Geocoin or Travel Bug

[+Ranster]

Sorry, this is actually just a b*tch post.

 

I had my first Geocoin activated and wanted it to tour the east (it was/is the Fort Sumter Civil War Series) coast and actually find its way to Fort Sumter and return. I had a friend of my take it to Texas and the first person there found it and has had it since JULY 31st. I've sent two "very nice" e-mails asking that MY coin continue on its journey. I haven't received any reply and the coin hasn't been placed anywhere else. I even told the person if they needed help, I would assist them in logging it correctly.

 

Has anyone else had their tracking items kidnapped?

[+StarBrand]

About 50% of my travel bugs have disappeared.

 

Don't lose hope though - one of my TBs was in the hands of a cacher for nearly 4 years and suddenly got moving again.

[+trainlove]

One of my bugs ended up in the hands of a college student around January 06, and they didn't do any more caches till that September.

Actually it turns out that the particular person actually lent out his username and password to others who took the bug. Why someone does not create their own account I can't figure.

But all is well now and that one is now thousands of miles from those people.

ACtually looking at the logs, I guess back then one could change their usernames as none seem familiar to who I had emailled. I wonder if I have the original [Log] emails that will still point to the original logs.

 

Now, I have another bug that's been in someones hands since May, and they have not done any caches since then. Well they have done one but have since deleted their log.

I can see that they look at the geocaching.com web site at least once a week. But I'm wondering if they actually have received my polite emails, once a month after the 2'nd month. And I wonder if they now have another account that they actually use. Not a sock puppet but perhaps a way for them to relieve their conscience about having lost or destroyed or otherwise goofed with a bug.

[+HolyCowboys]

Have faith.

I felt I had lost one of my TB's about a year and a half ago. It had only made it about 40 miles from my caching area. Then poof it was held in lockup for 18 months. I had given up hope long ago then last week I saw a posting that it had finally been placed in a cache out West. Actually the goal of the TB. I know this is not a common thing to happen. But who know with this game. You are doing the correct thing by sending out polite notes.

Good luck,

HC

[+"we two want to play too"]

Relax, you're assuming the TB has been kidnapped.

 

We tend to be either very fast or very slow placing bugs.

Just ask the owners of the BadAndy coin...

They have been waiting I think, close to a year for their coin to get moving again.

I'm not holding it, hubby placed it in a new cache that we are having some difficulty getting active.

They have sent two notes. I have responded twice. They know whats going on but they want the bug to move because, well, that's what bugs are meant to do!

I feel badly about it. I do. But the bug is sitting in a terrain 5 cache and as often as I contemplate sneaking out and moving it, I just cannot imagine going out there again unless I absolutely have to.

 

Seriously.

 

I'm not going there unless something tragic happens to hubby and I have to remove the geo-trash 'cause I sure as **** ain't gonna maintain it. Uh uh. Noooo way. Terrain 5, in case ya missed it.

 

I'm sure we will have all of this resolved within the month and the bug can move on.

 

Your bug could, quite possibly, be someplace exciting just waiting to go again!

 

relax

 

edit to add: oddly enough, hubby placed 6 or 7 TB's in the last two caches of that series. Only the BadAndy owner is concerned enough to inquire about the status of the bug. All have basically been MIA for nearly a year.

Edited September 27, 2007 by "we two want to play too"

[+Ranster]

What I don't understand is why people don't at least log the fact the have found the TB. Also, why not reply to the e-mail to assure the owner their bug is all right.

 

I've just e-mailed the owner of a bug I have because I haven't had time to place it. It's been a couple weeks and I feel guilty!

[+"we two want to play too"]

If you mean me: I sent a pre-emptive note to the owners when this project started taking WAAAAAYYY longer than I thought needed. And hubby wasn't too happy that I butted in. But it's his series. The owners are in the loop.

 

If you didn't mean me: I agree.

[+trainlove]

some people, mostly newbies, do not know about emails from geocaching.com and as such ignore them as spam or whatever.

And of course lots of email sites throttle email or used to do so and occasionally still do so, so one can't assume that the recipiant of a message actually got it.

Persistance pays though, a message a month might sink in that it might be more than spam, those happen what, 20 times an hour?

[+BlueDeuce]

Sorry, this is actually just a b*tch post.

