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When A Gift Card Isn't A Gift Card!


PC Painter

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I visited a cache on thanksgiving, and in with the usual sig cards and such, was what I thought was a Blockbuster Video gift card. Since I took that, I left a lot more in the way of goodies, than I usually would have. So then I get home, and I call the number on the back to see what is on it (I'm thinking mabe $5 or something), and it's not even a gift card! I don't rent movies very often, so I wasn't aware that a "Rewards" card isn't a gift card. It's a Rewards card for an account that's not even active. I even thought maybe it was a mistake and sent a very polite email to the person that said (in the logs) that they left it. They didn't bother to reply.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, eh? Heh....now I don't do these caches just to get stuff. I actually more enjoy getting a little trinket to put on my "geocaching" shelf. But I thought it would be nice to rent a movie over the holiday weekend. It's a shame that there's a small group of cachers that don't seem to have the same regard for others, that most of us do.

 

Yeah....I know...this was mostly just a rant.

Edited by PC Painter
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Was the cache a nice walk?

Did you hold your spouse's hand on the way?

Did your dog do something funny there?

Was there a nice view?

 

There is lots more to caching than "stuff".

 

You left the cache better than you found it. That Karma.

 

Smile, and enjoy the expierence :D

 

Ed

I know there is a lot more to a cache than "stuff". I mentioned that, actually. I just wonder what kind of a person knowingly puts something in a cache that they know is worthless to EVERYONE, but leaves it anyway.

 

Yes, I enjoyed the walk....yes it was a cool cache. Now, find me a wife and a dog, and we'll talk. :lol:

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I picked up a Starbucks gift card in a cache once figuring that it probably had less than $1 on it for someone to leave it behind, but what the heck, 25 cents is 25 cents. Big surprise, it had nothing on it at all. But then, I got out my scissors and turned it into a Tangram Puzzle and rehid it in another cache.

 

I didn't get mad, I got even! :lol:

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Was the cache a nice walk?

Did you hold your spouse's hand on the way?

Did your dog do something funny there?

Was there a nice view?

 

There is lots more to caching than "stuff".

 

You left the cache better than you found it. That Karma.

 

Smile, and enjoy the expierence :lol:

 

Ed

I found a cache where someone else's dog "did something funny there." I didn't laugh.

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You should have contacted the geocacher with this message:

 

Dear <name removed>:

 

I wanted to thank you so much for leaving that Blockbuster Rewards card in the cache! My credit is really poor and I've always wanted to rent videos there, so I brought it to the store and activated it against your account. I was able to rent 2 videos and a video game (Spongebob rocks, BTW) but unfortunately on my way home I realized I left them on the hood of my car. I drove back to the store but they were gone.

 

Well, sorry about that. The nice guys at Blockbuster said there was no problem and they would talk to you the next time you were at your local store. Thanks again!

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You should have contacted the geocacher with this message:

 

Dear <name removed>:

 

I wanted to thank you so much for leaving that Blockbuster Rewards card in the cache! My credit is really poor and I've always wanted to rent videos there, so I brought it to the store and activated it against your account. I was able to rent 2 videos and a video game (Spongebob rocks, BTW) but unfortunately on my way home I realized I left them on the hood of my car. I drove back to the store but they were gone.

 

Well, sorry about that. The nice guys at Blockbuster said there was no problem and they would talk to you the next time you were at your local store. Thanks again!

*snort*

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You should have contacted the geocacher with this message:

 

Dear <name removed>:

 

I wanted to thank you so much for leaving that Blockbuster Rewards card in the cache! My credit is really poor and I've always wanted to rent videos there, so I brought it to the store and activated it against your account. I was able to rent 2 videos and a video game (Spongebob rocks, BTW) but unfortunately on my way home I realized I left them on the hood of my car. I drove back to the store but they were gone.

 

Well, sorry about that. The nice guys at Blockbuster said there was no problem and they would talk to you the next time you were at your local store. Thanks again!

OMG Jeremy!!

 

*rotflmao* That's just too good!

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A worthless plastic card is no better and no worse than rocks, trash, old candy, or pop-tops that are common in most caches. Most of us are over it.

 

Isn't the whole point of Thanskgiving that it's better to give than receive?
To the contrary, the point of Thanksgiving is showing thanks for all of the things we've been given. Who'd want to show thanks for the things they've given away?

 

Best Wishes,

-Bob

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I archived one of my caches this weekend. It had a couple of filthy beanies, a pack of matches with one match left, a cigarette, and a ticket stub from Finding Nemo. The log book and pens were still intact. I don't know what goes through peoples' heads, but this is the fourth cache that I've archived in the past month and they all went downhill. One of them went from good to bad in 6 months with only 9 logged visitors.

 

I don't want anything out of my caches--I stock them for the kids and for those folks who enjoy trading. I want others to keep their caches maintained so my kid will enjoy the experience at other caches. So far, it hasn't worked out that way, so I'm scaling back.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your trouble. I hope you had a nice hike and enjoyed yourself otherwise.

