A week ago I saw a post on a geocaching forum with someone complaining about the amount of nano caches compared to full size caches. When I mentioned the cost aspect, he had an eye opener.

A nano cache is basically a very small cache with only a log; no items, no room for tracables, maybe not even a pencil. People generally prefer larger caches with plenty of room for trade items, trackables and so on, but there is an issue of cost with large caches. We don’t carry guns for the sake of it in Norway, or most of the rest of the world for that case, so large empty (don’t even want to know how they got that way) ammo cans aren’t normal over here. Buying plastic boxes that actually survive being outside can get very expensive very fast, while nano caches are much cheaper.

I’m working on a chest now that’s made from scrap I’ve collected, and today I swung by Maxbo (hardware store) to pick up some hinges for it, as well as something to use to lock it. I didn’t even check for the latter, as I left the store mumbling something about coming back when I won the lottery after I saw they cost at least $5 per hinge. For god’s sake, it’s a tiny piece of metal that swings, it should be $1 not $5. It took me about 10 minutes to make my own hinges and a lock system from wood and scrap, and even though it might not look perfect it probably saved me at least $20.

I don’t know about other people, but I have better things to spend my money on than boxes that other people get to enjoy more than me. I have a box full of nanos that cost me about as much put together as placing a single non-nano cache, so there’s going to be a lot more nanos placed by me in the future- deal with it or skip them.