How does the Awareness merit affect finding items in the city, and is it worth spending merits on?

Awareness is the wiki's term for how many items a player finds in the city. The Awareness merit adds +20% per upgrade, and boosts add together rather than multiply^[1]. Players' reports of the payoff are poor, no measured find rate exists, and the newest advice found treats it as a side income to buy after Education.

What it does

The wiki's merit table lists Awareness among the miscellaneous upgrades as +20% items found per level^[1]. A 2022 wiki capture defines Awareness as the quantity of items found in the city and says boosts are additive: a 200% and a 300% boost give 500% extra, not 600%.

• Other Awareness sources listed on the wiki (2022 capture): education PSY2680 (+10%), working at a Firework Stand, Candle Shop or Zoo (50%, 50% and 70%), and Book: Finders Keepers (2500% for 31 days). There is also an unspecified boost in Awareness Awareness Week, the 3rd week of January.
• A 2021 capture of the Education Quick Reference also lists PSY2680 as a 10% increase to Awareness. The 2017 wiki called that education nearly free^[2].

Items are found by searching the city map. Before the RESPO release, visiting the city link was enough^[3]. The wiki says one or more items may spawn once a day at midnight TCT, which is a possibility, not a guarantee^[3]. The 2022 capture adds that the player must have been active in the prior 24 hours, and that more activity does not mean more items.

Is it worth it?

Opinion is mixed to negative, and none of it is measured. Newest first:

• 2021: a forum guide advised about 10 merits on Awareness early on, treating it later as side income, and not overspending unless merits are spare.
• 2020: a player with maxed Awareness for over 6 months reported drops only every 3-4-5 days. Another player reported 3 items after resetting merits to full Awareness, against 5-7 a day earlier with Finders Keepers and about level 5 Awareness. That is a single unexplained anecdote.
• 2020 beginner guides put Education first^[4], and a 2026 guide lists Education Length, then Crime Progression or Bank Interest, Critical Hit Rate and Life Points^[5]. Neither mentions Awareness in the excerpts.
• 2018: a player with maxed merits said they used to find about 5 - 7 items per week^[6].
• 2017: the wiki said Awareness merits may not be worth it once you are comfortable with money^[2]. Another version said not to go past level 3^[7].
• 2014: a player with 10/10 Awareness found only 1 item after an update, having found at least 1 a week before^[8]. Another reported that 7/10 found the same items as a spouse with 4/10 in a day.

The 2014-2017 items may be obsolete: the RESPO map change and 2018 spawn changes came after or around them. The sources give no base find chance and no merit cost per upgrade.

Where sources disagree

• The wiki says higher Awareness means more items found, at +20% per upgrade^[1]; players report little or no visible difference, such as 7/10 finding the same as 4/10 in 2014, and 3 items on maxed Awareness against 5-7 earlier in 2020^[6][8].