It happened again this morning. I had to archive a new cache submitted for approval because the owner who placed it does not live nearby. In this case he lives more than 2,000 miles away!
One of the recurring reasons for someone's new submitted geocache to not receive approval is that the owner does not live in the area of the cache. This circumstance falls under the so-called vacation cache guideline, which Geocaching.com frowns on because these caches are often difficult for the owner to maintain. However, exceptions can be made if the owner states -- either in a note to the reviewer or in the description on on their cache page -- how they will be able to maintain this cache. The most common exceptions are when the owner has a relative who lives near the cache who will provide maintenance, or if the owner regularly gets back to the area, say at least once a month or so.
2 comments:
Any idea how many of these folks place the cache then wait till they are home to submit it? When this happens, do you try to contact someone locally to retrieve the container?
I don't keep stats on that, so I'm just estimating -- probably around 2/3 post the cache when they get home. In the past I have not tried to contact a local geocacher to retrieve the cache because the person who placed it ususually has some connection to that area, such as a relative or friends who live nearby. However, they don't always arrange cache maintenance with those people ahead of time, or at least they don't post a note to the reviewer to explain that they did. Most (and I emphasize "most") of the owners of vacation caches seem to understand the reasoning behind the guideline and agree to make arrangements with a local to either take ownership or to provide maintenance of their cache.
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