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Is this appropriate?


msubobcats

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The following is a copy of my coorespondence to a gentlemen in Iowa that is in possession of my TB, and has had it since before Thanskgiving, 2007. He is still in possession of it, and the bug has not moved.

 

I am still fairly new to geocaching, so I am not sure if possessing a TB over the winter and not moving it along is commonplace, as he seems to suggest (#6). Frankly, I find that excuse or belief a little off base, unless you live above the Arctic Circle. But I could be wrong.

 

Please give me your thoughts...email's below...

 

Me - "Can you get that travel bug moving again?"

 

Him - "March, maybe."

 

Me - "Please release it ASAP. You have had it for more than 3 months now. It is not enjoyable on this end to watch a travel bug go nowhere. Thank You."

 

Him - "A few things:

 

1. When I picked up your TB it was during a trip to St. Louis for thanksgiving and the weather was fair.

2. When I returned home to NW Iowa we were immediately hit with a significant ice/snow storm.

3. The weather has remained cold and snowy ever since. The few nice days I was not usually able to geocache. Most caches close to here are buried in Ice and snow.

4. Those few times I did go geocaching were usually spur of the moment and I didnt always have TBs with me.

5. The weather appears to be now in a moderating trend and I have a geocaching trip planned for a week from Sunday (March??) in middle eastern SD and will attempt to drop your TB off there.

6. I also have TBs out there that dont often move especially during the winter.

7. Geocaching is a game and not a sport as some people would try to make it.

8. Your TB is nothing more than a piece of aluminum with some numbers on it, the same as mine, not a life changing object.

9. Relax, enjoy caching and life, its short.

10. Your TB will start moving again with spring coming on. Be glad it is somewhere. There are many TBs that have disappeared in to never never land due to caches being muggled, washed away in floods or stolen. I try to place TBs in places that I feel are relatively safe.

 

Relax and cache on

 

Wonder Boy"

 

Me - "I may be somewhat inexperienced in the geocaching "game", so I am going to cut and paste our communication and place it in the 'forums' section of the geocache website. I will get others beliefs regarding (in my opinion) your delay in forwarding on the travel bug. If I am wrong in expecting some movement from the bug in the last 3.5 months that you have possessed it, then I will certainly apologize to you in the near future.

 

In response to your other statements, I will comment on a few...

 

#7 - Yes it is a game, please play it or do not accept TB's...

#8 - It's unfortunate that you don't consider that my wife spent her money on the TB as a birthday present to me. It is more than "a piece of aluminum" to us, as we wanted to experience the TB side of geocaching. So far, it has not been alot of fun.

#10 - If we lose it, we lose it. I am not sure if this is a veiled threat to trash the TB or not...

 

God Bless, and I will be in touch with the thoughts of the geocaching community soon"

 

Am I wrong to expect some movement during the winter? Is it typical to have TB's go dormant when the temp drops? Maybe I'm just not cut out to participate in the TB part of geocaching, and should stick with finds only. Nevertheless, I will apologize to 'Wonder Boy" if needed.

 

But I doubt I will need to because - he has 127 'finds' since he picked up my TB!!!

 

Go Cats

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Geesh, those Iowa people. tsk tsk. :o

 

Personally I would have sent the request and left it at that, regardless of the response. Fighting with the guy is probably having the opposite affect you want.

 

Do I think he should make the effort to release it? Absolutely. And I bet dollars to doughnuts I have more snow then he does so his excuses don't mean squat to me. Just let it go and be happy when it's out of his hands.

 

Feel free to have the guy mail it to me and I'll place it for him. Heck I'll even pay for postage.

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I know it can be very frustrating when a TB does not move as frequently as we would like. I remember my 1st TB and can remember firing off emails when I felt it was not moving rapidly enough.. On the other side: I can also remember holding onto a TB for over 3 months. I also remember getting emails, but unfortunately, I had been laid off and was more interested in finding a job so I could feed my family. Honestly, I just ignored the emails, because my brain wasn't in the "geocaching" mode at the time. I did eventually get them dropped though.

