Contents Depletion

[markandlynn]

Just been checking some caches we have visited to see who else has visited them after us and to see if our swaps were wothwhile for the next people. Some people have traded fairly but a fair ammount have definitely down swapped. I know i may be reading too much into their descriptions but they appear to of definitely downswapped. Guess it's just something we have to accept.

[Deego]

Think it is a fact of life.

 

Thats why I never trade anymore. I may leave stuff but NEVER take anything (apart from bugs)

[+Alibags]

I used to get miffed about this, but now if I find a cache full of rubbish, I will try to leave something, just to leave it in a better state than I found it. But tell me, what IS it with used golf balls?!! Recent finds include somebody's parking ticket, a 12" length of police barrier tape, a folded up copy of one of those freebie newspapers full of adverts (and out of date) a washing up sponge...

Edited October 7, 2004 by Alibags

[+Simply Paul]

Well, the police tape was mine. *I* thought it was interesting. I mean... if you needed some, perhaps to add some 'atmosphere' to your own cache, like, say Missing Cacher, for example, then where would you go for some? In that situation finding some in a cache would be a godsend. If it helps my cause, the battery case I swapped for it will go back into another cache at some point.

 

On the other hand I've seen cachers 'confiscate' sweets from a cache and eat them on the grounds that they're contraband. I've seen lots of out of date vouchers, cigarettes, a rusty key, leaves, sticks... Against a background like that something unusual like Police Line Do Not Cross tape doesn't seem so bad. Or am I fooling myself?

 

SP

[+Puppy Galore]

Well, the police tape was mine. *I* thought it was interesting.

Well, _my_ reaction when I read police tape was "Oh, cool! I would have grabbed that!"

 

but it was closely followed by "Oh, Mrs. Puppy would take some convincing...."

 

*grin*

[+Team Ullium]

Yes this is a particular gripe of mine in that some cachers seem to have no sense of propriety when making swaps in caches.

 

The used golf balls seems to be a favourite north of the border as well...and like others I have seen some caches sadly depleted of their reasonable swaps to be left with stuff like fir cones, one small clothes peg, old used items which should have been placed in the bin...not a cache....not to mention food items such as small freebie packets of biscuits well past their sell by date....I really do wonder about some people

 

Like Deego I more than often take nothing but leave something to attempt to raise the standard of the swaps in the cache.

 

OK I can see parents taking along their small children on a geocaching search and allowing them to make a swap with some object the child has value for...but you would think the adult would make up for that by adding a swap of their own!?

 

I know no one expects expensive swaps to be used....but there is a difference between cheap (£1 to £2) items and downright rubbish.

 

Ullium.

Edited October 7, 2004 by Ullium

[+kbootb]

I liked the idea of police tape

 

I also quite liked the idea of a 'local' newspaper but left well out of its normal area. One of the things I like about holiday is reading the local paper, watching the local news. Being in London the local news is often a repeat of the national stuff.

 

But seashells? What is that about. And these are nothing special, just average whelks etc. I have seen them in about 3 caches recently, no mention of who left them in the log.

[+Stuey]

But seashells?  What is that about.  And these are nothing special, just average whelks etc.  I have seen them in about 3 caches recently, no mention of who left them in the log.

I found a few sea shells in my "Beer you can't drink" cache when I was doing maintenance once, and I lobbed it into the sea from the cliff top. I also found some pebbles (same destination). It's very annoying to find your cache contents gradually ending up crap. That's why it's quite nice to set a micro sometimes. At least you don't invest too much in the cache at the start.

Edited October 7, 2004 by Stuey

[+The Spokes]

What are you all talking about here? Do you really expect to find anything good in a cache when you set out to look for it?

Two years ago we did not know what to expect now we do. Anything good is a bonus.

The only thing I have ever found which was useful in a cache is a small tape measure. The kids however always get the choice. Laura picked an egg cup from one cache it was awful but she thought it was good.we have had it for a year now and its in the cache pack now waiting to be dropped off in another cache. We have rarely done a cache without the kids being there. And when did, we did not know what to take. Let’s face it the trinkets are for the kids. If it gives them the buzz to find a McDougal’s toy then I have come to accept it. I think that everyone else should as well. Oh if we found a shell in a cache Laura would pick it without doubt. In our car we have stones and shells that she thinks are cool. We throw them out every so often into our garden. All the good things to trade for adults are banned. So let’s leave the stuff for the kids.

