Geocoin hoggers

[+schnarff]

I wouldnt normally get embroiled in something like this but on occasion I too have kept a bug longer than expected - for similar reasons that have already been mentioned however the simple etiquette I have always used:

 

if I am deliberately keeping it longer due to its mission (eg I am able to take it abroad) I email the owner and ask if they are happy with that or would rather me drop it off at a nearby cache

 

if I have kept it longer due to personal circumstances out of my control (eg illness) once I go over the 2 weeks I email the owner stating my "embarrassment" and apologise.

 

If we have time to come on here and check new caches, go onto forums etc then we all have time to click on the send message and write a couple of words out of courtesy to the owner. I think if everyone did this then people would not get so annoyed. Whilst I would not want to been seen as making any "personal attacks", the individual(s) who state on here that its ok to keep bugs for longer never seem to mention that they do contact the owners.

 

This method has not only always worked for me but I have ended up making more "geo friends" this way as people remember that I was friendly and courteous and appreciate the communication

 

Schnarff

x

[+The Spokes]

What you want him to go out on his own with a furry toy and look for a plastic box to put it in. People might think he is strange? What if the police ask questions?

No,best wait till the kids are with him he won't feel so daft then.

They will all go out this Sunday definitely.

 

Only some more things happen.

 

Not saying its OK to keep TB for ages just saying that things happen.

Most Travel Bugs I would say do not disappear or get held intentionally.

 

Most people would intend to do the right thing at the outset.

Just trying to be realistic.

Edited September 11, 2008 by The Spokes

[+sssss]

i found that work/life etc got in the way every now and again of caching and like most this did happen when i had bugs in the bag.

 

so what i did was put a cache out within a few strides of my house (well big strides). But also with parking alongside.

 

This then allowed me to drop in trackables if I were not going caching in the near future, allowing others the chance to move them on.

 

If i was going out caching i could collect some to move them on.

 

so the answer is all cachers should put a cache at the end of their garden to allow them to place trackables if not going caching

 

[+Alibags]

so the answer is all cachers should put a cache at the end of their garden to allow them to place trackables if not going caching

 

Hear hear! Or even better... the neighbours garden

[+The Slaughter Family]

cache in my garden.....more likely to be muggled. I hope as a newbie I have approached the trackables in the right mind.....have only collected a couple...and appealling to the children was one thing (and by mistake another)...I also try to note what was there when I left home, so to try and move older things, and also try to place in frequented caches where poss. I hope that it is ok to discover coins etc and not take as we try to have only 1 or poss 2 in our hands at a time?? We have a fair few micros close to us, so a cache big enough may take an outing, though a new tb hotel has been published fairly close to us and will help if we cannot get out. Also what happens/do I do when I visit a cache and there are no trackables but there are on the cache page, apart from noting this in my log. I once emailed an owner...who was grateful, but this cannot be prudent as one cache I visted was empty and the coin taken a while ago and not logged (as in picked up from the cache page)......is this the owners responsibility???

Enough waffle...hope that this makes sense.

[+Paul & Ros]

i found that work/life etc got in the way every now and again of caching and like most this did happen when i had bugs in the bag.

 

so what i did was put a cache out within a few strides of my house (well big strides). But also with parking alongside.

 

This then allowed me to drop in trackables if I were not going caching in the near future, allowing others the chance to move them on.

 

If i was going out caching i could collect some to move them on.

 

so the answer is all cachers should put a cache at the end of their garden to allow them to place trackables if not going caching

 

 

 

We regularly drop bugs and coins we have collected whilst out and about into local caches we have already done and which we can get to within a few minutes of home (on an evening). Always try not to hang on to them too long but as stated by others work/life (and petrol prices !) stop us from travelling to new caching areas as often as we'd like so dropping them off close to home gets them back into circulation more quickly than they would.

 

 

As for what to do if a TB/Coin is missing when you visit a cache - It depends how long it appears to have been missing for as to what I would do. A week or so may mean it has been picked up by someone on holiday and not logged yet so I would do nothing but possibly note in the log that I hadn't seen it. If it had been listed for months and there had been several other visitors to the cache in that time who had also said they'd not seen it then I would email the TB/Coin and Cache owner to suggest one of them moved it to an unknown location to prevent future finders from being disappointed. I have done this several times and the owners have always been happy to oblige. After all if it does ever turn up again it can always be grabbed back.

