, business cards, and random junk really detracts from the experience.

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I am a big fan of the Dollar stores. I buy most of the things I put in caches there. I buy lots of glass rocks in many sizes and colors. I call them "McPhee Jewels" and leave some in every cache I visit as well as in those I place. I have had my Grandson and friends out geocaching and they love to find BRACELETS of all kinds.

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I give good SWAG! I have left an item worth over $100 in one case. I have also given FTF prizes worth $40-$50.

I don't usually find much "good" stuff, but I did get this out of a cache a while back. With info. on what and how old it is.

I will be hanging on to this one.

 

photo-34.jpg

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Nice ammonite, AneMae!

There is value to it, aside from being a fossil.... I am guessing probably 4 or more hours of cutting, grinding and polishing to make it look as it does. Could be better (to a picky lapidary, as me), but it is a very worthwhile SWAG item!

 

We have a "theme cache" that is only for giving, that is... letting folks take a polished stone... no trade requirement. I did suggest that if they desire to trade, we are ALWAYS open to accepting an emerald, ruby, sapphire, or the occasional diamond... even alexandrite or morganite would be nice.

 

:):o:lol::lol::lol:

Edited by Gitchee-Gummee
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Most swag we place in caches are around $1. up.

Oriental trading does sometimes have some nice things (break-your-own-geodes, punch balls). But like dollar stores, much seems to be the reason caches are considered junk.

- Fifty dinos for a buck, one in each hide, (really) doesn't make decent swag.

Put five dinos in a bag and a kid's imagination can go somewhere.

Target's dollar aisles often have first aid kits, flashlights, Tote's umbrellas and other fun stuff, which may be a good way to raise the swag a bit.

Lately I've been walking with a pocket full of coins (we don't talk about). Little weight and fit in even a (gasp) film can.

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Hobby stores are a great place for swag. I usually go to Michael's where they always have stuff in bins that has been marked down. I have bought a set of mini colored pencils for $0.15, a set of mini highlighters for $0.60 and award stickers for $1.00 as examples. I try to stay on theme with trail walking and cache seeking items such as compasses, mirrors, pens and pencils, etc. I also try to carry a miniature cache log with me in case the log in the one I find needs replacement:

My link

 

But my favorite swag to leave is my signature - a small greyhound charm. :)

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We find great swag at yard sales. At one, this Summer, I bought a huge bin of toys for $10. I spent 3 hours sorting through it and came out with great stuff. Hundreds of little plastic figures (army, cowboys, indians, pirates, etc.), hundreds of little plastic animals, cars, dinos, McToys, etc. Some of them I saved to turn into TBs. The rest became swag.

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Granted, I'm fairly new to geocaching, but we've purchased and put out several trackables, and tried to put something valuable in every cache we come upon, and what we see time and time again are business cards, rocks, and coupons. Every now and then we come upon a half-broken toy the kids might have liked but you can tell it's been there a bit too long and has been passed over by others.

 

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. If the geocaching community thinks pebbles and cards are swag, so be it. But I'd like to try to find some relatively cheap things to put in caches that are also wanted by kids, so I'm looking for suggestions. I've browsed the Oriental Trading Company catalogue, and had some ideas from my kids, but was wondering if there were any popular swag sites for the veteran Geocachers. I'm looking for things that are fun, but also relatively inexpensive.

 

Thanks,

 

BryanFamily4

 

I am very new to this hobby and I am currently collecting items to start 4 caches. I picked up some glow in the dark bracelets and some chocolate and vanilla filled straws for milk and I am going to look for some skipping ropes and maybe some marbles. I was also considering, crayons, chalk and maybe some yo yo's. What do you think?

Edited by CC Trekkers
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Foreign coins are cool for smaller sized caches. Craft stores have a wealth of unusual swag - not as cheap as the dollar store, but some interesting stuff.

 

For the last two caches I found I dropped in a 1 Ringgot (Malaysian currency) but didn't take anything. That's worth about 32 cents in the U.S. but I suspect that most geocachers have never seen one. I've got a baggie full of foreign coins from probably 7-8 different countries and they'll fit in most caches larger than a bison tube.