 

Remember this is just a game. We all have different seasons in our lives that can lead to decreased geocaching activity. Send off the email and hope for the best. Getting in a big argument with the gentleman is not going to help. Especially threatening to out him to the geocaching community by posting this thread.

 

Just my 2 cents

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I did not intend to "out" anybody on this forum. And this is not a big argument/fight nor did I intend it to be one. We all have better things to do most of the time. However, as I stated, I am fairly new and this is my first TB, so I have no past experiences I can relate to. And I intend to apologize to the guy if I am wrong, if this is typical TB activity. All I did was ask when the bug might show some movement.

 

Reading past posts on this forum (doing some research prior to my initial email to him) I found most send an email after one month of inactivity. I waiting three times as long.

 

Maybe I should take this beginning TB experience to be what it is...an example that trusting others is a poor choice. Thus participating in the TB arena is a poor choice. Probably just not worth the money to buy 'em.

 

Go Cats

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I did not intend to "out" anybody on this forum. And this is not a big argument/fight nor did I intend it to be one. We all have better things to do most of the time. However, as I stated, I am fairly new and this is my first TB, so I have no past experiences I can relate to. And I intend to apologize to the guy if I am wrong, if this is typical TB activity. All I did was ask when the bug might show some movement.

 

Reading past posts on this forum (doing some research prior to my initial email to him) I found most send an email after one month of inactivity. I waiting three times as long.

 

Maybe I should take this beginning TB experience to be what it is...an example that trusting others is a poor choice. Thus participating in the TB arena is a poor choice. Probably just not worth the money to buy 'em.

 

Go Cats

 

You sent him an email asking to release it. He said he would in March. That was your response. You then proceeded to basically demand he release it ASAP. At least from my reading the email, that's how I would have taken it. After you received your response from him, that should have been the end of the conversation in my opinion.

 

Beyond that, what are you going to do about it? I suppose you could email Groundspeak, but I don't think they are going to do anything about it either.

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I did not intend to "out" anybody on this forum. And this is not a big argument/fight nor did I intend it to be one. We all have better things to do most of the time. However, as I stated, I am fairly new and this is my first TB, so I have no past experiences I can relate to. And I intend to apologize to the guy if I am wrong, if this is typical TB activity. All I did was ask when the bug might show some movement.

 

Reading past posts on this forum (doing some research prior to my initial email to him) I found most send an email after one month of inactivity. I waiting three times as long.

 

Maybe I should take this beginning TB experience to be what it is...an example that trusting others is a poor choice. Thus participating in the TB arena is a poor choice. Probably just not worth the money to buy 'em.

 

Go Cats

 

I recommend waiting over three months before sending the first query email, then wait another three.

 

I have a bug held since 5/7/2007 and it was held for over a year before that. So you're not alone in the frustration bugs can bring. I just release them and set my expectations real low. That way I'm real happy when I hear from them.

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NEWB question:

 

What is normal TB ettiquete or is there such a thing? I picked up our first one yesterday (thursday) and will be placing it in a TB motel near DIA on Saturday. I was worried that I was sitting on it to long. I Know the TB motel where I will be dropping has some other bugs in it but i looked at what the owner stated as goals and dont think that I can help them get there, so I will leave them for someone who can move them in the right direction. Is this correct?

 

Thanks

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....Am I wrong to expect some movement during the winter? Is it typical to have TB's go dormant when the temp drops? Maybe I'm just not cut out to participate in the TB part of geocaching, and should stick with finds only. Nevertheless, I will apologize to 'Wonder Boy" if needed.

 

But I doubt I will need to because - he has 127 'finds' since he picked up my TB!!!

 

Go Cats

He was good up until #7.

 

Are you wrong? No. However you do have to temper your wants with reality. Snow does cause issues. Winter does cause issues. Micro's cause issues. Time and real life don't always allow caching as you would like.

 

He said he'd get it back out. I trust he will. All the angsty emails in the world won't speed up the process.