 

Peace

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You should have contacted the geocacher with this message:

 

Dear <name removed>:

 

I wanted to thank you so much for leaving that Blockbuster Rewards card in the cache! My credit is really poor and I've always wanted to rent videos there, so I brought it to the store and activated it against your account. I was able to rent 2 videos and a video game (Spongebob rocks, BTW) but unfortunately on my way home I realized I left them on the hood of my car. I drove back to the store but they were gone.

 

Well, sorry about that. The nice guys at Blockbuster said there was no problem and they would talk to you the next time you were at your local store. Thanks again!

Ha! That's brilliant, Jeremy! Actually, I think I can adapt it to still make it work. This is going to be worth getting skunked on the card!

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You should have contacted the geocacher with this message:

 

Dear <name removed>:

 

I wanted to thank you so much for leaving that Blockbuster Rewards card in the cache! My credit is really poor and I've always wanted to rent videos there, so I brought it to the store and activated it against your account. I was able to rent 2 videos and a video game (Spongebob rocks, BTW) but unfortunately on my way home I realized I left them on the hood of my car. I drove back to the store but they were gone.

 

Well, sorry about that. The nice guys at Blockbuster said there was no problem and they would talk to you the next time you were at your local store. Thanks again!

good one!

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Yeah, that's pretty bad.

I got a gift card from my employer that they thought was a great idea, give it to me before turkey day, you know, to get a turkey. Makes them feel less like a scrooge, or something.

It is for farmer jack, a store in the metro detroit area. $50 too.

Too bad I live an hour from detroit, and work here too.

Pretty nice. It will go with the giant coupon book they gave me earlier this year. Also for detroit.

I gave it away. I couldnt even recycle it, it was so full of coupons, it was thicker than the phone book.

 

I think I will give someone (boss) a gift certificate for someplace that is about three hours from his home.

<_<

Wonder if they just dont care, and are going to can me.

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Isn't the whole point of Thanskgiving that it's better to give than receive?
To the contrary, the point of Thanksgiving is showing thanks for all of the things we've been given. Who'd want to show thanks for the things they've given away?

 

Best Wishes,

-Bob

Oh right. Thanks for clearing that up for me Bob. I always get sooo confused this time of year. What with all of the different scotch tape varieties, and now I see that duct tape also comes in various colors and camo too, and why just the other day I even saw some in a flat pack too! And let's not even get started on the different types of wrapping papers. I mean I need some for my Jewish friends because it might offend them if I use Christmasy wrap on their gifts, and then there's Kwanza too gotta get some special paper for those friends too.

Anyways-thanks for you help in clearing all this up for me.

Happy Holidays!

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I visited a cache on thanksgiving, and in with the usual sig cards and such, was what I thought was a Blockbuster Video gift card. Since I took that, I left a lot more in the way of goodies, than I usually would have. So then I get home, and I call the number on the back to see what is on it (I'm thinking mabe $5 or something), and it's not even a gift card! I don't rent movies very often, so I wasn't aware that a "Rewards" card isn't a gift card. It's a Rewards card for an account that's not even active. I even thought maybe it was a mistake and sent a very polite email to the person that said (in the logs) that they left it. They didn't bother to reply.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, eh? Heh....now I don't do these caches just to get stuff. I actually more enjoy getting a little trinket to put on my "geocaching" shelf. But I thought it would be nice to rent a movie over the holiday weekend. It's a shame that there's a small group of cachers that don't seem to have the same regard for others, that most of us do.

 

Yeah....I know...this was mostly just a rant.

Unfortunately, geocaches are a popular target for the "emptying of the junk drawer syndrome". Why people think other people want the trash that they can't commit to the TRASH CAN is beyond me, perhaps they don't know that CITO means removing trash from a caching area, not leaving it. Unless it was a FTF award, I've never got a coupon, etc., out of a cache that wasn't expired.

 

Some people justify this with the popular saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure...uhhhh, NO. If it was garbage going into the cache, its still garbage when it comes out of the cache. There is no magic cache fairy that transforms garbage into goodness.

Edited by Polgara
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I just left a $3 coupon for EverReady Lithium batteries in a cache. It will expire Jan 31 2005. It may be expired by the time somebody notices it, but it was a $3 coupon when I left it. (I buy batteries at Sam's where they don't take coupons, or I would have spent it myself) I also left our signature item and took nothing - but consider, if you find that expired coupon, maybe it was useful when the user left it. I admit I felt a little weird about leaving a coupon - but a battery coupon seemed like an okay item in a geocache.

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It's a shame that there's a small group of cachers that don't seem to have the same regard for others, that most of us do.

 

Yeah....I know...this was mostly just a rant.

That's not cool! I refrain from putting gift cards in my caches based on the fact that they're unpredictable, they're only good at certain places, and every place has its own policies.

 

So, instead I like to put cash in my caches for the FTF. Usually $5 or under, depending on the difficulty and terrain. I figure that with cash it's rather obvious what the value is, and the value can not change or become revoked due to inactivity, like gift cards can.

 

(Just my 2 cents.)

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