Do Geocaches Have a “Best Before” Date?
What should be the lifespan of a geocache? Which ones are timeless? If people stop or slow down finding your cache, is it time to archive it? If only “cachers from away” are finding your cache, is it time to archive it? What if your cache is just plain old….should you archive it to allow a new gecache to be born?
Should geocaches have an “expiry date”, where you either archive it or actively “renew” the listing?
What do new geocachers do when they want to place a cache, and space is SO limited?
I think each cache is different and so is each owner. I have no problem archiving a cache that has seen better days or is a real pain in my side. If it is getting muggled or not staying in place, getting wet then I will archive and give up the spot or come up with something new. Some caches are in far away places with nice views and deserve to stay and it is a shame that some nice spots were taken up by a handful of cachers who are no longer or never really did any maintenance. It is far more difficult to archive a cache that is in a nice place as opposed to a guardrail in town behind a grocery store. I mentioned it in the podcast and will say it again, we all need to take a firmer grasp of the “needs archived” option when the cache really does need it and the owner is absent or negligent. You are not being a jerk if you state that the cache no longer meets the requirement of being a cache, especially after repeated needs maintenance logs with no action on behalf of the owner. When I started 5 years ago, I could not find a place to hide a cache near home because of Zonker – The Saturator INC and Fantasticwizard, now Zonker is leaving space and Fantasticwizard is slowly getting all her caches archived by others. I wish all the old, moldy, broken or missing caches would now get archived, it is a shame to have that out there and with active cachers removing the old stuff it will keep the geotrash out of the woods because the owners are not going to go get it, that’s for sure. Don’t be afraid to archive others will come and keep everything fresh and new.
Your turn Nemo.
I think that a cache should remain for as long as possible, as long as it’s a good area, maintained, and in good condition.
If your cache is getting muggled a lot, archive it. If you can’t maintain it and nobody wants to adopt it, archive it. If you just don’t want it any more, archive it.
It really depends on the cache, and the motivation for archiving it. If it’s only getting found by out of towners, that’s fine. I like finding caches when I travel that have existed for a while. If you archiving it with the express intent of republishing a new cache for the locals in the same spot, I don’t think it’s a good reason.
So I don’t think there is any real ‘golden rule’ on when to archive a cache. I think it all evolves around the location, distance from owner, maintainability, and whether the owner wants to keep up with it.
I have adopted some caches from people simply because I like the location and want to keep a cache there that has a history.
Lifetime of an average cache.
I think it should be 4 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 42 min. 39 sec.
This post may be a seed to a future puzzle cache.
This one is pretty easy: Once I found a cache, it can be archived no problem afterwards. How’s that as an expiry date? Did Nemo found it yet? Yes= we can get rid of it now. But, as geocaching is not only meant for Nemodidi and that I have to share a bit, I will share this with you.
I must admit that I agree with pretty much all what was said, but as I need to write something on everything, here it goes….
Time should not be the test used to determine the expiry date here, but maintenance, or should I say the lack thereof. It is very nice to find a very old cache that survived the test of time, but not at all cost. I will not say it enough: For the good of the sport, geotrash has to go!!!!!!! If not, it’s just ammunition for the anti-geocaching group. How good is it for the sport to keep an old rusty full of goo margarine tub in the middle of a swamp. Geocaching has got to be more than that! Here me well here, I am not talking about a log that needs to be changed, nor about a geocache that needs maintenance when we know that the cacher is still a very active cacher. But the minute that you are aware that the geocacher is no longer active, or that he/she/they are active but cannot care less about their cache, THEY OUGHT TO BE REMOVED. That to me is the Best before date. A geocacher that either quits the sport or for some personal and very understandable reason can no longer participate, should with good etiquette either ask on the cache page that it should be removed by the next cacher OR if they want their cache to survive, give it for adoption.
I no longer do major maintenance (completely change the container) when I found a ruined and busted one for certain cachers around that we all know. I take the trash out and write about it. I WILL NEVER just take a cache out that is still viable, even if the owner is out. But using good judgment, when it’s time to take the trash out I do not hesitate a minute. A cache that is not given for adoption and that is in desperate needs for maintenance for eons should not be repaired; it only delays the problem or pushes it back for a couple more weeks/months.
Now, what about a cache that you still maintain, but do no longer attract many cachers, as all locals found it. That is just and only the owner’s decision. You are done with it and want to open the spot for others, by all means take it away. You have a cache in a beautiful location; you’re done with it but want to change it a bit, well just do it. I would be tempted to say do not be lame as to put a very similar cache and just call it something different, but do something else, more creative, so it becomes something very different all together and voila, people will like it. I do not think that republishing just for the sake of making some smiley available for locals is good enough to archive a cache, but you know what, the ultimate decision is in the owner’s hand. This is everyone’s game. But in good faith, we shall all do what’s best for the sport.
I think I drank enough for tonight and I will stop here with my rambling.
Rev, we need to figure what we will do for the night cache in Dorchester asap before someone steals the spot for a guardrail micro or a metal box locked with a combination lock (how lame).
By the way, I contacted some owners that are no longer in the sport or that DO NOT maintain their caches to offer help and to adopt some caches and I have NOT received any reply, no acknowledgement, nothing. One in particular that I end up talking to from time to time. I thought that was sad. But you know what, NO MORE. I now do what has to be done.
During our many trips to the Ottawa area, we would grab a bunch of caches in a big series (Based on junior hockey teams) near Aylmer, and would look forward to our next vist to get more. We were extremely disappointed when they were suddenly archived, likely because all the locals had done them.
We try to keep our caches going for as long as possible even if all the area cachers have found them, because a lot of the caches get visited by tourists during summer, by cachers attending our Ice Walk in winter, those coming to Moncton for the Race for Cache and those who are attracted by the large number of caches in the Moncton area.
However we will archive caches in cases where there is muggle trouble, or the cache location is no longer good, or it is causing damage to trees or propety, etc. In those cases I will try to put another one close by if it is a good spot. I usually prefer placing a new one rather than moving the old one. Some of our recent hides are of this type.
With regard to puzzles, I try and keep them active, especially the ML puzzles because there always seems to be people from away who have solved them and havent had a chance to pick them up. However if there is no activity for a long time, i will archive. I have a few ML caches in Bouctouche that I plan to archive in December because they are on a nice trail and I want to free them for trads. But I put a warning on the cache pages long ago. This week, a caching family went out and logged them all.
As everyone else said, I need a good reason to archive.
Thanks PA for the heads up. I have a ton of ML puzzles solved but only grabbed 4 so far. I so can’t wait to make it to the Moncton area to scratch a lot of them off my list. I did that serie in Bouctouche so I’ll move them on my high priority list.