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How to get more people trading


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Hi! It's been a long while since the family and I have actively cached....New home, demands of teenagers, increased work load and a mountain of qilts to start/complete....

 

Anyway...we just recently checked on our caches and tried out 4 caches...I am noticing a trend. Most people are signing the log but not trading.

 

Any ideas of how to keep the trading portion active?

 

My latest is to start putting antiques in as a trade....I found an auction way out in the middle of nowhere......Consequently most things go really reasonably. I have no intention or time to list stuff on ebay so I figure if I buy mostly small things I can easily place them in the cache boxes....Won a box for $1. It had a small ceramic poodle in it that was worth $30.

 

So do you think it would work?

 

Any other ideas.

 

"Have you no news on your travels?" the Book of fairy & folk tales of Ireland (1888)

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I trade when I have the bucks to get trade items. It doesn't help to have good items in a cache when I spent my last two bucks on gas to get to the cache. However if there isn't anything worth trading for and I do have trade items I'm not going to trade either.

 

Your method is better than reqired trade caches. Those are a headache and I'm getting rid of mine slowly.

 

=====================

Wherever you go there you are.

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I think you'll find different folks geocache for different reasons.

 

For some, the act of signing the logbook itself is what does it for them. In fact I put out a few micro caches without logs (the idea was to email me an answer found only in the cache itself to get credit) and wouldn't you know it? The first person to log each of them saw fit to place a log in the cache. (not that it bothered me). It suprised me the physical log was so important to some people.

 

Others are into the cache items themselves. They get annoyed if the 'pay off' is a McDonald's toy or something they view as trash.

 

And of course there are those like myself who feel the hunt itself is the reward. We don't really care what's at the end of the trail as long as we reach the goal.

 

So you may find there's not much you can do to encourage actual trading. Leaving higher valued items doesn't neccesarily mean someone is going to leave equally kewl items. (or anything at all for that matter). I recently left a sock filled with foriegn coins in one of my caches with a note sayng "Please take only ONE -- leave some for the next finder". A few months later I checked my cache and all fifty coins were gone. (despite the fact only six people had logged the cache).

 

It doesn't really bother me. Human nature being what it is and all, you have to expect this sort of thing to happen.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that putting really nifty items in your caches doesn't guarantee fair trades.

 

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

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Hmmmm.....Well then.

 

How about an antiques rode show type cache. I would stock it with items that i got at the auction and in turn people could trade what ever (I agree with the concept of "human nature being what it is") and then in the log write about a favorite antique or unique item that they have at their home.

 

I also agree that just finding the spot is reward enough. I rarely take anything for myself it's our kids that do the trading.

 

FYI....I go to the auction just about every week. I enjoy seeing what others have accumalated as treasures over the years. I end up coming hoe with a few boxes of things that I only wanted one or two items out of. Fearless Leader (the husband) has this rule about getting the stuff out of the boxes before I go to the next auction so the cache stashing is also a bonus reduction plan for me.

 

Dx

 

"Have you no news on your travels?" the Book of fairy & folk tales of Ireland (1888)

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There isn't much you can do beyond leaving stuff that people would want. I try to leave decent stuff in my caches and periodically visit them to "refresh" the contents, but I still get some TNLN logs.

 

A lot of people are in it just for the hunt. I think others became jaded after finding so much garbage and just gave up on trading.

 

"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues" -Abraham Lincoln

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There is a new cache in town that is already geotrashed at 1 week of age. The logs are "took cool item, left golf ball", etc.

 

As long as the organization is focused on what we can't put into caches, and not what we should put into caches, we will have people who feel no shame in down trading and thus trashing a cache.

 

No fun to go wade through nettles or pick a dozen ticks off of you just to find an ammo box of debris at the end of the trail. Thats one of the reasons that I have faded in my enthusiasm for the sport. Too many trash dumps with GPS coordinates, not enough well maintained caches.

 

Suggestion: Lets start making downtraders pay a price for it, by publishing the log entries when they do it.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nebraskache/

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I'm not sure about that idea of publishing the logs of the "downtraders". For one thing, there are more folks visiting our caches than there are online logs. Plus there is the muggle factor. So I wouldn't be too quick to hang somebody out to dry if they make a bad trade. A consistent record of recorded bad trades, OK, let 'em have it. Come on, everybody's made a down trade at some point, and I'll bet they overcompensated at the next cache by trading way up. Not that I know anybody like that icon_wink.gif.

 

There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numbers, and those who don't.

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Hmmm...Instead of publishing the -trade logs why not.....

 

Bulk up the cache.....

 

I look at geocaching as my sport and exercise. Consequently longer trails and a heavy pack seem to be my rule. Because my pack is heavy (I'm always finding some interesting item that I think would be great in a cache) I can't wait to "downsize". We have often left more than we have take. This especially when the cache box has been depleted or trashed.

 

Right now we have 3 active caches out there. All are relatively near where we live. Fearless goes out at least once a month and checks on the boxes...And lately Eversure Son has been doong the same. So as "The Keepers of the Cache" I think that it is our responsiblity to keep the quality going.

 

In my 2 years of caching I have also seen some very touching trades. We placed a cache on Butterfly girl's birthday.......no intent on our part to get anything in return. We had been reading the Hobbit...and it seemed like an excellent thing to do. Over 10 cachers have sent birthday presents to her.......some left in the cache some given to her at caching events. That was last year. This year after a trash in cache out event.......a bunch of cachers got together, pooled their cache goodies and placed a cache just for her to find on her birthday. icon_cool.gif It was such a terrific thing for them to do!! She has had a series of medical problems and often sits apart from the group. The cache showed her in a very tangible way that she is a part of the group. ......Their selfless act made me smile!

 

So anyway........I say if the cache is lacking why not bulk it up!

 

Dx

 

"Have you no news on your travels?" the Book of fairy & folk tales of Ireland (1888)

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I tend to have lost my willingness to let things pass. I must be caching in an area that fosters the deposition of geotrash. I have to say, its been a year since I found a cache that had mostly good things in it. Most of the time its broken toys or stuff that no one would want, like plastic parts from an inkjet printer case. This is why I favor posting logs of people who downtrade. In a positive vein, I favor changing the rules to eliminate trading in favor of the exchange of signature items only. They are easy to make if you have mailing labels and a printer, and can be made from anything.

 

I would propose a new rule/game: Find a cache, leave 2 signature items and trade for 1 of the ones you find. You collect the items and when your local caching group gets together, you could compare your finds. Balloonists do this with their balloon pins. Pass them out where they land, and trade pins at events, then at big events, trade with people from other parts of the world. This would be a positive way of fixing the down trading problem, and if it continued to be a problem even then, then publish the logs.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nebraskache/

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