We encounter this all the time. The course of action sometimes depends on how well we know (or do not know) the owner. But generally:

Damp logbook - dry out if we have time (looking for other boxes in the area), add jumbo dry pack and fresh baggie, let owner know.

Wet logbook - encase in paper towel and stand on it to make it damp instead of wet. Then dry out if time allows. Add 2 jumbo dry packs and inform owner.

Very Wet logbook - as above, or take the logbook home to dry out and refurbish, then return to box within reasonable period of time (10 days) and make sure to let owner know of the situation.

Squishy lump of paper - dry out box and replace baggies, add temp logbook, take ruined logbook and make sure owner knows 1) we took the log and 2) it will be mailed at no cost to the owner if desired (after it dries out).

Other courtesy maintenance is always performed such as cleaning seals on a L&L box with a small toothbrush, replacing the container when it has been chowdered by sharp toothed critters, reattaching stamps to backing with 2x tape, etc.

My favorite is when boxes are full of water and the owner kindly provided us with an inkpad to use. Turns merely inky into ink tea. I do toss them. (sorry)

Oh lord. The included ink pad. That's another one. Luckily I rarely see that anymore.

🤣😂 That’s timely you would bring up the included ink pads, I’ve come across a few vintage boxes lately with a (thankfully) dried out pad. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them, that it’s a bit of a surprise.
Grateful that leaving ink pads in boxes have gone the way of the dodo for the most part.
Other than the hybrid geocache does anyone include an ink pad anymore?

We don't but did when we were new and stamps required a special color. I think we always encased the stamp pads in their own baggie. But of course no longer do.

Not sorry.

Here it is! The annual My AQ Santa tracker is live! Join us!

https://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.php?trackerId=12168

Wow, you guys! This is an amazing turnout for just one day! Keep it going!

Hi Everyone. I have some stamps from letterboxes I’ve found in the past but I didn’t record the letterbox #s. Does anyone recognize a stamp that is ALPHA FRIENDS, an owl, a 2 story skinny house, or a ghost with some shapes at the top? I believe they would have been found in MA.

Did you set up a new profile, but you are a previous member under a different name (and these were old finds)? I'm curious because your profile says your first find was only 3 days ago, but you don't remember what boxes you were looking for, or specifically where you were looking?

It will be very difficult to provide suggestions without more data. Do you have any additional info, like location of the finds? MA has over 11,000 letterboxes, more than any other state!

Tomorrow is Stay Home from Work and Go Letterboxing Day. It is nothing official. I made it up. Be sure to tell the others.

Well, seeing as how I did take off work and will be in Skagway Alaska tomorrow, I will be the first to honor your (completely made up) holiday.

Yippee!

Luv it. You officially win letterboxing today! (Again, made up, but if I made up the holiday, then I can make up that the holiday has a winner and decide that the winner is you. Yep. Mm-hm. It totally works that way.)

<takes bow> Thank you, thank you!

Seriously though, we are having a blast. We even were first-finders on a hide here.

Life is good. 😊

It'll help if you can post on the Facebook letterboxing page so that you can share photos of the images as well :)

Bonus! Happy travels.

I have found some indoor boxes that include ink pads when the planter wanted a specific color used. That makes sense (and eliminates the gloppy black syndrome)

But "out in the wild" ?? No thank you!!

From the Code of Conduct:

I’m not on FB but that’s for your reply!

Thanks for the reminder!

I don’t think I ever got an account in the past but I’ve been letterboxing for 20+ years! I don’t remember anything about these stamps except that I have them !

The story of my life! Hikes grow shorter and memory fades.

We do tend to make assumptions about “newbies”. :))

If you decide to get the Premium Membership, which is very reasonable and comes in very handy, you can log them as “unlisted” finds. It’s under Marketplace.

I'd like to follow up on a few things from the recent Clue Tracker survey that TrailMark and I conducted. Based on input, the newest versions of Clue Tracker (iOS and Android) have the following changes for Atlas Quest searches:

* Keyword searches are easier: On iOS, choose "Keywords" from the menu; on Android, tap "Add Search Term" and choose "Add Keywords".

* A Traits menu was added so you can easily choose "mystery box", "pet friendly", "blue diamond box", "box of the week" and more. Note that only AQ premium members can search for blue diamond and box of the week.

* You can now sort lists of boxes (search results or saved) by Plant Date and by Last Found date. When viewing a list of boxes, tap the gear icon (top-right) and choose your sort order.

Thank you to everyone who made suggestions! We will continue to work on improving Clue Tracker.

Got an inkpad in a postal this week. That plus the stamp and a little hardcover logbook about 1/2 inch thick. All sent in a #10 envelope. Really surprised me.

There is a super unpleasant box in Saratoga. #1 it is in a state park #2 the clues are ridiculous #3 it is on the top of an incredibly steep muddy "cliff" #4 it has an exploded ink filled box that you don't discover til you open it. I looked like I had murdered a smurf. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?

Thanks for that info!

The images printed from the stamps and not the stamps themselves correct?

It belongs in a museum!