Stale Signature Items

[AC Student]

I created a simple signature item a few months ago. I purchase tiny decks of

cards from Oriental Trading Company and add a card displaying my avatar (see

picture). For awhile they were very popular trade items but by now every

active local cacher who wants one must already have two or three, and my

signature items linger dejectedly at the bottom of cache containers with the

dirty golf balls and broken McToys. I just ordered a second signature item,

wooden nickels with my avatar on one side and "TUIT" on the other side. I

figure I'll use round TUITs for awhile till they get stale then switch back

to playing cards, then back to TUITs and so on. Will this be enough to keep

my sig items fresh? Will I need to add a third or fourth item to the

rotation? Should I just not worry about it when my sig items sit unwanted

taking up space in caches?

[+CO Admin]

Personally, those are pretty cool. Come to Colorado and leave a few. the cachers here would love them

[+Renegade Knight]

You could do that, or upgrade and leave your sig item only every so many caches. When I finally do a geo coin It's not going in every cache.

[ghOzt]

You could do that, or upgrade and leave your sig item only every so many caches.  When I finally do a geo coin It's not going in every cache.

That's a good solution. Only place them in the really good caches that you do in order to entice others to do them. It's also kinda like voting with your swag (instead of 'voting with your dollar').

[+9Key]

You could number your signature items to make them collectable, kinda like baseball cards. Change the design occasionally and call it Edition 2 or somesuch.

[+CYBret]

A few months ago I was reading through the logs of the caches I've done and found one where the finder (someone who was visiting the area) wrote, "Took one of those lighthouse pins that seem to be in every cache in this area." That was my signature item. It got me to wondering if maybe it's time to switch to something new.

 

I am running low on lighthouse pins and I'm not exactly sure if I'll be able to restock, but I'd rather stick with what I'm known by than have to change. Maybe that's just me.

 

I guess there will always be those who love to take signature items (I'm one), but there will also be those who leave them so other can see that you've been to the cache. There aren't too many cachers out there who I collect multiple signature items from..the only one who comes to mind is Scoobie10..and that's because he leaves Dairy Queen coins!

 

Which..if I keep my New Years Resolution..I won't be collecting any more of anyway.

 

Bret

[+MountainMudbug]

I make 'coins' out of polymer clay to leave as a signature item. I don't leave them in every cache I visit, only the ones that were (for me) extra fun or difficult or just special in some way.

When I started making my coins they all looked pretty much the same, and I just dropped them into the bottom of the cache. Now I've started changing the colors and designs so that each one is unique and therefore more collectible, and I put each one in a tiny ziploc with a printout explaining what it is and who made it.

 

Still, some cachers prefer picking up drooly, used toys rather than unique signature items To each his own

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

I like all of them

[+carleenp]

My pika pencils are definitely getting old. I livened them up with devil ducky toppers which seem to be fairly popular, but I need to get something else. I found a source of little glass animals and might start leaving those with a card for now. I also found some instructions for making a pikachu box. I thought about making little bead kits to put in the boxes. I have also been planning to make up little gift bags with various fun stuff in them. Those would only get left in special caches. I really should get to work on that.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

I've left a Team GPSaxophone pen in every cache that's large enough since around find#100. I'm almost out of pens and wondering if I should do something different for the next batch.

[The_Brownies]

Signature Items are cool, but I think they should only go into really special caches. If the signature item is of really no value then maybe, I.e. a wooden nickel, just leave them without exchanging anything for it. That way a cache does not become depleted with signtaure magnets that are 1/2" X 1/2" and other items that might be considered as swag.

 

Now a geocoin, is a little different. Normally they cost around $4 bucks a piece and if these are left in a cache, then the person who retreives it, should be willing to make an appropriate exchange for it.

[+wimseyguy]

I just had to check out this thread re: Stale items when the last post was by the Brownies.

Personnaly I don't collect sig items-there's enough stuff in my life already. Plus I think it's a cool way to say been here already so I leave them in the cache.

What's really funny to me is when they just become geoswag and I see one in a cache even though that cacher hasn't logged that particular one yet!

I may create one of my own someday and my opinions of sig items will change.

 

arrgh sp. edit-must learn to use preview post!

Edited January 29, 2004 by wimseyguy

[+carleenp]

Signature Items are cool, but I think they should only go into really special caches. If the signature item is of really no value then maybe, I.e. a wooden nickel, just leave them without exchanging anything for it. That way a cache does not become depleted with signtaure magnets that are 1/2" X 1/2" and other items that might be considered as swag.

 

If I make a trade, I normally leave something in addition to the item. Many times I trade a signature item for a signature item.

[+Butano]

What's really funny to me is when they just become geoswag and I see one in a cache even though that cacher hasn't logged that particular one yet!

I have just recently learned that a couple of my signature items are making the rounds in the Sacramento area. (I live in San Jose, but make my way up there every once in a while.) I do often wonder what happens to them when I leave them. I do often collect other's signature items myself, including a coveted Iron Chef Spoon of Justice . It seemed the general consensus was that it was okay to take them. I have been considering making one of my items a travelbug itself. That way I would know where it had been. I think that it is fine that they are traveling around. It is the signature in the log that indicates that you visited the cache.

[+WalruZ]

I've never understood the whole sig item thing myself. I never trade for them, and can hardly understand why anyone else would. There's a cacher in my area that does the card decks. They're nice and all, but i don't play cards, so...

[+bob393]

I love them all.

Those are the ones I generaly keep for my trophy shelf.

[+Fritz_Monroe]

I make a wooden nickel and leave that as my sig in every cache that it fits. If I'm going to take something, I always leave something else of equal or greater value. What really bites is when you hit a cache and there's a really cool item and you have crap to trade. So, I try to make sure I have something good in my geo-bag.

 

I might switch sig items at milestone caches, or may get something special for those.

 

F_M

[+The Cheeseheads]

I've never understood the whole sig item thing myself. I never trade for them, and can hardly understand why anyone else would. There's a cacher in my area that does the card decks. They're nice and all, but i don't play cards, so...

There's a number of cachers in my area who race out to new caches to be FtF. Nothing gets them more than when they get to the cache, open it up, and see this on top...

 

[+Klondike Mike]

I think all you sig item owners should try taping a $5 bill to your sig items for that added touch you could try doing that when your on holidays up in Canada

 

 

... just a though

[+Go JayBee]

I'll add mine in here...(Don't you steal my SI, though)...

 

I leave Mini-Tabasco Bottles (1/8 oz) the ones that have been in military meals for about 50 years now, I think. I know....FOOD ITEM!!!!!...But, mine are individually vacuum sealed (you know those Tilia things) so there is nothing for the critters to smell.

 

I'll tell ya, though....those things get snagged up quick.

 

JayBee