"Calling Cards" in Caches

Team Jeckyl · Post by **Team Jeckyl** » 26 August 08 12:31 am

On our recent trip, while geocaching on the way, we have come across many, many caches that are littered with calling cards. We are sure there are better uses for laminators than making waterproof junk for caches - why leave a calling card when you write you visit in the official log book?

When maintaining our own caches, calling cards will be included in the "trash out" category.

fehrgo · Post by **fehrgo** » 26 August 08 12:56 am

On a trip to California I found several caches of a medium size that were at least half full of non-swap calling card trinkets. At least it has not gotten to that stage here.

Marcus Vitruvius · Post by **Marcus Vitruvius** » 26 August 08 9:05 am

I think most cachers out there would have come across a few of these 'calling cards' from time to time. I don't necessarily think they are a bad idea, just that they get overused a bit (or a lot in some cases). I would have thought that calling cards would only be used when a) the cache log is soaked and you can't sign the log, or b) there is no writing implement in the cache, and you have forgotten to bring your own. In these two instances, at least the finder can prove they have visited the log, but beyond that, I think most cachers who use them seem to use them as purely their signature item. It would be interesting to see what the majority of cachers out there think about them. I personally don't mind them being in caches.

Udderchaos · Post by **Udderchaos** » 26 August 08 10:02 am

we where using stickers at one stage. We pretty much always leave the write ups for the interweb

rhinogeo · Post by **rhinogeo** » 26 August 08 10:20 am

Facitman and I left commemorative numbered calling cards at each cache we found on our big days out

The Fortieth Forage in February 2005 when we set the now rather modest but then impressive record for most caches found in a day of 44

(it's so much easier for the kiddies these days

) and October 2005's Spring Caching Carnival when we found 58

Each calling card was marked to identify which number cache for each day it was left in

I regard them as just another type of signature item but only make/use them for special occasions

Skippy&lambchops · Post by **Skippy&lambchops** » 26 August 08 10:54 am

Another problem with calling cards is if the cache get muggled do you think the muggle will put the calling cards in the bin

Team Jeckyl · Post by **Team Jeckyl** » 26 August 08 11:15 am

Another problem we found with the cards was the wind, you open the cache box and the wind whips through and off they go. There was one instance where we couldn't retrieve a couple, because of the terrain, that is when they become litter (there was no way either of us was going over the cliff!).

Team Wibble · Post by **Team Wibble** » 26 August 08 11:41 am

We left calling cards for awhile, but in the end they seemed a little pointless, we put a sticker in the logbook now with a brief comment (we too save our writeups for the interwebs) and sometimes leave a pathtag which is a more useful signature item.

Something we came across in NZ that we thought was actually a good idea though was more of a REVERSE calling card - one team would leave a stack of calling cards in their caches, with the idea that you take one from the cache as a momento, it had the name of the cache and the team that hid it, with something along the lines of "congratulations, you found it". The cards were neatly in a zip lock bag so they stayed dry and didn't take up the whole cache.

We found quite a few caches by this team in particular and they did make nice little souvenirs of our time spent caching over in NZ.

Aushiker · Post by **Aushiker** » 26 August 08 3:50 pm

G;day

As a cache owner I tend to just bin the cards whenever I do maintenance on my caches. I prefer the online logs to keep me interested in how my cache is going.

Andrew

ian-and-penny · Post by **ian-and-penny** » 26 August 08 4:56 pm

I have seen some well produced cards, the imagination and artwork that goes into them is a sight to behold.

Having said that, they are not a swap, nor are they a log - so in the end the cache just fills up with (sometimes very soggy) paperwork that nobody really needs or wants.

Now I figure that some of these are expensive to produce, and their owners have a ready supply on hand - but may I suggest that when they come up for resupply, that the reinvestment funds be put towards a self inking stamp with the team logo on it. (Then put the savings into your fuel tank.)

Ian

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 26 August 08 6:49 pm

I had some printed up (free offer apart from postage) and have been using them a bit. But as the general sentiment seems to be against them I might stop and just use for special occasions such as caches that are hard core and get very few finds or overseas trips.

They do have my phone and email on them, I figured that would be fine if someone wanted to record it as a helpline (and didn't frequent the forums where that information is also available). They aren't necessarily in the cache as an item that must stay there - a future finder is free to take it for reference.

tronador · Post by **tronador** » 26 August 08 10:37 pm

Team Wibble wrote: sometimes leave a pathtag which is a more useful signature item.

Yes i've found one of your pathtags, they are really nice. I take them then move them along by placing inot a nother cache for someone else to grab and move on.

Something we came across in NZ that we thought was actually a good idea though was more of a REVERSE calling card - one team would leave a stack of calling cards in their caches, with the idea that you take one from the cache as a momento, it had the name of the cache and the team that hid it, with something along the lines of "congratulations, you found it". The cards were neatly in a zip lock bag so they stayed dry and didn't take up the whole cache.

We found quite a few caches by this team in particular and they did make nice little souvenirs of our time spent caching over in NZ.

I found the same thing in some BC, Canada caches. I took some as a souvenier. They were quite well done, one in particular comes to mind. The cache was called Grey wolf or something to that effect and the signature cache card had the cache name, owner and a great photo of a grey wolf.

Alansee · Post by **Alansee** » 26 August 08 11:14 pm

I'm afraid that I take the view that anything that is put into a cache that is not a swap is actually litter. I have had problems with caches filling up with them and having to stuff them back in. after they fell out. I have also seen them used as advertising!

This was a nice thought though - entirely up to you if you take one.

Something we came across in NZ that we thought was actually a good idea though was more of a REVERSE calling card - one team would leave a stack of calling cards in their caches, with the idea that you take one from the cache as a momento, it had the name of the cache and the team that hid it, with something along the lines of "congratulations, you found it". The cards were neatly in a zip lock bag so they stayed dry and didn't take up the whole cache.

We found quite a few caches by this team in particular and they did make nice little souvenirs of our time spent caching over in NZ.

Interweb????

Marcus Vitruvius · Post by **Marcus Vitruvius** » 27 August 08 12:03 am

If anything, I prefer stickers or stamps. They can be applied when the log book is damp, when a pen or pencil just destroys the pages, and at least they're useful and productive. Some stickers I've seen even go so far as holding the log book together.

mundoo · Post by **mundoo** » 28 August 08 9:21 am

I must be one of the few who actually likes these signature cards and items and collects them from the caches.

I always felt guilty if there was more than one and I took them all. Now I won't.

I did make my own and numbered and put into my own caches but found when doing maintenance that they were always left and not taken so I stopped leaving them a while back.

I always leave a swap item in place because I feel that as I took something then so I leave something.

There is quite a few 'collectors' of these types of items with websites showing their collections.