 

I had my first Geocoin activated and wanted it to tour the east (it was/is the Fort Sumter Civil War Series) coast and actually find its way to Fort Sumter and return. I had a friend of my take it to Texas and the first person there found it and has had it since JULY 31st. I've sent two "very nice" e-mails asking that MY coin continue on its journey. I haven't received any reply and the coin hasn't been placed anywhere else. I even told the person if they needed help, I would assist them in logging it correctly.

 

Has anyone else had their tracking items kidnapped?

 

Looks like they thought it was a trade item. Try emailing them again in a couple of months or if you see that they've logged in recently.

 

In the meantime you should move the coin out of the cache listing so people aren't making a trip to the cache expecting to find it.

 

Access the coin page and under Trackable Item Owner Options is a pull down menu reading Recalculate Distance. Under there is the Option: Mark item missing. This will move it to an Unknown Location. It can be pull it back out should it resurface.

[+briansnat]

About half of my trackables have gone missing.

 

Most of the missing TBs were the victim of a newbie who took the TB and never went caching again. The remainder were in stolen or lost caches.

 

Most of the coins were outright stolen by other geocachers. Kind of sad, but there are some dishonest people who happen to geocache.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Ditto what briansnat said (right, as usual) - I don't have many travelers out, but the bugs go missing when the cache goes missing or a novice picks them up, and the coins 'mysteriously' disappear.

[+Harry Dolphin]

One sees a lot of TBs missing due to cachers who do not know how to log them, or who do not have an account, but move them anyway. And, yes, unfortunately, there are thieves, particularly for geocoins. And, of course, muggles.

Of the seventeen that I've put out:

Four are missing:

1 muggled from my own cache

1 marked missing by the owner of a cache

1 left at an event at a bar. For crying out loud! It's a plastic pink flamingo!!!!

1 that I e-mailed the person who had it. She said that she put it out, but no one's seen it since. Either she liked it, or she lost it. Oh, well.

Others:

1 is probably missing froma cache

1 is held by someone who hasn't cached in a year and a half

1 is in a high terrain cache in Noca Scotia.

6 have moved in the last month!!!

1 - well we won't go there, except it's one of the four where I sent gentle reminders today expressing hope that the holder will move the bug along soon. Yeah, right

I have not released the rest of my geocoins because it is somewhat frustrating.

 

For crying out loud! It was a large plastic pink flamingo!!!! How could anyone not notice it sitting on the bar stool, when they left?!?!?

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to The Travel Bug forum.

 

To the OP, please choose the correct forum when posting, and please watch your potty mouth. Thanks.

[+OzGuff]

Every two months or so I go through the process of emailing cachers who appear to be the last grabber of my trackables. I ask them simply to get my coin/TB moving again. It takes a little time but it HAS had results.

 

OzGuff's Illinois Coin reappeared after 8 months.

My "I Am Out Of Here" TB reappeared after two years!

My Balls! TB reappeared after ten months.

 

Coins tend to disappear more frequently than TBs. Apparently geocachers like shiny things. You have to realize that once you release a TB or geocoin it may go missing. All you can do is hope it doesn't.

[+BlueDeuce]

Coins tend to disappear more frequently than TBs. Apparently geocachers like shiny things.

 

I always thought so but haven't been able to really show that's true. Seems to be about equal.

 

One thing though it is certainly easier to replace a lost TB than a geocoin.

[+wildchld97]

Sorry, this is actually just a b*tch post.

 

I had my first Geocoin activated and wanted it to tour the east (it was/is the Fort Sumter Civil War Series) coast and actually find its way to Fort Sumter and return. I had a friend of my take it to Texas and the first person there found it and has had it since JULY 31st. I've sent two "very nice" e-mails asking that MY coin continue on its journey. I haven't received any reply and the coin hasn't been placed anywhere else. I even told the person if they needed help, I would assist them in logging it correctly.

 

Has anyone else had their tracking items kidnapped?

 

I'm not sure about "kidnapped" because that involves "intent". I can't accuse anyone of anything at this point, but I do know what it feels like to have one turn up missing unexplainably.

 

As for the "potty mouth" comment that you got from one of the reviewers....I don't think that the term...especially the way that you presented it..was inappropriate. However, I'm not on a high horse either.

