Paper Swag in a Geocache

[+Too Tall John]

So, everyone's found it: that mangled business card stuck in the corner of an ammo can, the soggy coupon sticking out of the lid of the Lock-n-Lock, effectively wicking the moisture past the seal, or the flier for the local attractions spindled and bent so that the pictures are barely recognizable.

 

Why would anyone think that a piece of paper is a good item to leave behind for swag in a geocache? Perhaps because it is inexpensive and easy to carry? Yes, but the idea in trading swag is to trade even or trade up. How would trading a piece of paper that is probably already wrinkled from being in your wallet for something in a cache be considered trading even, unless it is cash? Perhaps you are trading it for another piece of paper in the cache? I doubt it.

 

Maybe you aren't trading it at all, maybe you are just leaving it behind. A sig item, perhaps? Well, knowing what happens to paper in a cache, many cache owners have placed the cache logs into a Ziplock bag. Why have I never found a business card in one? You can pick up little baby baggies by the hundreds in the Wal-Mart craft department that would fit the bill perfectly, but I've never seen such a bag used to protect a business card. Maybe I wouldn't have a problem with such swag if it was properly packaged.

 

Perhaps I would, though. The rough handling many caches receive would soon be the end of a slip of paper. A log book is big enough and thick enough to take it, but a coupon? I propose an experiment:

Take two McToys and place them on a hard surface. On top of one, put a notebook. On top of the other, put a piece of paper. Heck, make it a piece of card stock. Now, step on each. Listen to the McToys crack under your foot. (Be sure you're wearing proper footwear, we don't want anyone getting hurt here...) After stepping off your test subjects, which of the paper products fared better? I'll wager on the notebook.

 

Paper swag has one other problem. It is frequently a way to promote an agenda. While the guidelines DO NOT cover swag with an agenda, some people don't like seeing it and are likely to remove it based on their judgment. This thread IS NOT about any particular agenda, and if you'd like to discuss tracts, I suggest you do so in the proper thread while it is still unlocked.

 

So, what do you think? Are you bothered by loose paper found in a cache? What do you do when you find paper in a cache? Do you leave paper swag? If so, do you do something to protect it from becoming mush, or can you think of a way to solve the problem of deteriorating paper in a cache?

[+Chrysalides]

I don't know, I think some form of paper swag is fine.

 

[+Too Tall John]

I did, somewhere up there in the OP say:

...unless it is cash...

S'ok, I forgive you for missing it. You can make your aplogogy seem more sincere with 20's and 50's.

 

[+Chrysalides]

I did, somewhere up there in the OP say:

...unless it is cash...

S'ok, I forgive you for missing it. You can make your aplogogy seem more sincere with 20's and 50's.

 

My bad - please e-mail me your bank account and social security number so that I can immediately wire my apology over.

 

(kidding! kidding!)

 

OK to answer some of the questions:

 

1. I don't even bother looking through paper swag. I did trade for one or two "calling cards" when I started. If it's wet, I dump it. Unless it is the log sheet, in which case I add a new one in a baggie.

 

2. I don't leave paper swag. I just haven't found any worth leaving. OK, well, there's once I left a dollar note - I don't like trading cash for swag, but my daughter found a tiny eraser she really wanted, so I traded up.

Edited November 4, 2009 by Chrysalides

[Andronicus]

Any paper 'signiture items' I have made/left, were laminated. And usualy put in the log book ziplock bag.

 

I have also found that those wooden nickle signiture items often are very soggy.

Edited November 4, 2009 by Andronicus

[+flask]

laminated items don't fare too much better than unlaminated items unless the edges are very well sealed.

 

i don't really consider properly laminated items to fit the paper category.

 

proper professionally done trading cards do pretty well when placed in the bag with the logbook.

 

money seems to do just fine.

 

one kind of paper swag i have left without problem has been gift certificates for free (not discounted, not buy-one-get-one) food at a coffee shop near a frequently visited cache. those don't stay in the cache long enough to get damp.

Edited November 4, 2009 by flask

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

I've cleared expired coupons and fliers for events that already happened out of caches before.

 

In Iraq I've experienced finding little travel packets of hand sanitizer in caches. Unexpected and appreciated, though I didn't need to take them- I carry a small bottle of sanitizer in my pockets. I could see the packets getting squished in a cache and making a temporary problem, but the alcohol would probably make it dry out fast.

[+smstext]

i spent a few minutes at a cache once trying trashing out after i opened the zip bag to find more bits of paper in it than there was in the notebook. as i pulled the notebook out all these bits of so called signiture items fell out everywhere and some bits were soggy and smelly. If i find these in any of my caches they are binned and does waste space in the cache.

[+smstext]

before i forget, why do people leave them in the cache? surely signing the book says you have been there?

[+Chrysalides]

before i forget, why do people leave them in the cache? surely signing the book says you have been there?

It's not a replacement for signing the logbook (I know you didn't say it is, just wanted to make it clear).

 

It's like a signature item (though the majority is nowhere near as interesting). Why do people leave signature items? I'm guessing there are all sorts of reasons. Part of it in increasing your visibility, I guess. If Vinny is still around, we can expect a "signature items = advertising = bad" thread next.

Edited November 4, 2009 by Chrysalides

[+bittsen]

I have the solution. Print up PLASTIC business cards.

 

If you want some printed, let me know. Yes, I'm serious. I have a press.

[+9Key]

I have the solution. Print up PLASTIC business cards.

 

If you want some printed, let me know. Yes, I'm serious. I have a press.

What don't you have?

[+Too Tall John]

I have also found that those wooden nickle signiture items often are very soggy.

Good point. That's actually why I have bunches of those little baggies I mentioned in my OP. I put the wooden nickels I make into them.

[+flask]

before i forget, why do people leave them in the cache? surely signing the book says you have been there?

 

'coz we're all collectible.

 

people's signatures are very interesting to me. it's interesting to see what people use to represent themselves, and i like to collect them.

 

i prefer chunky items to flat ones, and paper items (witht exception of the properly laminated and the professionally done cards) fall way to the bottom of the list.

 

edit to add: i have one torn and musty paper card that i treasure in my collection. it is the old paper card of a prominent area cacher with their original cache handle, before they changed it early in their first year. that's HISTORY, babe.

Edited November 5, 2009 by flask

[+bittsen]

What don't you have?

 

An ongoing physical relationship with a human member of the female persuasion...

 

 

Anything else you want to know?

[+Chrysalides]

An ongoing physical relationship with a human member of the female persuasion...

TMI

 

Edit to add, because I just recalled bittsen's aversion to acronyms : Too Much Information

Edited November 5, 2009 by Chrysalides