Theft Proof Cache

[bigwhitebob]

I am the owner of the Alley Cache in southern California but its been down for several months now due to the cache (container and all) being stolen on two different occasions. I am considering a lock box on a chain that is concreted into the ground. Also I am thinking that a combo lock with the combination online would work pretty good. Anyone have any other ideas or reasons why this wont work?

Thanks

[+Renegade Knight]

Bolt cutters is why it won't work.

 

What I've done with success is move the replament cache to a different location than where the original was at. As the new location is fairly proof agaisnt accidentla muggle finds it's lasted some time now in an area where caches have a half life of a few weeks. To find the cache you have to email for coordinates. That means I'll take time to look at the emails profile. If I don't like it I play the cache nazi "No Cache For You!" so far I've not had to do that.

 

That breaks the rules but it solved the problem. It makes for a little more work on the cache owners part.

Edited December 15, 2004 by Renegade Knight

[+NightPilot]

Theft-proof isn't possible. Neither is idiot-proof. A chain might make it theft-resistant, but it will also make it look like there is something valuable in there, and almost guarantee that it will disappear. Bolt-cutters are cheap and plentiful, especially among thieves. Among the obvious solutions - hide the cache.

[madratdan]

Sounds like you need to find a container that blends into the alley. Something that no one would want to steal. Maybe build it into the bottom of an old beat up trash can. Make it look like an electrical meter or gas meter. Just a couple of thoughts.

[+rusty_tlc]

Camo, yeah that's the ticket. A cinder block? Heavy enough to stay put.

[+clearpath]

In big letters print "Urine Samples" on your container. No one will touch it ...

[nobby.nobbs]

not possible, even if they can't get the box they'll empty it.

 

you can only try to place where it won't be found or have it in your back garden with a web cam on it so you get to see who raids it!

 

i'd stick with the move to more muggle proof location option. it's the best chance you have. good luck

[+JohnnyVegas]

You could try welding a couple of 50lb weight plates to an ammo box

[+The Puzzler]

Okay, so nothing is theft proof, but if a cache is chained and locked, I would expect it to resist the vast majority of casual geocache crooks especially if it is labeled as a game piece and www.geocaching.com so that the illegitimate finder can satisfy his/her curiosity without brute force.

 

Maybe the cache still wouldn't last forever, but surely it would last a great deal longer than otherwise in most high cache theft areas.

[+kingsting]

Change it to a micro...Perhaps the fake dog turd with a film can underneath.

Edited December 15, 2004 by kingsting

[+Mudinyeri]

I too have had a cache muggled. I posted a similar topic/question and received many similar responses. My cache was hidden in a fairly high-traffic area, albeit off the beaten, path so I knew it was at risk. I tried to play the guilt card and included a note that it was hidden by my 4 year-old (which it was). That didn't seem to help. I guess someone who doesn't feel guilty about stealing doesn't feel guilty about stealing from a kid!

 

Anyway, here are a few thoughts (some collected from my post, some I came up with on my own).

 

1. Stay Off the Beaten Path - this can be difficult if you live in an urban area and want the cache to be close by and easy to maintain. If you have to hide near an urban area with a high level of traffic, consider a micro or a cheap container and cheap contents. Make it known in your listing that this is the case and why.

 

2. Camoflage - if you can't see it you can't steal it. Muggles may still spot someone finding the cache and come back later. This can't be helped except with a warning to 'cachers to watch out for Muggles.

 

3. Trail Camera - if you have an extra $200 laying around, or if you are a hunter who doesn't use their trail cam for most of the year, set up a trail cam (well hidden, of course) to keep watch over your cache. At least if it is stolen, you'll see who did it.

 

4. Angry Pit Bull - chaining an angry pit bull to the cache might work. I'm sure the PETA folks would ask that TPTB not approve such a cache, though.

[+Kit Fox]

My vote is to move the cache to a better spot. You could also archive the cache, and then change it to a multicache using a micro as the starting point then directing them to the cache in a safer spot.

 

I have seen one cache that requires you to use an FRS radio to get the coords. At the coords, you find a heavy aircraft cable that comes from the owners yard, over a brick wall, to a supersized ammo box. The ammo box is not locked, but secured (to the cable) to prevent someone from stealing the entire container.

 

The whole set-up was obscured from public view by large shrubbery.

[+rusty_tlc]

......

