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First TB, what to consider, where to release etc


MattBW

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So before I even have found my first cache I have ordered some TBs, they arrived the next day :D.

 

So what should I consider for releasing my first one? The forums are full of horror stories and tales of TB woe.

 

I assume that a busy cache is a better choice, that a remote cache also may be better?

 

If I put an item on it, should I make sure its not too interesting? Are people more likely to keep it if the item the tag is on is cool?

 

Any advice please? Edit: I am interested specifically on a UK perspective on this.

Edited by MattBW
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So before I even have found my first cache I have ordered some TBs, they arrived the next day :D.

 

So what should I consider for releasing my first one? The forums are full of horror stories and tales of TB woe.

 

I assume that a busy cache is a better choice, that a remote cache also may be better?

 

If I put an item on it, should I make sure its not too interesting? Are people more likely to keep it if the item the tag is on is cool?

 

Any advice please?

 

Don't worry too much about the horror stories - the only TB stories that make the forums are the ones that tend to go wrong. 99% of TBs will go OK, although loads of them end up stuck somewhere for ages...

 

As for starting them off, there are plenty of TB hotel caches around, and they're good because people go there specifically to swap them and move them on. Otherwise, just look for any cache that's visited fairly frequently and seems to be well-hidden from anyone who isn't specifically looking for it.

 

Finally, don't release anything you couldn't bear to lose. It's very unusual/stupid/both to release a TB with any real monetary value, but some people are very sentimentally attached to some of the things they release. As we're trusting people to look after them, but leaving them unsupervised in public places 24/7, there's always a chance they'll go missing or get damaged.

 

Lee

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In the beginning i worried about where and what i was going to send. My first tb has still not moved from the first person who picked it up. All the rest have done really well. I'm addicted to track-ables mostly tbs cause I can attach them to what i want. coins i keep :D

 

Releasing them in new caches almost guarantees it will get picked up fast - any cache could get muggled in theory so it doesn't matter where you place it there is always that chance it would be walked off with.

 

Don't over think it just set something free and hope it goes where you want it to :o Half the fun sometimes is it getting lost and finding its way back to its mission, but that's just me :D

 

K

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I've seen, and moved, and helped complete their missions, TB's that the owner starts away from home (whilst on a caching mission) that the mission is to return to a cache near the owners home. Either a specific cache, or in an area close to a certain cache. The owner can then collect the TB ready for another mission.

 

Helps if you add a laminated tag with the bugs mission printed on it!

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Don't worry too much about the horror stories - the only TB stories that make the forums are the ones that tend to go wrong. 99% of TBs will go OK, although loads of them end up stuck somewhere for ages...

 

As for starting them off, there are plenty of TB hotel caches around, and they're good because people go there specifically to swap them and move them on. Otherwise, just look for any cache that's visited fairly frequently and seems to be well-hidden from anyone who isn't specifically looking for it.

 

Finally, don't release anything you couldn't bear to lose. It's very unusual/stupid/both to release a TB with any real monetary value, but some people are very sentimentally attached to some of the things they release. As we're trusting people to look after them, but leaving them unsupervised in public places 24/7, there's always a chance they'll go missing or get damaged.

 

Lee

 

I don't agree that 99% of travel Bugs go OK

I chased yesterday (again) the two I set out in August 2002 they lasted about 2 years before going AWOL. The first two years there were not many people caching. So not as many people to move or loose a travel bug.

 

Looking at the ones we have found and moved recently longevity of a travel bug is much much shorter.

We go to caches where travel bugs are supposed to be and there is no sign of them in the cache.

Some have even supposed to have been there for quite some time. These have obliviously gone AWOL

 

If I released a travel bug today I would consider it to have done well to last a year, but I would expect it to go missing in action at some point.

 

Someone out there will probably have some way of working out the average life expectancy of a travel bug.

 

I think that people should do cache maintenance on their travel bugs. To tidy up some listings where the travel bug has obviously gone but is still listed in the cache.

 

Go get it and bury it here you know its the best thing to do.