[+BlueDeuce]

Sorry, this is actually just a b*tch post.

 

I had my first Geocoin activated and wanted it to tour the east (it was/is the Fort Sumter Civil War Series) coast and actually find its way to Fort Sumter and return. I had a friend of my take it to Texas and the first person there found it and has had it since JULY 31st. I've sent two "very nice" e-mails asking that MY coin continue on its journey. I haven't received any reply and the coin hasn't been placed anywhere else. I even told the person if they needed help, I would assist them in logging it correctly.

 

Has anyone else had their tracking items kidnapped?

 

I'm not sure about "kidnapped" because that involves "intent". I can't accuse anyone of anything at this point, but I do know what it feels like to have one turn up missing unexplainably.

 

As for the "potty mouth" comment that you got from one of the reviewers....I don't think that the term...especially the way that you presented it..was inappropriate. However, I'm not on a high horse either.

 

I would suggest taking every moderator's warning very seriously, whether you agree with it or not.

[+Ranster]

I personally apologize. I did not realize I was using potty-mouth language with the asterisk. I "will" be more careful in any future posts.

Edited September 28, 2007 by Ranster

[+Steinwälzer]

My very first travel bug TB19806 seems to be lost. I released it in a cache, where it was picked up about 3 weeks later (5. August). This cacher hasn't done any caching since then (and found 17 caches so far), and he hasn't replied to my emails where I asked about my TB either. I was prepared that TBs are lost sometimes, but I wasn't prepared that it would happen with my very first one and the very first cacher who grabs it. I still haven't lost all hope that it will be released again some day, but it's frustrating

 

On the positive side, one of my coins was grabbed by a newbie from her very first cache she found. She didn't log the coin, I found out by accident as I read the cache log (the coin was placed there just the same day). I wrote her an email where I explained how to log it and what to do with it, and the next day she logged the coin and just a week later she placed (and logged) the coin in another cache.

Edited September 28, 2007 by Steinwälzer

[+UncleJimbo]

My very first travel bug TB19806 seems to be lost. I released it in a cache, where it was picked up about 3 weeks later (5. August). This cacher hasn't done any caching since then (and found 17 caches so far), and he hasn't replied to my emails where I asked about my TB either. I was prepared that TBs are lost sometimes, but I wasn't prepared that it would happen with my very first one and the very first cacher who grabs it. I still haven't lost all hope that it will be released again some day, but it's frustrating

 

I am just about to drop my first TB, and so I have given this some thought. One problem is that if you drop your TB in a cache in a "saturated" area, all the "old pros" have already done that cache, and so it is likely that the next cachers to go there are going to be newbies. I wonder if you could increase your chances of TB success by dropping your TB into a new cache, which will probably be hit by experienced cachers in the near future? Just an idea.

[+BlueDeuce]

I am just about to drop my first TB, and so I have given this some thought. One problem is that if you drop your TB in a cache in a "saturated" area, all the "old pros" have already done that cache, and so it is likely that the next cachers to go there are going to be newbies. I wonder if you could increase your chances of TB success by dropping your TB into a new cache, which will probably be hit by experienced cachers in the near future? Just an idea.

 

Yes, probably. After that though it'll be hit or miss. I've learned just to not expect too much from my TBs. I'm happy to hear from them once every three/four months.

 

Then every once in a while somebody goes above and beyond and does something fun with it.

[+ChicagoCanineCrew]

I'm guilty of this! I have a travelbug I have had for quite a while, but I have not been caching for a long time (haven't visited this site in months until now) and I still have it. I kept trying to place it in caches when I had it and was caching, but I kept being thwarted either by too small containers or DNFs. I feel really bad but I did let the owner know several times that I still have it and it's not missing... I'm hoping to either find another cacher to take it who goes out more often or get myself in gear and find a cache that is actually big enough. Unfortunately all the new caches I've been reading about in my area seem to be micros (and not all labelled as such.)

Edited September 29, 2007 by ChicagoCanineCrew

[+BlueDeuce]

Oops, I just noticed one of my bugs was picked up but never logged back on 7/26 by a cacher with 2 finds and whose last site visit was 7/28.

 

I'll send them a nice note and let's see what happens.

 

Mr Flip

Edited September 29, 2007 by BlueDeuce