Holding Travel Bugs

[+Still Searching]

I have a question about Travel Bugs that I get various answers on so I thought I would ask the question to everyone. I currently have 8 bugs out and I was wondering just how many logs from one cacher are enough? I really hate to bring it up because the ones that are still moving around have been in the same hands for a while. I released these hoping they would move around and most of these are in spite of their size, but I also wanted them to pass through as many hands as possible. I am glad they are active but its not just the places these bugs go that interest me its also the people.

Once someone has had it long enough just how do you go about asking them kindly to let the bugs go?

[+BlueDeuce]

Well, I'm glad I checked the bug before posting.

 

Send them a nice note that you appreciate them moving the bug, but when do they plan on releasing it. See where it goes from there.

 

(side note, geesh they need to get a personal TB of their own)

Edited October 16, 2005 by BlueDeuce

[+welch]

As BlueDuece says, just send them a nice note thanking them for moving it so much but you'd like for it to get a chance to meet someone else too and could they please release it. Either they will or they won't.

Make sure you're extra sweet in the email, so hopefully they don't take offense and attach the thing to a brick and throw it off a bridge

[+Cheminer Will]

This is a common complaint that I have heard. I only have one bug and it is in the hands of a cacher that does not respond to a nice email. They have another bug in their possession that they have had since 2004. A friend of mine has 3 bugs that are all in someones hands and they also don't respond to email or move the bug on.

 

I posted an idea to help this in another thread, but that really did not go anywhere. I guess it is only a problem when it happens to your bug. The basic issue is that once you log a bug into your possession, you get credit for it. There is no incentive, other than playing the game, to move it on. If you could not get credit for a TB until you moved it on, this problem might disappear.

[+welch]

I posted an idea to help this in another thread, but that really did not go anywhere. I guess it is only a problem when it happens to your bug. The basic issue is that once you log a bug into your possession, you get credit for it. There is no incentive, other than playing the game, to move it on. If you could not get credit for a TB until you moved it on, this problem might disappear.

Interesting... do you envision this as for for actual movement?(how do events work?)

or do you just mean that the extra icon not be added until After its 'dropped' back in a cache?

[+Teamhawaii1981 & blueicyrose]

Each time someone logs that same TB, does it add another TB to their numbers?

[+cache_test_dummies]

Each time someone logs that same TB, does it add another TB to their numbers?

No - your TB count isn't increased if you pick up the same bug more than once.

[+AuntieWeasel]

It's an interesting point. Recently, I've noticed more cachers "adopting" a bug for a period of time and giving it multiple logs before releasing it again. I did this myself once, though it was more or less by accident.

 

A newish one of mine immediately went through two people who each held it for a while and logged it into and out of multiple caches. Why this one bug encouraged that, I'm not sure. They played along with its mission as they went, so I'm actually pleased with the outcome. Though I finally have enough out there that I'm content to watch what they do and be pleased with pretty much anything but an out-and-out muggling.

 

I wonder if it's a trend.

[+BlueDeuce]

Logging a bug through a cache run, since it actually visited the caches, is perfectly fine provided you eventually release it.

 

The bug in question has been been logged through 44 caches, seeing activity every week, since May. It's what, an eight pound brick?

 

Of course there is no rule that says someone can't hold your bug forever. Stil there's something not quite......normal...about hauling someone else's eight pound brick with you everywhere you go caching.

[+Bambi&Thumper]

OK, for what it's worth this is my take on this. This person doesn't want to lug it around/can't find large caches to dump it in (it being a large and brick-like) and so leaves it at home/has already dumped it off a bridge , but doesn't want to own up/ have their account cluttered up with a "you have had this thing more than two weeks" sign.

 

I could be miles from the mark of course...

 

Bambi.

[+BlueDeuce]

Oh certainly. They post pictures on the bug page just never one with a brick.

 

Probably left it somewhere and have been hoping it shows back up.

[+Cheminer Will]

I posted an idea to help this in another thread, but that really did not go anywhere.  I guess it is only a problem when it happens to your bug.  The basic issue is that once you log a bug into your possession, you get credit for it.  There is no incentive, other than playing the game, to move it on.  If you could not get credit for a TB until you moved it on, this problem might disappear.

Interesting... do you envision this as for for actual movement?(how do events work?)

or do you just mean that the extra icon not be added until After its 'dropped' back in a cache?

Right, I mean that their TB count does not increase by one UNTIL they log it as being moved on, (dropped into a cache or event etc.).

 

Right now you get credit for it the moment you log as having found or grabbed it. Although most people do it correctly, there is currently no incentive to move it on or to log it properly if you do put it into a cache.

 

I have only one TB, (and tress others ready to go), but my one has been in the hands of cachers that have not answered my polite request for it's status. These same folks have a TB from 2004 that they have not moved on so I am not optimistic even though they seem to be very active cachers.

 

I know other people with the same problem with their TB's. I talked to a young teen about TB's and he told me that he did not want to pay for TB's since they so often went out of circulation.

 

As I said before, I know there are several reasons TB's die, but it seems like this one problem would be easy to fix if the credit was put into stats only after you move the TB.

[+knlcox]

How long is "too long" to have a TB? I picked up one Friday but due to my work schedule it may be Thursday before I get to find a drop zone. I think I'm just the 2nd person (after the owner) to have this one, so I don't want to offend anyone... then again, I don't have much choice.

[+AuntieWeasel]

I know other people with the same problem with their TB's. I talked to a young teen about TB's and he told me that he did not want to pay for TB's since they so often went out of circulation.

Now, that's a shame.

