Jump to content

Stolen Travel Bug


hammerwieser

Recommended Posts

I'm curious, is there anything that can be done about someone 'stealing' another persons travel bug? I know nothing can be done legally, but can geocaching.com temporarily suspend someones account until he gets the TB back in circulation? We looked for a long time and put alot of effort into our TB, and we placed him in a cache and the first person that picked him up never returned him to another cache. This was 9 months ago. I have repeatedly emailed this person, and haven't got a reply. My wife and kids are really mad about this. Please advise. Thanks Mike

Link to comment

Sorry it happened right away, but odds are, its going to happen. there are many reasons ... people don't understand how TB's work, people don't care how TB's work, they like your bug and stole it, they were abducted by aliens while out grocery shopping. It's just an unfortunate part of the game. The only thing you can do is send out another one and hope it makes it further!

 

Chris

Link to comment

I'm not sure going to extremes would be a good thing. If the cacher in question lives nearby, it could turn out to be a war over a TB. Sending NICE messages and asking for the TBs return to circulation should be the way to proceed! Has the cacher in queston cached recently? Could be a family or real life issue that has prevented returning the TB?? Maybe the cacher was sent overseas?

 

TBs are taken often, as stated by Muddy Chris, the best you can do is send out a new one and hope it makes it further!

Link to comment

I'm curious, is there anything that can be done about someone 'stealing' another persons travel bug? I know nothing can be done legally, but can geocaching.com temporarily suspend someones account until he gets the TB back in circulation? We looked for a long time and put alot of effort into our TB, and we placed him in a cache and the first person that picked him up never returned him to another cache. This was 9 months ago. I have repeatedly emailed this person, and haven't got a reply. My wife and kids are really mad about this. Please advise. Thanks Mike

 

Good old fashioned tar and feathering should do the trick.

Link to comment

... We looked for a long time and put alot of effort into our TB, and we placed him in a cache and the first person that picked him up never returned him to another cache. This was 9 months ago. I have repeatedly emailed this person, and haven't got a reply. My wife and kids are really mad about this. Please advise. Thanks Mike

I look like the person who picked up your bug has stopped caching. They found a few caches for a month or two, and then stopped caching (or at least they stopped using that caching name). They haven't logged in since September. They may not be getting your emails.

 

It happens. You'd like to think that they'd at least finish what they started, but who knows? Perhaps they stopped caching for some sad or terrible reason!

 

It's disappointing, but don't let it get to you. I know you put a lot of planning into that TB--we all do with our first ones--and I remember how eagerly I waited to see where my first one would go and who would take it there.

 

Get another TB. Send it out--perhaps send out a couple at the same time. Relax and let whatever happens happen. Who knows, maybe on day that cacher will open some closet and realize he still has your TB and go drop it off in some cache near his house. (That happens too!)

Link to comment

I look like the person who picked up your bug has stopped caching. They found a few caches for a month or two, and then stopped caching (or at least they stopped using that caching name). They haven't logged in since September. They may not be getting your emails.

 

I've got a few that I am pining over too- and have sent out several emails with no response. Is there no notification if the mail is going into a dead letter file (ie bouncing on a closed account)?

Link to comment

I thought mine was missing, it was dropped in a virtual cache (huh? didn't think that was possible!) and disapeared. That was 2 years ago. This weekend, it turned up again, someone found it, logged it and dropped it off in another cache. I managed to track it back from there, apparantly the person who dropped it in the virtual did so by accident and meant to log it in a different cache they visited that day. It was then picked up by somone new (it was mentioned in the cache log) who didn't log that they found it. Where it was from that time to where it was just found, i have no idea, but it just proves that sometimes they do turn up!

Link to comment

I thought mine was missing, it was dropped in a virtual cache (huh? didn't think that was possible!) and disapeared. That was 2 years ago. This weekend, it turned up again...

Hilarious!

The same thing happened to us just this morning about a half hour ago - we'd had a little TB Beaver making the rounds a few years back, and he suddenly went missing after having been placed in a cache in New Hampshire... the next visitors to the cache reported he was missing, but no logs appeared.

 

This morning, out of the blue, we get a log - he's been picked up from a cache in Vermont!! He had been missing for over two years, and suddenly appeared again. So there's still hope! Crazy things happen.

Link to comment

I thought mine was missing, it was dropped in a virtual cache (huh? didn't think that was possible!) and disapeared. That was 2 years ago. This weekend, it turned up again, someone found it, logged it and dropped it off in another cache.

 

I had one turn up after it was missing for nearly 2 years. I've also had the same experience as the OP, where some grabbed my TB then appeared to leave the sport and all my e-mails were ignored, including several where I offered to send a postage paid envelope so he could return it to me.

Link to comment

Send out as many as possible, enjoy the ones that make it and don't sweat the ones that don't. This games is supposed to be fun so don't dwell on aspects that might ruin the experience. Sure a lost TB or other trackable item is sad and an expense but just send out another one. Keep trying.

Link to comment

The "unending angst" part I borrowed from Snoogans, so go pick a bone with him. The "perpetual hope" part I added myself, so as not to sound negative.

 

When you move 25 threads a week, occasionally you're motivated to get creative with the "moving this thread..." message. :blink:

Link to comment

The "unending angst" part I borrowed from Snoogans, so go pick a bone with him. The "perpetual hope" part I added myself, so as not to sound negative.

 

When you move 25 threads a week, occasionally you're motivated to get creative with the "moving this thread..." message. :blink:

 

Gotcha, quote away.

Edited by ATMouse
Link to comment

Kindnesss and sweetness is the only way to go! "My bug has enjoyed its visit to Lowell, and would enjoy continuing its adventures. Thank you for taking such good care of it". I've gotten a few bugs dropped off with kind and gentle reminders.

But, when I look through the list of bugs that I've moved, I find that most of the ones that have not moved in a year or more are in the hands of people who have stopped caching. Probably fifty or sixty of those. Four finds, one travel bug picked up, last cached 12/22/2004. Nothing can be done except to say "Oh, well". Sad, but part of life. Not my bug, but I feel sorry for the kid who owns it.

Throw your (bug's) fate to the wind, and hope for the best. If it doesn't happen, then mourn, and move on! My bug never left Lowell. Oh, well. I miss her. But what's done is done. :P

We did send out three Agent bugs to search for our first missing bug. Lost in Minnesota. Poor bug. One has been travelling extensively in Delaware. (Is Delaware that big?!?) Another took an interesting side trip to Japan. We mourned our losses, and moved on!

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...