[+BikerKats]

Well, we were very grateful to the Spokes who rescued one of our TBs from a TB Hotel where it had apparently been for 11 months. Someone had logged it as having picked it up from said hotel and had not responded to an e-mail we sent, politely asking if he still had it and could he move it on. We were on the point of logging this TB ino a TB graveyard when three cachers discovered or grabbed it in a two-day period. The Spokes were kind enough to move it on to an appropriate cache in line with its mission.

[+NinjaCacher!]

 

Two weeks? Six weeks?

 

Let me take a look look at some of my own TB's/coins and how long they haven't been moved:

• 15 months: TB1M8DJ - cacher has only done 3 caches since he picked it up, and not done any since October last year. Not sure why though, they did more before.
  
• over 12 months: TB1GHZE - did about 6 caches since he picked it up, none since January.
  
• 5 months: TB20NRR - but emailed me end of may saying that he got stuck with work in Thailand, and hasn't been caching since then. Not sure what the current time line is..
  
• 4 months: TB19DX4 - cacher did no caches since he picked it up - in fact hasn't even logged a find on the cache where he picked it up??
  

 

Woohoo, #2 (TB1GHZE "Evil Jenny") seems to come back to life after almost 17 months

 

Let's see what happens, might still take a while to be picked up from there as the cache doesn't seem to be visited very often...

[+Happy Humphrey]

I didn't bother with this thread initially, but having read it now I say kudos to the Spokes for being honest and realistic.

 

I often end up hanging on to trackables for longer than expected due to considerations such as changes of plan, other interests getting in the way, weather, not finding the target cache etc. Two weeks is a very quick move on; I think that the reminder is after two weeks just in case you've forgotten you picked it up. It's not a realistic expectation for moving it on, except for those for whom geocaching is the primary interest.

 

I wouldn't be upset if one of mine was stuck for six weeks. Some have been with the same cacher for over a year. Obviously, it's nice if you've held onto it for a couple of months, to e-mail the owner with reassurance.

[+drdick&vick]

Many cachers use quite large objects as TB's and I am quite happy to pick them up to move on, the problem then arises that quite often the caches that we have planned to do are either

(a) not big enough to take a large TB

( are to full to take anymore

© we think that the cache is one that might not be visited often enough for the TB to move on and don't feel happy with leaving it there.

 

Otherwise our average 'move on' time is 3 weeks.

[+SidAndBob]

Woohoo, #2 (TB1GHZE "Evil Jenny") seems to come back to life after almost 17 months

 

Let's see what happens, might still take a while to be picked up from there as the cache doesn't seem to be visited very often...

It's great to hear that your geocoin has eventually turned up. Unfortunately for us the Geocaching equilibrium has been maintained, as we have recently lost an identical geocoin. Maybe it will also resurface after 17 months.

The fact that it was in a cache called There they were.... Gone! seems somewhat ironic.

 

Is there any Travel Bug etiquette? Use the Golden Rule when you find a Travel Bug. Most owners would rather see their travel bugs do a lot of travelling, so try not to hold on to a travel bug for too long. If you plan on holding onto the bug for more than 2 weeks, make sure to send a courtesy email to the owner letting them know.

[+Jacobite]

Many moons ago, I misplaced a geocachers USA geocoin. I hunted high and low for this coin, wondering where on earth I'd put it. After exhausting all the possible places I could have put it I gave up the search, and in an effort to do the right thing bought the cacher an identical coin, sent them the tracking number and released it for them. Several weeks later I was tending to a cache I had disabled a few months earlier, and what did I find in the final container?

 

Not remebering that you put a coin in your own cache......................now there's a worry!

[+ivanidea]

It would be good if GC would reinstate the reminder about coins and bugs being in your possession longer than 2 weeks.

 

I sometimes forget I need to move items since I no longer see them on my account page (at the bottom of the page if I scroll down). The reminder used to let me know which coins were in need of moving.

 

Ivan

[+M0zez]

I have had to send a few reminders to some cachers, the longest a coin of mine had been held is approx 3 months. It can get a little frustrating, usually a polite email is enough to inspire the holder to move it on.

 

If I have a coin or TB longer than the standard two weeks I will always try to get in touch with its owner, more often I hold onto them a little longer if I am going abroad, if the mission is to travel I always ask the owners permission. Seems some cachers are missing a little caching etiquette.