4. Angry Pit Bull - chaining an angry pit bull to the cache might work.  I'm sure the PETA folks would ask that TPTB not approve such a cache, though. 

Uh , ahem what about the legit cahers?

Five pounds of raw beef.

[+Mudinyeri]

......

4. Angry Pit Bull - chaining an angry pit bull to the cache might work.  I'm sure the PETA folks would ask that TPTB not approve such a cache, though. 

Uh , ahem what about the legit cahers?

Five pounds of raw beef.

Well, of course you would want to list the "special equipment" required.

 

I guess you could also train the pit bull not to attack anyone carrying a GPSr unless they tried to take the container.

[jdoe]

Theft-proof isn't possible. Neither is idiot-proof. A chain might make it theft-resistant, but it will also make it look like there is something valuable in there, and almost guarantee that it will disappear. Bolt-cutters are cheap and plentiful, especially among thieves. Among the obvious solutions - hide the cache.

Perhaps a few of those biohazard stickers would be in order so geomuggles DON'T want anything to do with that container.

[+rusty_tlc]

How about a decoy cache? Hide a pile of gladware with a soggy notepad inside each one. The dry notepad is the real cache.

 

Wait, dry notepad in a gladware container. What was I thinking!

 

Edit: durned tags!

Edited December 15, 2004 by rusty_tlc

[+Team Perks]

An alley behind your house? Consider that if I was your neighbor, I'd probably remove it so people wouldn't keep nosing around right behind my yard.

 

My advice: Find someplace else for a cache. Obviously someone's onto you.

[+TAT]

If you could make a scale version of a mail box, you could use it as transfer station, periodically taking the deposits to a safer cache somewhere else. If it's rugged enough, it will discourage the casual theif.

[+Camo-crazed]

......

4. Angry Pit Bull - chaining an angry pit bull to the cache might work.  I'm sure the PETA folks would ask that TPTB not approve such a cache, though. 

Uh , ahem what about the legit cahers?

Five pounds of raw beef.

Well, of course you would want to list the "special equipment" required.

 

I guess you could also train the pit bull not to attack anyone carrying a GPSr unless they tried to take the container.

better change the cache page when you go on vacation and make it ten pounds of raw beef

 

More Suggestions:

 

~ Rig up a trapdoor and toss any theives you see into a pit.

 

~ Dig a hole, put in the cache, cover it with pavement slabs and set fifteen kids with paintball guns loose

 

~ Camo it as an angry pit bull and stuff a real one into the ammo box then mention it on the cache page.

[+luv2trvl]

Ok, it's late and I'm slow. But, nothing is theft proof and the thugs out there will steal and destroy anything. Stealth is the answer in these situations.

I was born in FL and decided as a memory to put a pink flamingo in my yard. Now maybe it was my neighbors that didn't like the eye sore , but it was stolen overnight. Who would want it and who would take the time to walk up my side walk and pick it up?

You can mark it urine, chain it to a tree, or explain what it is, they will still mess with it if they find it.

[+JohnnyVegas]

Change it to a micro...Perhaps the fake dog turd with a film can underneath.

Won't work. I have a cache that is in a fake dog turd, it's come up missing twice. Who steels dog turds and why

[+Moose Mob]

Change it to a micro...Perhaps the fake dog turd with a film can underneath.

Won't work. I have a cache that is in a fake dog turd, it's come up missing twice. Who steels dog turds and why

Picking up the "land mines" is a routine task for some folks.

[+Mudinyeri]

~ Camo it as an angry pit bull and stuff a real one into the ammo box then mention it on the cache page.

 

Hmmm ... what about hiding it INSIDE the angry pit bull? I don't see anything in the rules that prevents that. On the cache page you may want to suggest rubber gloves in addition to the raw beef, however.

 

Edit: Oh, and for the sake of the pit bull, you may want to make it a micro. Of course, if it isn't, it would only make the pit bull angrier!

Edited December 16, 2004 by Mudinyeri

[teamwalker]

Please do not put the Biohazard sticker on anything you don't want destroyed. Its a marking reserved for honest to God bad icky infectious crap. Somebody would be more likely to report it to the local Fire Department. Who would send out the Haz-Mat company to pick it up with tongs toss it in a barrel and burn it. That said, FBI notification might also be in the cards depending how close to certain buildings it is. Please no biohazard stickers, urine samples was funny but, not that.