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Granted, I'm fairly new to geocaching, but we've purchased and put out several trackables, and tried to put something valuable in every cache we come upon, and what we see time and time again are business cards, rocks, and coupons. Every now and then we come upon a half-broken toy the kids might have liked but you can tell it's been there a bit too long and has been passed over by others.

 

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. If the geocaching community thinks pebbles and cards are swag, so be it. But I'd like to try to find some relatively cheap things to put in caches that are also wanted by kids, so I'm looking for suggestions. I've browsed the Oriental Trading Company catalogue, and had some ideas from my kids, but was wondering if there were any popular swag sites for the veteran Geocachers. I'm looking for things that are fun, but also relatively inexpensive.

 

Thanks,

 

BryanFamily4

 

I am very new to this hobby and I am currently collecting items to start 4 caches. I picked up some glow in the dark bracelets and some chocolate and vanilla filled straws for milk and I am going to look for some skipping ropes and maybe some marbles. I was also considering, crayons, chalk and maybe some yo yo's. What do you think?

Chocolate and vanilla straws will attract animals, probably not the best swag for a cache and crayons tend to melt into giant globs of wax. Everything else is just fine!

Edited by HarlansHollowFarms
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Chocolate and vanilla straws will attract animals, probably not the best swag for a cache and crayons tend to melt into giant globs of wax. Everything else is just fine!

 

Also I wouldn't (and certainly wouldn't let my children) eat anything we found in some random box which was left there by goodness knows who, with what intent. Leave the edibles out!

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I really have only just started, but had a succesfull day today! I've currently got small plastic dinosaurs which I've been leaving in the caches which are big enough. Picked up a poker chip and a small frog, which I'll pass on.

I like the idea of the polished pretty stones though, I've got a few of those I don't particularly wish to keep. I also found some really pretty buttons on Amazon which would be interesting. Personally, I don't think monetary value is the thing which matters.. it's interest and thought. I'd never pick up anything unless I had an equal (or higher) trade value item.

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Granted, I'm fairly new to geocaching, but we've purchased and put out several trackables, and tried to put something valuable in every cache we come upon, and what we see time and time again are business cards, rocks, and coupons. Every now and then we come upon a half-broken toy the kids might have liked but you can tell it's been there a bit too long and has been passed over by others.

 

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. If the geocaching community thinks pebbles and cards are swag, so be it. But I'd like to try to find some relatively cheap things to put in caches that are also wanted by kids, so I'm looking for suggestions. I've browsed the Oriental Trading Company catalogue, and had some ideas from my kids, but was wondering if there were any popular swag sites for the veteran Geocachers. I'm looking for things that are fun, but also relatively inexpensive.

 

Thanks,

 

BryanFamily4

 

Go to a "Dollar" store or just look around in your travels..

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Granted, I'm fairly new to geocaching, but we've purchased and put out several trackables, and tried to put something valuable in every cache we come upon, and what we see time and time again are business cards, rocks, and coupons. Every now and then we come upon a half-broken toy the kids might have liked but you can tell it's been there a bit too long and has been passed over by others.

 

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. If the geocaching community thinks pebbles and cards are swag, so be it. But I'd like to try to find some relatively cheap things to put in caches that are also wanted by kids, so I'm looking for suggestions. I've browsed the Oriental Trading Company catalogue, and had some ideas from my kids, but was wondering if there were any popular swag sites for the veteran Geocachers. I'm looking for things that are fun, but also relatively inexpensive.

 

Thanks,

 

BryanFamily4

 

SWAG, what about Logs Pencils Pens sharpeners (cleaning out a wet cache) I have many times cleaned out soaked and messy caches bagged up the old log and replaced it with a fresh one also left pens pencil sharpeners (fresh SWAG)

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Granted, I'm fairly new to geocaching, but we've purchased and put out several trackables, and tried to put something valuable in every cache we come upon, and what we see time and time again are business cards, rocks, and coupons. Every now and then we come upon a half-broken toy the kids might have liked but you can tell it's been there a bit too long and has been passed over by others.

 

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. If the geocaching community thinks pebbles and cards are swag, so be it. But I'd like to try to find some relatively cheap things to put in caches that are also wanted by kids, so I'm looking for suggestions. I've browsed the Oriental Trading Company catalogue, and had some ideas from my kids, but was wondering if there were any popular swag sites for the veteran Geocachers. I'm looking for things that are fun, but also relatively inexpensive.

