Hi, psychomommy,
It's totally optional and probably related to attitude more than latitude. Sure, I've read here that New Englanders are unusual in our inclusion of writing supplies and ink. Some of us like our stamps, either store-bought or hand-cut, to look a certain way or in a certain color. For example, the "aMAZEing conifer" stamp was packed with 3 colored markers, and like most letterboxes, had the stamp on the cover of the log book printed to show what the artist had intended. The markers were watercolor. (If someone stamped inked up that stamp with something else it may never print very cleanly again in its glorious intended color.) To others it's a courtesy thing. It's not all that expensive if you use stick pens and small ink blocks. One advantage to including these things is that occasionally you get nice messages from finders who never heard of LBing and just happened upon the box. Another advantage is that it's nice to have a writing implement when your own has gotten lost or dries out in mid-sentence. (BTDT!) But mostly I think those of us who supply pens and ink pads do so to make each box a self-contained turn-key operation because others before us have done it that way. You kind of get used to it. :-)
Maybe we are just overly motherly about our boxes. I don't know how it is in other parts, but some of us tend to do "care and feeding" of each other's boxes around here. Most, anyway, seem to do well with the extra supplies. Boxes get robbed, confiscated, vandalized, and weather-beaten regardless of whether they have pens and ink pads, but it's nice to think that most are treated kindly and last for years and usually maintenance is no more demanding, complicated, or expensive than replacing plastic bags or Gladware. I certainly don't mind tidying up boxes hard-hit by weather, and I especially don't mind helping out people who have planted scores of boxes for my enjoyment. I shudder to think of having to do maintenance runs on the amazing amount planted by Trish or the Drew family. It's a volunteer thing on an "as-needed" basis. That box I was refering to would have been saturated with water either way (ie: w/wo supplies). The soaked log shows that many of the finders' ink pads and pens were far from indelible. It's too bad, because some messages and stamp images are ruined.
Mary (RI)
----- Original Message -----
From: psycomommy2003
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 8:02 PM
Subject: [LbNA] Re Wet stamp pads/ RI - Hour of the Olympics update
--- This is the reason why we don't put pens or stamp pads in our
boxes in the mid-atlantic. Too much extra work, let alone the cost!
I like planting boxes but almost dread the day when I have to
go back and do maintenance.
Psychomommy
In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Mary \(RI\)"
wrote:
The last box, "Cool Runnings," was completely soaked through. The
pen must have exploded, as it was broken. The stamp pad is ruined.
There was a note in there from someone who found it that way and it
said that he tried to dry it out and left a Happy Meal toy inside.
Someone was there afterwards, apparently, as there was no geocache-
type stuff inside. >
> It should only take a few days to dry the book out and replace the
ink. I'll post.
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