+Natty Dread Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 I am a real newbie and am having a ball doing this alone with the dog, with my friends, and with my kids. I think this is a terrific way to get out and about instead of sitting on one's duff. I am not at all interested in trading trinkets, unless of course the kids come along. I usually leave one of my cute stuffed froggies even if we take nothing. My question is this, what is the deal with the absolute crap that people are trading with? Whenever I open a cache I usually have to remove all the trinkets to find the log. Used old golfballs, little flashlights that don't work, old rusted matchbox cars, absolute dreck. I have read all the threads about trading up but I have to say that it seems most do not. What a bunch of garbage. I realize that the trinkets are meant for the kids but people imagine how your kids would feel. I would say that 1 cache out of 10 my kids will trade. They must trade their own stuff. I think that if someone can drop a dime for a GPS then the least they can do is try to be a bit more imaginative with their trinket choices. I was out all day yesterday and decided to read the logs before me. What I realized was many folks traded stuff but as the log grew the folks took pretty nice stuff and left crap. Come on people don't be cheap! Think about the cachers coming after you. Quote Link to comment
Swagger Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 Welcome to geocaching. You have discovered the eternal question very quickly, young grasshopper. It's an ongoing problem that won't be solved - ever. There's a zillion threads in the forums about this already. The best thing to do is trade up when you can, and even or not at all when you can't. BTW, all the Hot Wheels I leave are always brand new and still in their packaging. -- perl -MMIME::Base64 -e "print decode_base64('SU1BR0VTIFJFTU9WRUQgQlkgT1ZFUkJFQVJJTkcgQURNSU5T')" Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 It's a sorry fact of geocaching life. Even if a cache starts out with nice stuff, there are pretty slim pickings after a while. I think part of it is that some people think if they leave several pieces of junk in exchange for one nice thing, its an even trade. "You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm Quote Link to comment
+Natty Dread Posted October 21, 2003 Author Share Posted October 21, 2003 I am not trying to be nasty, this is more meant as an FYI for all those folks that think leaving old, nasty, used up items as okay trade items. I think Matchbox cars in the package are great, especially for little boys. I by no means am saying that yu have to go out and drop a ton of money either. When we started my girlfriend and co-conspirator in caching- Duppy, suggested that I look up the Oriental Trading company. I ordered a bunch of stuff from them at fabulous prices, they also sell by the gross. I am also looking into getting some coins done as well as some signature items for Duppy and me to leave as I find them to be more of interest to us "adults". I just hope that those who are guilty decide to belly-up and be more imaginative. By the way, anyone who can find me some 1-2 inch tall Buddha statues that I could purchase inexpensively would be forever in my dept. Quote Link to comment
+Stunod Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 Being from your area, I have seen the same garbage left in caches. I usually don't trade for anything anymore, but I do leave my signature item (which is an engraved flashlight-biner...see my profile for an example). I think it is my small contribution that may make this sport enjoyable for a newbie in the future. I hope to find one of your new sig items someday. (BTW...I hope you enjoy your new GPS case that I left for you ) ______________________ Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand. - Homer Simpson ChiTown Cachers * Keenpeople.com Stats Quote Link to comment
+Natty Dread Posted October 21, 2003 Author Share Posted October 21, 2003 Hey Stunod, Thank you so much. My GPS thanks you too. This is my most treasured find. You are my Geo-caching Hero. I have followed your posts and enjoyed reading your logs. Someday we gotta meet and cache together so you can show me the ropes. Right now I am sorta flying by the seat of my pants. Haven't fully figured out my GPS yet but every day getting better. But it is so much fun. "Centaur" is my buddy and turned me on to geo-caching. He and I know each other from a horse BB here in Illinois. Again thanks, and hopefully we will meet on a caching trail soon. Quote Link to comment
+BeachBuddies Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Natty Dread:By the way, anyone who can find me some 1-2 inch tall Buddha statues that I could purchase inexpensively would be forever in my dept. This site has some on sale for $4.95, but I don't think I want to be forever in your debt. Quote Link to comment