 

Thanks,

 

BryanFamily4

 

SWAG, what about Logs Pencils Pens sharpeners (cleaning out a wet cache) I have many times cleaned out soaked and messy caches bagged up the old log and replaced it with a fresh one also left pens pencil sharpeners (fresh SWAG)

 

If a cache container takes on water and the cache log and cache swag are getting wet, your wasting your time replacing items in the cache. It should be reported as needs maintenance and that the container is not water resistant. I use only ammo cans and lock-n-locks as my cache containers (large, medium, and small). They both have descent silcone/rubber seals to keep the water out. Any micro or nano container I use also has a water tight rubber seal. Anything else is unsatisfactory, and dont be afraid to let the cache owner know it.

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I have the best time getting a crazy collection of swag.. I shop thrift stores and don't look just for toys but cool pins and my favorite to collect is beads left behind. I have a bracelet made just from beads left in cemeteries. I try to keep my backpack full of all different stuff. I can tell from the cache what I want to leave. I found a Sacajawea coin necklace in a geocache cave and went back to leave something more special. Since then I try to carry everything from jewelry to keepsakes Recently I found a cache that wanted railroad stuff. I spent more time trying to find something railroad themed to leave then finding the cache took.. But I loved my effort. I feel that if the effort to get to a more difficult cache I will leave something more memorable. Pins are my favorite as everybody can put them on their pack and remember that find. Everybody have fun collecting their swag and then trading it. :rolleyes:

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My kids like to collect those smashed/elongated pennies that you get out of machines at tourist places, so we always made a few extra to use as interesting swag. There is a machine sort of local to us, so sometimes I would go zip off a few when I need something to trade.

 

I bet they don't have any in their collection like these...

 

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3f01fe38-72f4-4b90-b831-bb8c402b15f2.jpg

7f757bc5-b99c-4638-b296-ddded8a5972c.jpg

53161596-3f52-4573-b86b-3286b8207566.jpg

b37217ae-cd63-4472-ac9b-4739c973a950.jpg

3b38ade5-9599-43e9-9742-b78854f0c861.jpg

4d60b803-8e66-473f-996b-8f2468706d84.jpg

bcfb6191-02ca-4f63-a9fe-112f8a8d76fc.jpg

e9ff8b14-1158-4d7d-8d7b-dfc8e5bc1d57.jpg

 

They ALL have this image on the back side:

563d0278-5231-4df8-bf62-d63eae89323d.jpg

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When I'm travelling and caching abroad, I'll put in coins from home. Coming from the Channel Islands, the coins have a good chance of being interesting to alot of people!! I'll also keep coins from my travels, to then use nearer to home.

 

I do also keep a tub in my rucksack of small items that you would see in party bags or similar, these are my basic swag items. Things that I'll add to a cache which is looking a bit empty, or I enjoyed the hunt and felt it was well thought out. I do keep some higher value items, up to around £5-£10 which I'll be careful where I place it. It has to have been a special cache, or trade. I try to always make sure my items are interesting, but what's interesting to me, may not be interesting to the next person!!!

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My kids like to collect those smashed/elongated pennies that you get out of machines at tourist places, so we always made a few extra to use as interesting swag. There is a machine sort of local to us, so sometimes I would go zip off a few when I need something to trade.

 

I bet they don't have any in their collection like these...

 

I'm curious about what kinds of coins you've used to make them. It looks like the silver and gold ones may have been from 1 Euro coins. I've acquired a fairly substantial collection of foreign coins during my travels and imagine you could create some interesting "smashed coins" from some of them.

 

For example, I picked up a few coins from Japan that have a hole in the middle.

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When I'm travelling and caching abroad, I'll put in coins from home. Coming from the Channel Islands, the coins have a good chance of being interesting to alot of people!! I'll also keep coins from my travels, to then use nearer to home.

 

I do the same thing. I've got quite a collection of coins from several African and Asian countries and a few from Latin America. I've also got a few U.S. Dollar coins that I've put into caches while traveling outside the U.S. They're not really commonly used in the U.S. but I can get get them from a change machine at a coin operated car wash just up the road from where I live.