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NEWB question:

 

What is normal TB ettiquete or is there such a thing? I picked up our first one yesterday (thursday) and will be placing it in a TB motel near DIA on Saturday. I was worried that I was sitting on it to long. I Know the TB motel where I will be dropping has some other bugs in it but i looked at what the owner stated as goals and dont think that I can help them get there, so I will leave them for someone who can move them in the right direction. Is this correct?

 

Thanks

 

Thanks for asking. Generally two weeks is the expected outer time line. If you have to go past maybe three weeks just explain the situation to the bug owner. Most are cool with the delay as long as they know their bug hasn't been forgotten. If you want to take it on trip and you aren't leaving for a couple months check with the owner and get permission to hold it that long.

 

As for meeting the goal even a little movement helps, it doesn't have to be perfect. I like people to enjoy my bugs so I have no problem with a bug only moving .10 of a mile.

 

Happy Caching!

 

edit: missing word.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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Please remember that we are all human, and no two people cache alike. If you check the weather for that area, most everything is probably covered in snow. Lots of snow. I look at the radar every day, and up in the Lakes region, they get a lot of snow. It's best to practice patience when people can't get out. Sure maybe the roads are clear, but that doesn't mean there isn't two feet of snow on the ground.

If look at the type of people who geocache, you will find that there is no 'type'. Not everyone is physically able to trudge through snow, bear the cold, or risk their life in some manner for a travel bug. If he told you after the first email that he would place the TB, then you should give him time. The weather might clear sooner, who knows, but your second email to him did not sound friendly or patient. Making someone mad is not the way to insure someone takes good care of your TB. Maybe you didn't mean it to sound that way, but in print, that is how it sounds to me. I would ease up on the communication with him/her, and when your bug is placed, maybe send a nice thank you. Or just sit back and see where it goes from there.

In winter, yes this is typical TB activity, unless you live in a tropical zone. Then you might find people staying out of the heat during the summertime.

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If you cant drop a TB within two weeks, i don't thing you should take on that responsibility. It is not yours, you are just giving it a lift.

 

Once we had a few and we had to stop caching. I did keep them for longer than that but dropped them at a local cache. If i ever have one that needs dropped quick i take them to a local cache.

 

I guess everyone may not have that luxury of having a local cache.

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Please remember that we are all human, and no two people cache alike. If you check the weather for that area, most everything is probably covered in snow. Lots of snow. I look at the radar every day, and up in the Lakes region, they get a lot of snow. It's best to practice patience when people can't get out. Sure maybe the roads are clear, but that doesn't mean there isn't two feet of snow on the ground.

If look at the type of people who geocache, you will find that there is no 'type'. Not everyone is physically able to trudge through snow, bear the cold, or risk their life in some manner for a travel bug. If he told you after the first email that he would place the TB, then you should give him time. The weather might clear sooner, who knows, but your second email to him did not sound friendly or patient. Making someone mad is not the way to insure someone takes good care of your TB. Maybe you didn't mean it to sound that way, but in print, that is how it sounds to me. I would ease up on the communication with him/her, and when your bug is placed, maybe send a nice thank you. Or just sit back and see where it goes from there.

In winter, yes this is typical TB activity, unless you live in a tropical zone. Then you might find people staying out of the heat during the summertime.

 

What do you mean that a TB isn't worth risking your life for?! And this from the TB forum mod. :o

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Please remember that we are all human, and no two people cache alike. If you check the weather for that area, most everything is probably covered in snow. Lots of snow. I look at the radar every day, and up in the Lakes region, they get a lot of snow. It's best to practice patience when people can't get out. Sure maybe the roads are clear, but that doesn't mean there isn't two feet of snow on the ground.

If look at the type of people who geocache, you will find that there is no 'type'. Not everyone is physically able to trudge through snow, bear the cold, or risk their life in some manner for a travel bug. If he told you after the first email that he would place the TB, then you should give him time. The weather might clear sooner, who knows, but your second email to him did not sound friendly or patient. Making someone mad is not the way to insure someone takes good care of your TB. Maybe you didn't mean it to sound that way, but in print, that is how it sounds to me. I would ease up on the communication with him/her, and when your bug is placed, maybe send a nice thank you. Or just sit back and see where it goes from there.

