Wise Refresh of an Old Cache!

[+Seeker_Knight]

I have finally gotten well enough, after a long serious illness to get back into this sport that I enjoyed with my Kid when she was much younger. My Daughter is finally done with her education and now that she is back in the USA, and our State, has the time to help me out. I was thrilled to get going again, and want my first order of business to be the restoration of our one and only cache. This was the pinnacle of our quest as geocachers so many years ago. I have been busy getting the stuff together: New container, New Log Book (waterproof this time), a whole bunch of trackables, some real nice lapel/hat pins for swag, and a load of brand new toys for the kids. Let's face it, that is who has the most fun and adds the most energy to the game.
My question is this..... How much of this stuff do I put into the cache each time I service it? Are the muggles going to be a problem and steal everything, or even a bad geocacher for that matter. I just don't know how much trust to put in people these days. When we first started, it was common to see caches that contained multiple geocoins or other really nice swag, and nobody would have even thought to take advantage or be dishonest. So how have things changed in the past few years. Can we still trust each other to only take one nice item, or would it be foolish of me to place too much trust in folks?
Let me know your own experiences or stories you have heard from others. I bought two cases. One only large enough for the log and a few trinkets, and one that I could load up like a real live treasure. What would you do?
Seeker_Knight

[+HunterandSamuel]

6 minutes ago, Seeker_Knight said:

I have finally gotten well enough, after a long serious illness to get back into this sport that I enjoyed with my Kid when she was much younger. My Daughter is finally done with her education and now that she is back in the USA, and our State, has the time to help me out. I was thrilled to get going again, and want my first order of business to be the restoration of our one and only cache. This was the pinnacle of our quest as geocachers so many years ago. I have been busy getting the stuff together: New container, New Log Book (waterproof this time), a whole bunch of trackables, some real nice lapel/hat pins for swag, and a load of brand new toys for the kids. Let's face it, that is who has the most fun and adds the most energy to the game.
My question is this..... How much of this stuff do I put into the cache each time I service it? Are the muggles going to be a problem and steal everything, or even a bad geocacher for that matter. I just don't know how much trust to put in people these days. When we first started, it was common to see caches that contained multiple geocoins or other really nice swag, and nobody would have even thought to take advantage or be dishonest. So how have things changed in the past few years. Can we still trust each other to only take one nice item, or would it be foolish of me to place too much trust in folks?
Let me know your own experiences or stories you have heard from others. I bought two cases. One only large enough for the log and a few trinkets, and one that I could load up like a real live treasure. What would you do?
Seeker_Knight

 

I'm happy to hear you are feeling healthy again. I say...load up on the swag and do not worry about it. We never had a problem with our larger caches loaded with swag being taken.  Ironically only a large vitamin camo taped bottle we have...all the swag was taken, even the pencil. lol  Check up on the cache now and then to replenish swag. It's worth it. We gets lots of compliments about our caches being filled with swag and is a children's delight! 

[+coachstahly]

It depends on the "history" of your logs.  Have finders commented on it being muggled and empty of the swag that others purportedly have placed in the cache?  No mention of that and you'd probably be in good shape placing some swag in there and then visiting every once in a while to replenish.  I wouldn't stock it so full that it's crammed and takes every inch of interior space but not so empty that it looks a bit sad.  I've also noted that it appears the trade even/trade up mantra isn't followed like it used to be when I first started 10 years ago.  I'm not big on swag at all but there are plenty who are into it but don't be surprised, especially if it's a cache that gets found by new cachers, if the swag dwindles instead of stays at a constant level or deteriorates in quality.

 

As to coins/TBs, I've pretty much given up on placing coins within caches.  I hand them off personally to cachers at events or if we're out at a cache together.  Seems to me, at least in my area, that coins tend to disappear.  The aluminum tags, however, seem to do much better moving from cache to cache but many of the easier D/T caches are ones that newbies tend to find and have very little idea of what to do with a TB once they find one.

[+Seeker_Knight]

The cache was very active when I was first placed,  but mainly because there were very few of them in the area. At the time I just could not afford to spend money on TB's or Coins. We always followed the trade up trade out suggestion, mainly because it provided a learning opportunity for the kids to see how integrity applies to the real world. The whole idea was to make it fun AND productive for everyone. The CO's got to see their caches evolve, the kids got some swag to swap that they could call their own for a while, and the travel bugs and coins went on their way toward whatever goal they started with. All of this builds just a bit to the whole activity being immensely successful.
Guess I'll just follow my instincts and my heart. The goal is to make it as much fun as possible for everyone.
Seeker_Knight

[+HunterandSamuel]

14 hours ago, Seeker_Knight said:

All of this builds just a bit to the whole activity being immensely successful.
Guess I'll just follow my instincts and my heart. The goal is to make it as much fun as possible for everyone.
Seeker_Knight

 

So true! One geocacher said (on our swag cache) it was nice to finally find a cache with lots of swag.  Another said it's a great cache for children to find and to bring the kids when coming here!