Commercial Caches??

Cached · Post by **Cached** » 23 August 05 12:39 am

Have a look at these:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... y&decrypt= REI Free Geo-Cache Clinic

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... y&decrypt= REI GPS Hunt Game

And the forum discussion: http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index. ... 06344&st=0

Interesting

edmil · Post by **edmil** » 23 August 05 7:49 am

Interesting reading, but definitely not suprosed. In this day and age of commercialism where there's a buck to be made through some form of advertising then someone's sure to find a way to do it. Geocaching is rather big time and I'm surprised that there hasn't been a whole lot more of this going on.

The Coffee's · Post by **The Coffee's** » 24 August 05 12:43 am

Try setting up one of those in Aus and you would be thrown to the wolves. However reading the forum raises a good topic:
What is the worst explanation in GPS technology you have heard from a salesman?.

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 24 August 05 9:51 am

Mr.Coffee and the Clan wrote:Try setting up one of those in Aus and you would be thrown to the wolves. However reading the forum raises a good topic:
What is the worst explanation in GPS technology you have heard from a salesman?.

Not if you bypassed the reviewers and went straight to groundspeak staff, as happened in this instance. They then email reviewer for the state and tell him/her to list the cache. It is out of the reviewer's hands.

The fact that what was put forward and what took place were disimiliar is something to be worked out between Groundspeak and Magellan. It has, however, led to a tightening up of who runs events and a closer look at anything that may be taken as 'commercial'.

Cached · Post by **Cached** » 24 August 05 10:38 am

I don't think they would have had near the backlash if the event had carried a rider along the lines of:

"This cache is commercial in nature and has been expressly approved by Groundspeak"

The Coffee's · Post by **The Coffee's** » 24 August 05 1:27 pm

Cached wrote: "This cache is commercial in nature and has been expressly approved by Groundspeak"

I could live with that. 
How about Magellan organises one in Melbourne and gives away a new copy of Discover Aus to every attendee

, or the Microsoft Cache full of Microsoft goodies in a 44 gallon container.

Mind Socket · Post by **Mind Socket** » 24 August 05 2:05 pm

Mr.Coffee and the Clan wrote:Microsoft goodies

There's an oxymoron if ever there was one.

Once I get myself organised (that could be never), expect to see more free, open, stable and increasingly complete operating systems left as swaps in caches.

I have a large container at home for any MSoft goodies you have spare. It goes out for collection on Thursday nights.

- Rog

Rabbitto · Post by **Rabbitto** » 24 August 05 2:31 pm

Suggestions for Commercial Caches -

McDonalds Happy Meal Cache - Just like a cache there is a box containing some paper, toys and nothing edible.
 K-Mart Multi, but marked as a Traditional Cache - You get to where you think the item is that you want but when you get there, you find it is somewhere else entirely
 Microsoft Cache - Always a "Did not Find". Would you like to send an Error Message?
 National Bank Fee Free Cache - Does not exist. It's a Virtual.
 Australia Post Cache - When you get to the cache cordinates, you find a different cache than you were looking for. The one you wanted is now in Tasmania*. (*If from Tasmania - Read Victoria)
 Telstra Cache - Can only be found in densely populated areas.

Ah, it's like shooting fish in a barrel........

Mind Socket · Post by **Mind Socket** » 24 August 05 6:15 pm

The CityRail cache, always listed as being available, but never there, constantly under repair. The cache owners blame anything but themselves.

alpha993 · Post by **alpha993** » 24 August 05 9:47 pm

Rabbitto wrote:Suggestions for Commercial Caches -

McDonalds Happy Meal Cache - Just like a cache there is a box containing some paper, toys and nothing edible.
 K-Mart Multi, but marked as a Traditional Cache - You get to where you think the item is that you want but when you get there, you find it is somewhere else entirely
 Microsoft Cache - Always a "Did not Find". Would you like to send an Error Message?
 National Bank Fee Free Cache - Does not exist. It's a Virtual.
 Australia Post Cache - When you get to the cache cordinates, you find a different cache than you were looking for. The one you wanted is now in Tasmania*. (*If from Tasmania - Read Victoria)
 Telstra Cache - Can only be found in densely populated areas.

Ah, it's like shooting fish in a barrel........

LOL

Cached · Post by **Cached** » 25 August 05 9:52 am

from the forum::

QUOTE (Rothstafari @ Aug 20 2005, 01:12 PM)
I approved this cache.

It was my understanding that it was to be a clinic for geocaching and that they would be giving away some Magellan door prizes. I was unaware that it would be used as a blatent 1 hour advertisement for Magellan. I will be having a following conversation with the REI rep to find out what really happened. If in fact it was the advertisement that people compain about, future requests will be treated with much greater scrutiny. If, however, they just used the units to illustrate geocaching, then I am not sure that harm has been done.

Ok, here is the promised update.

I spoke with the Rep from REI that I worked with on this event. Apparently, he received a lot of complaints from both customers and REI employees regarding the nature of this presentation.

Both he and I were under the impression that the clinic would be provided to introduce people to geocaching and that Magellan would be providing some door prizes. Although not typically something that we'd approve, we gave them special permission for this one provided that they did not use the cache page to advertise for Magellan.

Apparently, there were some signals crossed and the event included more than an acceptable level of Magellan gps use. As others have mentioned above, this 'event' crossed the line into infomercial land.

Clearly, this is not acceptable and, had I known, it would never have been approved. So, to those who attended, please accept my personal apology. It was not my intent to subject you to an informercial.

Going forward, as indicated in my previous post, these type of requests will be treated with much greater scrutiny and, if the event would be approved, there will be much more clarity on the web page as far as the commercial nature is concerned.

Mind Socket · Post by **Mind Socket** » 25 August 05 5:35 pm

Sack him!

Post by **caughtatwork** » 25 August 05 5:45 pm

He's a 1/3rd owner of Groundspeak, so that may be a little tough to do

c.j.b · Post by **c.j.b** » 29 August 05 2:41 pm

There's certainly Spam travel bugs already in the country-- the 'Light My World' TB, currently at 'Noonans Discovery' on Mt.Vincent (Lake Macquarie region) is pretty-much just an attempt to get a commerical weblink onto the GC site. I've mentioned it to the staff, but their excuse was because TBs are 'purchased', they've got no final authority on the items ... which to me sounds like weasel-speak to excuse commercial usage of GC like the Jeep promotion.

(Now if I could only find the cache, I've got an empty Harmel tin waiting to be brazed onto the TB...)

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 29 August 05 6:18 pm

Oh well, it's safely moved from where it is likely to get any buyers

Geocaching Australia

Commercial Caches??

Commercial Caches??

Not a surprise