@Timberline Echoes wrote:

We know we have had discussions on different containers and which ones we each like best but now we are wondering what others do when they come across containers that are made from a; Wendy’s Salad bowl with cover, battery package from a new set of batteries and the latest just a plain old ziplock bag.

Do you write the cache owner and suggest a better container? Let nature take it’s course and let the cache die a natural early death? Report this to someone? Just getting a bit tired of finding these cheap containers…
TE

I found two of these last month (heres’s one GC10B4F ) and as first finder I emailed the cache owner right away…the caches were then “corrected.”

Yep, I have found a ziplock baggie in Illinois GCJEYV, ROBINSON FAMILY BURIAL GROUND, which was a neat location.

The coordinates were way off as well. If you posted anything about that or the baggie, the cache owner sent out not so nice emails. I remember having to edit my logs a few times.

Interesting to see the cache owner is now a banned member, no surprise there.

AuntieNae

The cache page mentioned above by Team Honeybunnies is pretty funny. In over 3000 finds, I have left only one really negative log, which may be one log too many, but I could not resisit being honest about that one. Anyway, the person who placed it is well known in MN for placing caches in rusty tin cans, flimsy plastic margarine containers and even in cottage cheese containers.

I truly believe that when placing caches, just as when finding caches, it should not be about the numbers. Each cache placed should be placed somewhere worth taking people, either for scenic, historical, whimsical reasons, or even just for the challenge. But just to sling a bunch of caches out there for a lot of numbers is kind of silly, and in the long run a threat to our sport because it may diminish the interest of new people coming into the sport. I know that if the first cache I tried was in a garbage dump, with coordinates 80 feet off, I would probably not be a geocacher.

It would be nice if gc.com had a formalized cache rating system, where finders could rate the cache on a scale of 1 to 5, just as difficulty and terrain are already rated.

zuma

Unless there was a need for a baggie cache, ie: special cache location, I would feel the cache owner put little effort into the cache.

Generally, when I run into a really cheap container, I feel like it is a throwaway cache. I’ve assumed the cache owner put little time, and effort into creating the cache. If there is a problem with the cache, I would doubt that they’d fix it. I doubt they would drive any distance to maintain it. If it didn’t get approved, I doubt they’d remove it.

Mechanically, I don’t think a baggie will hold up to the elements. Unless it’s tucked away in a weatherproof location, it’s likely to puncture and then get moist and moldy. It’s also very likely to get chewed on by critters.

A plastic baggie cache seems like a bad choice in “most” situations, but I’m sure someone could prove me wrong :).

I’ve found three caches that were in zip-lock bags. All three were full of wet, mildewed logs and swag. Bad idea!