In winter, yes this is typical TB activity, unless you live in a tropical zone. Then you might find people staying out of the heat during the summertime.

 

What do you mean that a TB isn't worth risking your life for?! And this from the TB forum mod. :blink:

 

Whoa, hold on! I didn't say it wasn't worth it, I said some people are not physically able. You should know me better than that! :wub: You're going to give me a bad name! :wub:

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I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and opinions. It is good to gain some education regarding TB ettiquette. My motives are only to find out if my opinion is wrong to think the TB should have moved by now.

 

However, everyone provides very valid points except for one major flaw in my opinion. The guy claims 120+ finds since he grabbed my bug. He cannot claim bad weather, etc on not moving it. Now, if he had a legitimate reason for caching and not moving the bug, he should have provided that in the second email, not tried to bash me for asking him to get on with it.

 

Thanks for the continued dialogue.

 

Go Cats

Edited by msubobcats
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If the guy has found one hundred and twenty new caches since he picked up your TB, I think he could have moved the thing along by now!

 

Every time he has logged a find the web site has shown him his TB inventory to remind him.

 

That's ridiculous and wrong! He TOTALLY should have left it somewhere else by now.

 

Does your TB have some silly difficult goal of only being left in a different state it hasn't visited before, and then only on a Thursday?

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I would also like to say thanks for the tips and pointers on TB etiquette. We moved our first TB and geocoin today. With the geocoin I transposed a couple of characters when I wrote down the tracking number in my personal log and couldnt log the move. Sent a message to the coin owner and got the right info. Oddly enough the name of the coin is "Tempting Fate".

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If the guy has found one hundred and twenty new caches since he picked up your TB, I think he could have moved the thing along by now!

 

Every time he has logged a find the web site has shown him his TB inventory to remind him.

 

That's ridiculous and wrong! He TOTALLY should have left it somewhere else by now.

 

Does your TB have some silly difficult goal of only being left in a different state it hasn't visited before, and then only on a Thursday?

 

The goal of the TB is not too complicated. The TB is to travel to Alaska, so ANY direction except south would work fine.

 

But make no mistake about it, I quite sure once the guy has found this forum, and realizes he is in the wrong (My belief), then that bug will end up in a blender.

 

Go Cats

Edited by msubobcats
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I too find it a tad bit hard to believe after 120 finds he couldn't drop it off somewhere.

 

I like others have had issues rereleasing a TB in a timely manner, I personally felt bad and e-mailed the owner that is was indeed safe but I wasn't capable of moving it along in a timely fashion. I unexpectedly was offered a job out of state and took it so my priority was life/job not geoccaching much to my dismay :D I think I dropped them off at my first new cache in my new hometown- it was very close to 3 months but there was communication on my part, and I hope they understood.

 

I normally don't tend to take TB's unless I know I can move them in a timely manner - like others above said.

 

You do have valid points it really stinks though, but part of geocaching is patience. Hopefully it goes onto log many more miles. Please don't just let one small issue ruin your TB/geocoin fun. Trust me I think I have around 8-10 out of 60 coins I have released go missing/stolen. I am getting ready to send about 40 trackable geocoins overseas to travel.

 

Just my 2 cents or maybe that is 3 cents. :P

 

Steel City Babes

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Geesh, those Iowa people. tsk tsk. :unsure:

 

Personally I would have sent the request and left it at that, regardless of the response. Fighting with the guy is probably having the opposite affect you want.

 

Do I think he should make the effort to release it? Absolutely. And I bet dollars to doughnuts I have more snow then he does so his excuses don't mean squat to me. Just let it go and be happy when it's out of his hands.

 

Feel free to have the guy mail it to me and I'll place it for him. Heck I'll even pay for postage.

I agree with BlueDeuce, we've had record amounts of snow this year and I've only done a couple of caches since the first of the year, but there's always a place you can find to move a bug or a coin.

