Robester0

This is the part of participating in geocaching that I dislike, that we can spend money to contribute trackables, with the intent that they fulfill a mission. Most cases, to go from cache to cache and log accordingly. And when someone picks up a tracker in August, you write in September asking about it but get told will drop in the next week, and they still have it - well, it is discouraging. That person has a ton of trackables and seems to be a hoarder, pick them up and apparently hold on to them based on how many. And even another note, this time a bit more snide about my desire for that trackable to get into a cache and move on, didn't seem to help. Spending more money on trackables, that will just get held, is not likely for me.

kunarion, thank you!

I took advantage of the goodie bag opportunity, and one of the items was this trackable. Any idea what it is? Would love to have a name for it! And it's heavy, very heavy! Beautiful too!

My hesitation at dropping a cache should have been my first sign anyway, thanks everyone for the info. Today's newly released guidelines also helps.

Some of the caches in the area are, in some way, located in commercial business parking lots. Not retail sites, but rather professional buildings such as medical or other office areas. In trying to decipher the rules, it doesn't seem prohibited, but every time I go find one of these, I feel like I'm trespassing since I'm not an employee of the location. Is there a general rule for when it is or is not appropriate to hide a cache in such a location? Asking because even where I work, there's a great story about the company I could tell in a cache or two, and easily hidden and accessible from the road or coming into the parking lot a bit. I realize i can ask my employer, but that will go nowhere because no one will understand what this whole geocache thing is all about anyway. Thoughts? Thanks! -Robester0

Thanks everyone for the tips, truly appreciate the advice of the pros! I am disenchanted by what appears to be trackables missing in general, and being taken but not yet logged somewhere. So I hope in the next week my dropped trackables appear in a cache. I also moved someone's trackable, staying true to the mission, and that trackable is no longer in the cache where I dropped it but not logged as such. Very disappointing, and yes, I know it could be muggles not geocachers, but still, the goal gets missed and I'm less likely to move or provide my own going forward and that takes some of the fun out of this.

Thanks for the responses, do you think same on geocoins? I bought a beautiful 2017 International Geocaching Day coin and had every intent to drop it somewhere this past Saturday, but kind of figured someone would just take it and keep it... and if someone's going to keep it, I'll do that. It's a beautiful coin! Patience, is what I'm hearing... appreciate the feedback!

Here in Maine, I've only been doing this for a little over a week, but have visited at least four caches that listed trackables inside, yet they were not there. Is this normally because someone hasn't logged the activity, or is it more likely that someone just simply took without logging, whether it's a geocacher or muggle? I have also placed my own trackables thinking they would be nice to watch move along, and in the last week all have been picked up but only one has been dropped anywhere. The others simply show with the person that picked them up still. What is the normal etiquette, and as the trackable originator, is it acceptable to contact the last known 'taker' and ask what gives?