 

I may be lucky, but my ratio isn't bad. I put one out every few months. I've got seventeen tags going, and only two are definitely AWOL, mostly likely for good (both, oddly, got muggled before they left their dropoff caches).

 

However, even with fifteen active bugs, I often go a week or two without hearing from any of them. And only one in a bunch of logs will have a photo or story to go with it. I think that makes it hard to enjoy when you only have one or two -- it seems like they never move or do anything interesting.

 

One way to increase your TB's without necessarily upping your angst (or your investment) is to put other people's bugs on your watchlist. Or regularly watch bugs you've picked up in the past. I've got a downright proprietary feeling about a few of them.

[+Cheminer Will]

How long is "too long" to have a TB? I picked up one Friday but due to my work schedule it may be Thursday before I get to find a drop zone. I think I'm just the 2nd person (after the owner) to have this one, so I don't want to offend anyone... then again, I don't have much choice.

I think a month is ok to send a polite reminder or question. If you don't get a response and the bug is not moved on within a week or two more, it's probably over for that TB.

 

I did hear from someone who had a bug pop up after almost a year. It had been in the hands of a cacher who did not answer email about the TB. Eventually it showed up after the winter. He thought the person who had held it for so long finally put it in a cache they logged in November, without logging the TB. Then the cache was not found again until spring when someone else grabbed the TB and put it back into circulation. Even this scenario is an argument for crediting TB's only after sending them on, rather than when first picked up.

[+Cheminer Will]

Now, that's a shame.

 

It is indeed. Maybe a Christmas present of four TB tags will encourage him to try again. I have to admit I am not the best example as I have a few tags I still have not used. I am probably trying to hard to come up with missions etc. that will encourage them to stay in circulation.

[+Bimmergirl]

I'm a new cacher and have picked up some TB's since starting. I was worried that keeping the bugs more than a couple of days was too long. I Guess I can stop worrying now! Thanks for the thoughts... one day I may get one out there in circulation and hope that it moves along.

[+gsmX2]

How long is "too long" to have a TB? I picked up one Friday but due to my work schedule it may be Thursday before I get to find a drop zone. I think I'm just the 2nd person (after the owner) to have this one, so I don't want to offend anyone... then again, I don't have much choice.

"Too long" is somewhat objective. Personally, I try to move a bug within a week of grabbing it. If for some reason, I can't do it, I'll e-mail the owner and let him know that I will drop it ASAP.

 

I start worrying when someone holds my bug for about three weeks. That's when I'll drop them a friendly reminder. Fortunately, I have had pretty good luck. Some people did just forget they had it and will drop it in a nearby cache.

 

I did have a TB go missing THE FIRST time it was picked up. After three months, I gave up on him.

[+Harley_Sailor]

I have a question along this line. If you come across a cache with more then one TB do you take them all or just one and leave the rest for someone else? Sailor

[+DJ the Not So Ordinary]

Great conversation:

 

I have been doing geocaching for about a month and the very first cache I did had a TB. I was very excited. I took the TB home, photographed it, logged it on the website and then put it in my backpack when I went back out caching later that week.

 

Unfortunately, the next 3 caches I did were all to small (or full) to place the TB. I found this fustrating because I wanted to move it along.

 

The other problem I can see happening is my kids want to keep a TB because its cool. I created 4 TBs (all superhero action figures). They were so cool to my kids, that I had to sneak them out of the house and cache on my own so I could get them in circulation.

 

I think the final reason TBs might stop moving is if their mission (assuming they have one) is fullfilled. For example, i have a Batman action figure TB moving now. His mission is to get to the "bat cave" cache (there are 4 batcaves registered on geocaching.com). Once he gets there, I would not object to him stopping.

 

DJ

[+Munin]

I have a question along this line.  If you come across a cache with more then one TB do you take them all or just one and leave the rest for someone else?

If you can help multiple TBs along their way (in a timely fashion, of course ), go right ahead - pick 'em up, move 'em on!

[igreen66]

Personally I think that TBs should only be log OUT of a cache and NOT INTO a cache. That at least would solve the problem with all the travel bug whores who jump on a cache within seconds of it being placed in there and don't give anyone else a chance. IMO finding a TB in a cache should be a surprise not an expectation.

[+Fat Tired Grandpa]

Perhaps part of the problem of "held" or "lost" TBs is due to amateurs like me who apparently don't log them in properly. I recently moved a TB from one cache to another and included that fact in both the logs in the caches and in my "found" log entries. In the TB history, it showed up as removed from the first cache, but not as placed in the second cache; it is identified as being in my possession, which it is not! I would like to know exactly how the log entry should be worded to allow the computer to pick up the information; I couldn't find it in the TB on-line instructions.

[+kentuckygirls]

Perhaps part of the problem of "held" or "lost" TBs is due to amateurs like me who apparently don't log them in properly.  I recently moved a TB from one cache to another and included that fact in both the logs in the caches and in my "found" log entries.  In the TB history, it showed up as removed from the first cache, but not as placed in the second cache; it is identified as being in my possession, which it is not!  I would like to know exactly how the log entry should be worded to allow the computer to pick up the information; I couldn't find it in the TB on-line instructions.

To get the TB to show up in the cache you dropped it in you have to go to the cache page for the cache. Next click on log your visit. At the bottom of the screen (under the part where you write your note) is a paragraph that says Dropped off any Travel Bugs. Under this is a small window and the name of the TB should be in this window, just click on it and then hit submit entry.

[+Fat Tired Grandpa]

Thank you KentuckyGirls for responding. I think when I returned from a trip I entered my finds in the wrong order. I logged in on the one where I dropped the TB before I had logged in the one where I found it.