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I know in Ohio that with the weather, all caching slows down during the winter. recently i picked up a TB and yes, i went over the two week rule, but the weather for me did not allow any caching. And.. this TB had already set in a cache for close to 2 months, so i was simply trying to get it going again, and was able to drop it off today. My only other suggestion is that i have even offered to pay for postage for the other person to simply mail the TB or coin back to me and work out the logging details later. I have one coin presently that a cacher picked up in Ohio, went back home to CO. and has had it since May 2007. I have emailed 3-4 times, and taken advice from these forums not to be too mean, and last past week the other cacher finally replied back that his GPS is not working and just alot of bad things going on in his life right now and is truly sorry for having the coin so long. It made me come to realize that it's only a small piece of metal, or some trinket playing some game and if it gets lost or stays with someone, life will go on, and if that coin or TB is soo valuable then maybe should not send it out into this world. Phew, i do hope it works out, march is around the corner!!

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When you have a bug that you can't place within the time you thought you could, contacting the owner makes a huge difference.

 

Talking with that other cacher can so completely make up for not placing a bug into a cache within two weeks. Telling them 'I have your bug and I will take care of it' is community and we are all about community.

 

Besides, placing a bug into a cache is not necessarily the best thing you can do for it. If you can't move it along that doesn't mean the bug can't still have fun. Seems only fair to me that if you have to hold on to it you might as well take it on an adventure before it returns to the inside of an ammocan.

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What we try to do if we have a TB or geocoin for too long and if weather, life, etc. has kept us from caching for awhile is to simply move it to one of our own hides or a cache that we already found. There is no rule against doing that (though the first time we did such a thing I was so unsure I also asked in a forum).

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Well, having done a considerable amount of caching in Northern Michigan during the snowy months, I can't say I sympathize with the person currently holding the bug... yeah, sometimes winter sucks and people get in their own little funks or whatever, so to each their own (but we've personally loved taking the snow shoes out to trailblaze our way out to a cache buried somewhere in the woods with a couple feet of snow on the ground).

 

But, one thing you DID get here is a reply from the person who has your TB -- and that's a blessing. With many a loss, seems the queries often just go ignored and/or unanswered. Myself, I'd either have left it with the guy, confident that he was planning to place it in March (as he said), or simply offered to pay postage for him if he were kind enough to mail it back to me. I know I'd MUCH rather know that I had a bug safely in a cacher's hands who seemed responsive enough than to have them disappear completely (or have the "last known cacher" never respond to inquiries).

 

Of course, as I say this, I'm currently trying to get my inlaws' first travel bug moved by an active cacher who's been holding it for about eight months, now. Even better, their first bug and he was the first one to grab it... so it literally has zero miles logged on it since July 2007.

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Seeing your bugs stranded is frustrating, I know, but in his defense it has been a bit trashy in the weather department across the midwest. I have a couple bugs in the northeast that are sitting, and I feel the climate conditions have a lot to do with that. We just need to be patient, spring is almost here.

 

My parents live in Iowa and have not had the snow cover melt since before Christmas. I can't say that I'd be all that interested in a caching trip in that sort of weather either, even if I had a bug that needed dropped off somewhere. If his response to you was honest, then it sounds like he picked up the bug when the weather was better and planned to do some more caching. Since then there hasn't been any good weather, so he's not been out caching. You say he's logged a bunch of caches since then, but I don't have much way of checking that or knowing if he is just catching up on logs. I'd have to suggest that you just relax and wait it out. He says it will be released sometime very soon. I don't think any of my (3) travelers have moved in recent weeks/months, but I'm not that worried about it. There have been very few days in the last couple months when I would have wanted to be outdoors either.

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It could simply be that they've misplaced it, but know it's not lost, and didn't want to say anything until they remember where they've put it.

What she said! We had one bug that went missing for over a year. Couldn't figure out where it went and the owner finally gave up on us finding it. I was convinced the cat had hidden it somewhere.

When we finally found it, it was while on a maintenance visit to a cache my brother had put out. The TB was in the container and just hadn't been discovered by any of the finders. So we re-grabbed it and got it active again. No idea how it ended up there but I am still blaming the cat.