Unless of course ……………

[+Stuey]

So let’s leave the stuff for the kids.

Kids?

[+Team Ullium]

What are you all talking about here? Do you really expect to find anything good in a cache when you set out to look for it?

 

Not really Spokes....we don't expect to find solid gold Rolex's or such....but then again we don't expect to find seashells, old golf balls, fir cones and such when the placer has filled his cache with thoughtful and interesting items

 

All the good things to trade for adults are banned.

 

Depends what you consider 'good things' ??

(My mind boggles at what you might consider 'good things' that are banned )

 

What I consider good things are thoughtfull items for the location the cache is placed in...such as Complan plasters on a long walk cache....or a wee sewing kit....or CD....or even just as simple as replacement batteries....nothing expensive you understand....just interesting or thoughtful. Not something you should have thrown out or picked up on your walk to the cache! I think that is insulting to the placer!

 

I notice you have placed seven caches of your own!! Do you fill them with seashells and coloured stones and such when you set them??

 

Ullium.

[+Sandstorm]

This is another one that gets my goat too (I’m running out of goats )

 

Caching for us is an excuse to get the kids out – while they enjoy the hunt, the prospect of a goodie at the other end will keep them going. I can think of no more than one or two occasions when we have found something either Mr or Mrs Sandstorm valued. But for us but that’s not the point.

 

We go well prepared - at any time my cache bag probably has upwards of 100 swappable items in it, with a value ranging from 10p (a bouncy ball) to somewhere over a fiver (19th century silver coins) and an average value of probably between 50p (Matchbox car) to a pound (fossil ammonite). There have been times when we have completed 5 trad caches in a day with six kids in tow. Even with the adults taking nothing, the kids required a total of at least 30 swap items.

 

Gadget habits aside, caching is a relatively low cost activity and we feel that a small investment in swap items to keep the next visiting kids happy is well worthwhile.

 

When we go and revisit our caches the boys always know they can have a laugh at the collection of twigs, single socks, sweet wrappers and calling cards *(ducks)* that people will have swapped in.

 

I accept that what we leave meets our criteria but may not always meet others’ more adult expectations – but again each to his own. Although I’m running out of goats I try not to let it affect the blood pressure.

 

Sandstorm

[+Kitty Hawk]

I'm not so much worried about the value - the things my 5 year old picks in preference to others always boggles my mind. I do get a bit dispondant about the quality though - when the swaps are really more suitable for the bin than the cache though and there have been a few caches I've visited that I've been glad he didn't come on.

 

There was one when we took what appeared to be a polystyrene model aeroplane, something that new would have been, say 50p. This was the remnants of two and were so crumpled and, er, "well used" that it couldn't be made to fly. He was very disappointed.

 

When I do swap though, I do try to swap up, I wouldn't want someone to be saying "Did you see what that Kitty Hawk left, the ***" However, it's difficult if you think you are alone.

[+The Spokes]

Yes we put in rubbish so that people have no difficulty in trading up. No seriously the things people leave is quite strange and I have left what I consider rubbish in a cache and I have left what I thought was good stuff. One mans meat is another mans poison I suppose. Excellent idea about a series of caches called the Shell and Stones Series. It will get the garden cleared.

 

More to the point on the quality of caches out there is the quality of the containers and the way people put back the lids. If the cache has got some good items inside (or even rubbish) it is far better to find it dry than all soggy,

This is my beef, I have put out cheep Tupperware containers in the past, but no more. This is what I found when I started caching so this is what I put out. But over time and wet winters some of the caches we were finding were soggy inside. NOT NICE.

My suggestion is pay a couple of quid for some Ammo boxes or the 500ml metal screw top jars. They both waterproof and the jars cost a mere 50p this is what I have done and intend to replace at least one of our caches that always gets water inside.

And any future caches we place will have good containers. (and lots of shells)

But the lids have to be replaced properly over filling a cache and not being able to get the lid to seat quite right, is in my opinion much worse than leaving a shell.