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When I'm travelling and caching abroad, I'll put in coins from home. Coming from the Channel Islands, the coins have a good chance of being interesting to alot of people!! I'll also keep coins from my travels, to then use nearer to home.

 

I do the same thing. I've got quite a collection of coins from several African and Asian countries and a few from Latin America. I've also got a few U.S. Dollar coins that I've put into caches while traveling outside the U.S. They're not really commonly used in the U.S. but I can get get them from a change machine at a coin operated car wash just up the road from where I live.

 

Hi, I found a bank note from Burma in a cache here on the island and it turned out to be worth $120 Canadian!!!

 

I was shocked considering Burma's history.

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My kids like to collect those smashed/elongated pennies that you get out of machines at tourist places, so we always made a few extra to use as interesting swag. There is a machine sort of local to us, so sometimes I would go zip off a few when I need something to trade.

 

I bet they don't have any in their collection like these...

 

09d1af12-d32e-4a77-a82b-df6ebb76ffba.jpg

3f01fe38-72f4-4b90-b831-bb8c402b15f2.jpg

7f757bc5-b99c-4638-b296-ddded8a5972c.jpg

53161596-3f52-4573-b86b-3286b8207566.jpg

b37217ae-cd63-4472-ac9b-4739c973a950.jpg

3b38ade5-9599-43e9-9742-b78854f0c861.jpg

4d60b803-8e66-473f-996b-8f2468706d84.jpg

bcfb6191-02ca-4f63-a9fe-112f8a8d76fc.jpg

e9ff8b14-1158-4d7d-8d7b-dfc8e5bc1d57.jpg

 

They ALL have this image on the back side:

563d0278-5231-4df8-bf62-d63eae89323d.jpg

 

 

VERY COOL !!

care to share how one would go about creating signature SWAG like this?

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I am new to geocaching and have been VERY disappointed at the junk I have found in caches. I agree with the theory "Lead by example" and am determined to set out the best caches in the state! Some of my items include a crank handle flashlight (no batteries to corrode and leak), a spork (spoon at one end, fork at the other) very cool compass zipper pull, GoToob (2oz travel bottle made by humangear.com), laminated map of the area where the cache is, a coupon good for a trail pass, coupon good for coffee or ice cream from a nearby restaurant, laminated bug and plant guides, beautiful stones and glass marbles, handmade fishing lure, smaller cache containers, carabiners, weird fun hardware, first aid kits, disposable camera, emergency poncho, insect repellent, and cool money, such as when a new bill comes out or those old $2 bills, or pretty Canadian money is good everywhere here in Washington state. Here's to finding fantastic caches you want to brag about!

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I've been listening to your input, and kicking around in my head "Why am i not a fan of SWAG"

and then it dawned on me. I AM a fan of SWAG of sorts, and they're called 'trackables'

 

What could be more exciting than to find a cool trinket (SWAG), attached to a I.D. tag, and it...

- has a life of it's own.

-a mission

-a history

-a name

-a birthday (sometimes even siblings)

-a home

-an owner

-pictures of it's travels

-you can read about, and see a map of all of it's travels.

 

This is all REALLY cool stuff.

 

 

there are a couple of issues associated with trackables though.

- they disappear (but so does other SWAG)

- they're pricy

 

i don't have an answer to the first issue, but the second one is SOLVED.

 

RECYCLE

 

IF we all would just re-release our missing trackables there would be tens of thousands of new pieces of VERY cool SWAG out there.

 

and it's as simple as writing / enscribing the lost trackables I.D. number on ANYTHING.

-a refridgerator door

-a flattened coin

-a piece of plastic dog poop

-a toy from a happy meal

-a Beanie Baby

We could go on and on, right?

 

and if you yourself don't have any missing trackables to do this with, go ask your friends if they have any.

then either encourage them to re-release it, or offer to do it for them.

 

INSTANT SWAG

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there are a couple of issues associated with trackables though.

- they disappear (but so does other SWAG)

- they're pricy

- they are not trade items

 

To me, the term "swag" refers to trade items, not to trackables. (FWIW, I like the basic idea, and I'm planning to release copies of a bunch of trackables of mine that went missing.)

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there are a couple of issues associated with trackables though.