 

Sometimes they go missing. Sometimes you forget your TB bag when heading out on a road trip, sometimes it sits on top of a shelf for a month until someone notices it is there and asks why it isn't in the TB bag with the other ones.

We've had 2 go missing very quickly, and one that was grabbed and placed into another cache by a new cacher who had no idea how even to log a find, let along a TB. These things happen. Patience and politeness is the best way to keep the TB alive and out of the blender. <_<

 

Caching in the snow isn't fun. Finding caches big enough for a TB to fit into is harder when they are all covered in a foot of snow- we do more micros in the winter than any other type of cache. Put that together with caching without the bug with him when he does find a big enough container and you've got a recipe for a bug being held for a season or two.

 

Go Griz!

J

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Well, having done a considerable amount of caching in Northern Michigan during the snowy months, I can't say I sympathize with the person currently holding the bug... yeah, sometimes winter sucks and people get in their own little funks or whatever, so to each their own (but we've personally loved taking the snow shoes out to trailblaze our way out to a cache buried somewhere in the woods with a couple feet of snow on the ground).

 

But, one thing you DID get here is a reply from the person who has your TB -- and that's a blessing. With many a loss, seems the queries often just go ignored and/or unanswered. Myself, I'd either have left it with the guy, confident that he was planning to place it in March (as he said), or simply offered to pay postage for him if he were kind enough to mail it back to me. I know I'd MUCH rather know that I had a bug safely in a cacher's hands who seemed responsive enough than to have them disappear completely (or have the "last known cacher" never respond to inquiries).

 

Of course, as I say this, I'm currently trying to get my inlaws' first travel bug moved by an active cacher who's been holding it for about eight months, now. Even better, their first bug and he was the first one to grab it... so it literally has zero miles logged on it since July 2007.

Know the feeling with that one. I have a couple that were retrieved from a meet and eat event, that have never been logged as retrieved or found, and still haven't been moved anywhere. I don't even know who got them!

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Options next time:

 

1) Offer to send him a pre-paid envelope to send the TB back to you in

 

2) Accept the fact that it's been sitting for long time, but he has plans to move it relatively soon - be happy it's not lost/stolen

 

3) Don't call him out by name in the forums. Now he's on the defensive (possibly). This whole situation could have been down without using names and talking in general terms

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To second a response above - I typically send out gentle requests to move my stuck TBs two or three times a year. I only send them to people that have been holding onto my TB for over three months.

 

Some folks get out geocaching every chance they get. I suspect that the majority geocache less frequently. The site recomends moving a TB within two weeks, but sometimes that isn't practical. I don't worry if my bugs have been held a bit longer, and I occasionally can't move the ones that I've picked up that quickly either.

 

127 finds sounds like a lot to not drop a TB. But, My son and I found 46 caches last weekend and only one was large / dry enought for a geocoin. None were large enough to drop a coin I had picked up in Ontario earlier in the week. Micros make it tought to move TBs and geocoins. (I dropped the coin in one of my own caches since my next opportunity to cache will be out of line with the coin's mission.)

 

I've also meant to bring a TB on a trip to drop it in a cache and found out that it was at home when I reached the cache. Murphy sometimes gets in the way of what we want to do.

 

My intent is not to defend the person that has held your TB, but rather to point out that things can get in the way of timely movement of TBs. It stinks when they don't move, but the flip side is that it's often cool when they do!

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The more I think about this whole thread, the more I have come to believe that perhaps the person holding your travel bug has simply lost the thing in their car or computer room and doesn't want to admit that it's temporarily missing. At any rate you'd better leave him alone about it for a couple months, in my opinion.

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Ah. Hmm... A few thoughts.

You can catch more flies than with honey. Reminding someone, after three months, that they still have your travel bug is best done with a smile, and hope. Arguing with him/her is never a good idea. After all, you are seeking his/her help? If someone e-mails me and requests that I put out his/her travel bug, it will go into the next one that it fits in (even if it is contrary to the bug's goals). Remember that it is not always easy to find a nice, and appropriate cache. I have been to many caches in which I would not put a TB (unless asked nicely by the bug owner). I do, usually, try to find nice caches! If someone argued with me, like the argumentative OP, well... It's time that I check up on my cache that hasn't been found in over a year. Good place for that TB! Honey - good. Vinegar - not so good. :P Hee hee hee.