opie744 Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 I don't remember if you take kids along but sometimes (w/ the kids) I think there is a bunch of junk in the cache' and the girls are FIGHTING over something in this junk. Go figure, then I let them pick out something out of thier things that they have brought from home to leave. They know that is must as nice or better or I say no to the thing they want to take. We do always leave a sig item and card,(now that we have one)for the 'adult' traders. If I see a sig item I need for my collection, I leave 2 of mine. As it has been said before, " one mans trash...." is probably my kids treasure. Quote Link to comment
+Etrex Pirate Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 With my short time in GEOCaching I have also been unamused by some of the junk left at a majority of the caches I have found. When you look at the items placed at the cache at the time it was first placed they are usually pretty good items worth trading. When I get to the cache there are more old and broken items than ones worth trading. I look forward to finding TB’s or GEO Coins and passing them along. I recently decided to make my own GEO Tokens to add to a cache with a theme of my Nick. They didn’t cost much money just a little time and creativity. If nothing else run to your local 99 cents store and buy some cheap but new unbroken toys to add to the cache. Not all cachers leave junk but with 30 finds it’s amazing how many do. I'm the good kind of pirate... if there is such a thing Quote Link to comment
Colonel Mustard Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 I never get too excited by the cache contents anyway. It is mostly just trinkets. I take a trinket, leave one. Most of the stuff never comes out of my cache bag till the next cache anyway. I've kept very few items I've ever retreived from a cache. Just recycle .The ones that leave a state park map that they picked up on the way in to the cache sorta tick me off though. If I'm traveling I often try to leave something from my home area. I trashed out some broken junk though, and soggy paper trash just to clean up the cache. Quote Link to comment
+Centaur Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Hey Natty! Was great to go Caching with you Sunday. Hello gang... I know I have not been around for a number of months... Real life got in the way of things... But Ill be poking in more now. -Centaur Quote Link to comment
+Centaur Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Hey Natty! Was great to go Caching with you Sunday. Hello gang... I know I have not been around for a number of months... Real life got in the way of things... But Ill be poking in more now. -Centaur Quote Link to comment
+Centaur Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Hey Natty! Was great to go Caching with you Sunday. Hello gang... I know I have not been around for a number of months... Real life got in the way of things... But Ill be poking in more now. -Centaur Quote Link to comment
GeoWorms Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 quote:By the way, anyone who can find me some 1-2 inch tall Buddha statues that I could purchase inexpensively would be forever in my dept. If you are ever out in San Francisco the tourist shops sell them in red laquered wood for about a buck a piece. I take pride in only trading up or not at all, but it's certainly not the norm. We stop at the local hardware store before we head out and pick up little things--keychains, mini eye-glass repair kits, 'biners. It's not tough, but it's (mostly) about the hunt for me. If someone's strapped for cash and wants to trade old stuff it doesn't bother me. Of course, I have yet to spend a few days setting up a nice cache, only to have it's contents dwindle to pocket lint and ABC gum in the first few finds But we're going to place our first caches soon, and there's always room for bitterness! Quote Link to comment
+bigredmed Posted October 28, 2003 Share Posted October 28, 2003 Another place to get sizeable quantity of good trade items is in the Wholesale section of Ebay, particularly in the Sporting Goods and Home sections. _____________ 7 3 10 13 23 36 59 95 ... Quote Link to comment
+joefrog Posted October 28, 2003 Share Posted October 28, 2003 quote:Originally posted by BeachBuddies:http://www.bighappybuddha.com/smsibust.html has some on sale for $4.95, but I don't think I want to be forever in your debt. Double-check that... He said you'd be "forever in his DEPT," not forever in his debt. So get back to work -- you have a new boss! LOL Joel (joefrog) "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for ye are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!" Quote Link to comment
+Firehouse16 Posted October 28, 2003 Share Posted October 28, 2003 This will be my new cache signing; TFTC - Took out "ALL" of the junk and left something nice. Firehouse16 & Code3 "Dave, Teresa & the 2 kids" Quote Link to comment
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