[markandlynn]

We take a large bag of swaps and if the cache will take the strain allow all 3 kids to swap stuff. We do however make them think if its fair. They like shells and pretty stones but like above we just put these in the car and don't let them swap them. What got me was some things i or the kids have put in caches have been swapped for items which are either poorly described or are not that good. We try to leave extra stuff in caches so that the next visitors get a better choice especially kids and we always have adult swaps and kids swaps depending on whether something catches our eye. I just think we have to accept depletion as an unavoidable fact of caching.

[+wildlifewriter]

Time was, I left golf balls as a kind of "signature item". (They were brand new ones, d'ye see, and therefore worth a couple of quid, each.)

 

Then, as I found more caches, some already had a golf ball in them.

 

"Aha!" I thought, "This golf-ball trail is a well-ploughed furrow." (To say nothing of being a mixed metaphor.)

 

So instead, I've taken to leaving sachets of insect repellent wipes in caches. Which no-one else seems to do AND would make a good cryptic crossword clue as well. (?)

 

While the midgie season was at its height, I received a couple of e-mails indicating that human lives had been saved (allegedly) by finding the same insect repellent.

 

Which now only leaves the problem: what to do with all the golf balls left over?

[+Papakas]

See "December Holiday Caching".

 

Great idea on there for replenishing your swaps!

[+Alibags]

If I had found a length of tape cut off neatly, folded up and tied with a lacky band I may have thought it was deliberate, but I was not the only person to see it in the cache and think it was trash, or at the least somewhat inexplicable.

 

Oh well, there's a lesson for me. One man's rubbish is another man's treasure and all that jazz...

 

My personal principal is to make sure that there is plenty for the kids, as they seem to be the most keen on the getting of 'stuff', and whilst I will nearly always leave something (got a supply on inexpensive things for this very purpose), I only take something if I think I will really use it. McToys, to use a generic phrase, are not to everybody's taste but I would rather find a load of clean stuff in good condition that I was not interested in, then a bunch of twigs and rubbish.

[+Team Ullium]

You're singing my song Alibags

 

Even if, as you say, it is only kids stuff such as packs of colouring in pencils etc.!!

 

Like you I have swaps for the kids as well as ones I think an adult may be interested in...and if I see something I think I WILL use then I swap....outside of that I TNLN or TN leave something more times than often.

 

Ullium.

[+The_Crane]

Part of the fun of cacheing for me is wondering (and then finding out!) what people have left inside the cache. It's really nice to come across an unusual swap/signature item or calling card from names that we recognise.

 

Sadly we do come across a small number of caches with quite poor contents , but we always aim to leave them in a better state than when we found them. We generally try to leave two or three nice items and where necessary tidy up the cache by removing any damp/mouldy or dangerous items. (We have come across a number of lighters of late).

 

We also carry out regular maintenance visits to the few caches we have placed, to make sure the contents do not degrade. I just wish everyone would follow the simple Geocacheing guidelines: Trade Up or Don't Trade At All!

 

Debbie (of The Cranes)

[+Alibags]

On the subject of kiddy stuff to carry as swaps (or to load the kids up with cheaply) I recently discovered all sorts of great stuff in Asda, including spiral bound notebooks for 9p for me to use as log books in my caches, fabulous bouncy balls, waterpistols, tins of real glass marbles, water pistols, novelty erasers, etc, and all incredibly cheap. I think that the woman on the till thought we were somewhat strange with all the kiddy tat that we filled up the basket with (plus a bottle of malt and some bars of chocolate). Musta thought we were on drugs or something!

 

Also check out Lidl, Woolies, local markets etc. Last week I got a bunch of rugged waterproof rubber torches for 50p each on my local market. They will be going into some new caches in my area soon.

 

It doesn't have to cost a fortune. If I divide the amount of time I spend head down and *rse up in a clump of nettles by the amount of money I spend, it works out very cheap indeed.

[markandlynn]

Yup we do that. Wait till they clear out end of season lines and then stock up. All the retailers put up some great clearance bins.

[+MarcB]

As I've put on some of my cache pages, I'd rather someone take an item and not put anything back than leave junk. The cache at least has a lesser chance of getting waterlogged due to overcrammage!

MarcB

[Browser]

I saw the following extract from a cache log today and thought of this post :

 

"Took Ball game, left nothing (sorry)."

 

Browser