Yes. I have become hardened(?). Realistic(?) I've stopped taking it so hard when my bugs disappear. Oh, well. My caching partner, on the other fin, will not put out any more TBs. Disappearances hurt too much.

Is two weeks to put a bug back out realistic? But it says so in the guidelines! Get real. I do a fair bit of geocaching, and I probably average a month to get a bug back out. But I do get them back out, in a fairly timely manner. And, I've helped many a bug toward its goal Eight inches of snow last weekend. We did four magnetic micros. You want your TB stuck under the lamp post skirt at Sam's Club? I didn't think so.

Hmmm... I've been last to log on a few TBs. Well, you insisted that it had to be released ASAP. I thought it was a nice cache. Sorry it got muggled....

Yes. I have even managed to lose a TB! :)<_< I searched for quite a while. It's not in the backpack. It's not in the cache mobile. It's not in the pile of geocaching stuff. I may find it yet, but I'm doubtful. I have apologized profusely to the bug owner. I have offered to make ammends. I moved it to an unknown location. I have not heard back from the bug owner. I am actually heartbroken!

I did remind someone, once, that she had had my TB for a while. She 'put' it in a cache the next weekend. It has not been seen since. Okay she lost it, or kept it. Oh, well. Get over it. Continue onward.

And that's my advice here. Oh, well. Get over it. Cintune onward.

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Well, I must confess I'm not an avid reader of this forum (mostly think it has to do with some of the navigation issues and my own personal preference -- or ignorance, for that matter). But I've been wrapped in to this thread and quite a few people have made some really good points, and meant to reply sooner... guess I'll just have to wrap it all up in this post (apologies for the length). And, I think largely as a result of reading this thread from other experienced cachers, I'm starting to change my own views on "trackables" as well.

 

It could simply be that they've misplaced it, but know it's not lost, and didn't want to say anything until they remember where they've put it.

What she said! We had one bug that went missing for over a year. Couldn't figure out where it went and the owner finally gave up on us finding it. I was convinced the cat had hidden it somewhere. When we finally found it, it was while on a maintenance visit to a cache my brother had put out. The TB was in the container and just hadn't been discovered by any of the finders. So we re-grabbed it and got it active again. No idea how it ended up there but I am still blaming the cat.

This point had me in hysterics... mostly because we have the brother of that cat. NoSuchCache tries to not even put out earrings or other "fascinating" objects on places like the bathroom sink... otherwise she risks finding them some place else entirely, often days or weeks (?) later, if at all. Nevermind our efforts to keep this cat off of surfaces like counters (I think he likes the sinks).

 

Caching in the snow isn't fun. Finding caches big enough for a TB to fit into is harder when they are all covered in a foot of snow- we do more micros in the winter than any other type of cache. Put that together with caching without the bug with him when he does find a big enough container and you've got a recipe for a bug being held for a season or two.

I think caching in the snow takes a certain sort of person/attitude... and even then, you still have to be "in the mood for it." Personally, I've had a blast putting on the snow shoes for a hike out in the woods in a couple feet of snow... of course, we tell ourselves we're "going hiking" and, if the cache that's along the route looks like it might be retrievable, we'll grab it -- otherwise we tend to call "Time of Death" a lot sooner in the search than we might were the ground clear.

 

To second a response above - I typically send out gentle requests to move my stuck TBs two or three times a year. I only send them to people that have been holding onto my TB for over three months.

 

Some folks get out geocaching every chance they get. I suspect that the majority geocache less frequently. The site recomends moving a TB within two weeks, but sometimes that isn't practical. I don't worry if my bugs have been held a bit longer, and I occasionally can't move the ones that I've picked up that quickly either.

Me, I'll generally try to not pick up a bug unless I think I can move it "soon" (within a week). Even then, I've also been guilty of holding a bug for too long. Even then, I try to make sure that I'm in-contact with the owner just to let them know I'm alive, I have their bug and it's safe, etc. With that said, there are times where life takes over and even that simple communication seems impossible.