- they disappear (but so does other SWAG)

- they're pricy

- they are not trade items

 

To me, the term "swag" refers to trade items, not to trackables. (FWIW, I like the basic idea, and I'm planning to release copies of a bunch of trackables of mine that went missing.)

 

 

Yeah, i did kind of call them SWAG even though i know they're not.

 

What is SWAG?

it's something cool to find in a cache.

makes the find more interesting / fun, so trackables are the same in this respect.

the rules / suggestion is to trade even or up, so trackables are better in this respect

in that you can take them without having to place anything in return.

 

i'm guessing that unless you're a child you're not going to keep the SWAG (army men, key chains, etc.).

you'll just move it on to another cache, so this is exactly like a trackable.

 

the gist of my post was that trackables are very 'SWAG like', but even COOLER for the reasons i stated in my previous post.

and the intent of my post was to ENCOURAGE EVERYONE to recycle those trackables.

you bought that TB or geocoin so that you can enjoy watching it travel around and also read the posts.

so why have your feelings changed just because it's lost or has been stolen.

let's get them trackables back out there where they belong.

 

: ) EXMAN : )

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How much are lottery tickets in the States. Here they are cheap and if you use them as swag, you may be putting some REAL treasure in a cache. At least they give a bit of excitement! I used to have a TB that carried a lottery ticket. You would check the one you found it with and replace it with a new one. One cacher won $200!

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I only have one cache and I try to keep it stocked with good swag, but it gets real annoying how no matter what I put in there it always ends up with rocks, crappy swag, or nothing at all.

 

I've put LED flashlights, carabiners, small cache containers, keychains, and all kinds of cool random stuff. People even steal the pencils I leave for the log book.

 

That's what I think the problem is with swag these days. No one trades up.

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I liked the rolled coins.

 

I have seen the swag that is there and am now racking my brain trying to come up with some good swag. I keep wondering how I might give something of value to the community and also give something that represents me. I have been contemplating about making wooden coins and then stamping or burning an image on it.

 

Russell

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Granted, I'm fairly new to geocaching, but we've purchased and put out several trackables, and tried to put something valuable in every cache we come upon, and what we see time and time again are business cards, rocks, and coupons. Every now and then we come upon a half-broken toy the kids might have liked but you can tell it's been there a bit too long and has been passed over by others.

 

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. If the geocaching community thinks pebbles and cards are swag, so be it. But I'd like to try to find some relatively cheap things to put in caches that are also wanted by kids, so I'm looking for suggestions. I've browsed the Oriental Trading Company catalogue, and had some ideas from my kids, but was wondering if there were any popular swag sites for the veteran Geocachers. I'm looking for things that are fun, but also relatively inexpensive.

 

Thanks,

 

BryanFamily4

 

Boy I'm glad the swag is missing in my caches I have to clean it out fairly often otherwise the log wouldn't even fit so the less swag the better IMO.

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Foreign coins are cool for smaller sized caches. Craft stores have a wealth of unusual swag - not as cheap as the dollar store, but some interesting stuff.

 

For the last two caches I found I dropped in a 1 Ringgot (Malaysian currency) but didn't take anything. That's worth about 32 cents in the U.S. but I suspect that most geocachers have never seen one. I've got a baggie full of foreign coins from probably 7-8 different countries and they'll fit in most caches larger than a bison tube.

 

Although be careful with coins! I was cleaning out some of my grandfathers stuff and sorted out the silver coins and a few obvious interesting foreign coins, but had this old half-peso from Mexico from the 1920s. I figured it couldn't be worth more than a buck or two since it was pretty dinged up and left it as swag. Later turned out the coin was probably worth about $30-$40. Some cacher got lucky from my idiocy!

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On eBay I bought a bag of 150 lapel pins for $15.00 and placed them as swag in caches and sold some at swap meets. They were from all over the US and most were great.

 

My two daughters had a bunch of Beanie Babies that no one wants to buy anymore. I use them for event drawings for kids and place some of them in large caches.

 

I put a comment on my descriptions for my caches I've place about please trading fair but I guess no one reads it. I end up with business cards and small erasers and pennies.

 

I guess you just have to decide to take the higher ground or just TNLNSL !!!

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