 

So, yeah, I'm beginning to think a month is more of a reasonable goal... given that most people work for a living (and work/life can be pretty unpredictable at times), that's generally about eight available days of caching for many folks (and it's not like they don't have other things to do when they're not working).

 

I've also meant to bring a TB on a trip to drop it in a cache and found out that it was at home when I reached the cache. Murphy sometimes gets in the way of what we want to do.

I think you pretty much nailed it right there...

 

If someone e-mails me and requests that I put out his/her travel bug, it will go into the next one that it fits in (even if it is contrary to the bug's goals). Remember that it is not always easy to find a nice, and appropriate cache. I have been to many caches in which I would not put a TB (unless asked nicely by the bug owner). I do, usually, try to find nice caches! If someone argued with me, like the argumentative OP, well... It's time that I check up on my cache that hasn't been found in over a year. Good place for that TB!

...and here is where the "experience" pays off, I think. I know I've probably been guilty of putting bugs in places where it might not be such a good location (ie. potentially high muggle factor) and, well, I kind of feel stupid for not having thought about it in quite-that-light before. I've also recently been sick to my stomach after placing someone's nice limited edition coin in a cache that since seems to have suffered the wrath of a bulldozer.

 

My own pseudo-aside with regard to the above: The above-mentioned coin was placed in an appropriate cache, close to a type of landmark specifically outlined in the bug's goals (and this was a 2k mile journey for it; and its first move since release). After a long drive home, we did a bit more research on the cache and became a little worried due to an apparent previous disappearance of a "nice" coin from the location.; we crossed our fingers and hoped someone would pick it up quickly. However, after monitoring it for a couple of weeks, the cache started to have some DNFs posted... and apparently, a bulldozer had moved in to the area. Looking at some pictures of the area by recent visitors, we're crossing our fingers that the cache might still be there (as it looks like an area similar to the hide might still be standing). Unfortunately, the cache owner has not yet made it back out to the cache, nor have I had the chance to make the drive, myself (only an hour and a half away from where I sit right now). In our defense, we had also both been sick for a week and a half and I think we were lucky to have even gotten out to place the thing (mostly out of an obligation we felt to the bug owner -- especially since they were already asking that we move it along).

 

But, suffice to say, even when we thought we had done right by the bug, we're quite surprised (and deeply saddened) to have this happen and feel somewhat responsible for it (and we're currently trying to see if we can somehow make amends). Likewise as a result of this (along with reading this thread), I think we might change our attitude towards bugs (especially the nicer ones).

 

Yes. I have become hardened(?). Realistic(?) I've stopped taking it so hard when my bugs disappear. Oh, well. My caching partner, on the other fin, will not put out any more TBs. Disappearances hurt too much.

I think I'm starting to fit in to the same category as your caching partner... at least at this point I've resolved to only distribute bugs with dog tags attached to items I'm not worried about "losing" (not like the guidelines don't already say that, eh?).

 

Is two weeks to put a bug back out realistic? But it says so in the guidelines! Get real. I do a fair bit of geocaching, and I probably average a month to get a bug back out. But I do get them back out, in a fairly timely manner. And, I've helped many a bug toward its goal Eight inches of snow last weekend. We did four magnetic micros. You want your TB stuck under the lamp post skirt at Sam's Club? I didn't think so.

Yeah, I think two weeks is only there because it was a compromise between anything that sounded "overly long" and trying to give people ample time to get it out. You tell people to try to do it within a month, the average time to recirculate them will increase to three months. Tell them two weeks and, hopefully, they can manage within a month or month and a half. Myself, as previously stated, I try not to pick up bugs that I'm not relatively confident that I can move (or attempt to move) within a week -- as someone else also said, I've often gone out to try to dump a bug in an appropriate spot commensurate with the bug's goals and desires, only to find out when I got there that there's no way the bug is going to fit inside the cache unless I either gut the contents (not gonna happen) or do "surgery" on the bug (also not going to happen).

Edited by russellvt
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