If it turns up you can always resurrect it.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...c5-d530efc2abeb

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Thanks everyone, I feel far more confident to free my TBs now I did my first cache tonight.

 

I am off to Devon next week and see there are a lot of caches with TBs in there, I plan to drop off my TB there, and perhaps take another one on a journey north east for any that want it.

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The best advice is:

 

* Whatever you send out, don't make it too desirable or someone will nick it (Gold plated iPods don't last long as travel bugs)

* If your bug has a mission, print it out, laminate it and attach it to the bug. It may then have a chance of being taken in the right direction.

* If your bug has a destination, don't get too disappointed when it ends up going in completely the wrong direction.

* Be prepared to wait ages while your bug languishes in a 5/5 cache at the top of a mountain which can only be accessed with a helicopter.

* Be prepared to wait ages while your bug languishes in a random cacher's caching bag.

 

But other than those downsides, it's a fun thing to watch to see where your bug has got to, and I think most of them do last a fair while travelling around.

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The best advice is:

 

* Whatever you send out, don't make it too desirable or someone will nick it (Gold plated iPods don't last long as travel bugs)

* If your bug has a mission, print it out, laminate it and attach it to the bug. It may then have a chance of being taken in the right direction.

* If your bug has a destination, don't get too disappointed when it ends up going in completely the wrong direction.

* Be prepared to wait ages while your bug languishes in a 5/5 cache at the top of a mountain which can only be accessed with a helicopter.

* Be prepared to wait ages while your bug languishes in a random cacher's caching bag.

 

But other than those downsides, it's a fun thing to watch to see where your bug has got to, and I think most of them do last a fair while travelling around.

 

Excellent advice!

 

Never put anything in a cache that you are not prepared to lose - and certainly do not come back to these forums complaining that your "treasured" TB has been "stolen".

 

I have a TB that went missing for over three years before finally being resurrected and continuing it's travels....

 

Neil

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Never put anything in a cache that you are not prepared to lose - and certainly do not come back to these forums complaining that your "treasured" TB has been "stolen".

 

I have a TB that went missing for over three years before finally being resurrected and continuing it's travels....

 

Neil

 

Absolutely. I do get rather annoyed with the lost/stolen threads that appear on here - people get enormously outraged. While it's annoying if people don't play the game properly, it's a risk you take leaving anything in the care of people you don't know. If something goes missing - just move on. There's bigger fish to fry.

 

Lee

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This topic got me thinking, so I have done an inventry of my TB's and geocoins. Out of 23, I have lost seven which is nearly a third. Five were in caches that were muggled and the other two were lost at the hands of new cachers who took them, didn't know what to do with them, gave up caching and have never been seen since. :mad:

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I take a rather pragmatic view of my travellers. How much does a bug or a coin cost? About a fiver? I can get two pints in my local for that, and on a warm Friday evening they won't last half an hour! How much does it cost to get in to see a football match these days? When I look at it like that they are a fairly inexpensive form of entertainment, but I can also understand the disappointment when they go missing.

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The best advice is:

 

* Whatever you send out, don't make it too desirable or someone will nick it (Gold plated iPods don't last long as travel bugs)

* If your bug has a mission, print it out, laminate it and attach it to the bug. It may then have a chance of being taken in the right direction.

* If your bug has a destination, don't get too disappointed when it ends up going in completely the wrong direction.

* Be prepared to wait ages while your bug languishes in a 5/5 cache at the top of a mountain which can only be accessed with a helicopter.

* Be prepared to wait ages while your bug languishes in a random cacher's caching bag.

 

But other than those downsides, it's a fun thing to watch to see where your bug has got to, and I think most of them do last a fair while travelling around.

 

Well said.

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I take a rather pragmatic view of my travellers. How much does a bug or a coin cost? About a fiver? I can get two pints in my local for that, and on a warm Friday evening they won't last half an hour! How much does it cost to get in to see a football match these days? When I look at it like that they are a fairly inexpensive form of entertainment, but I can also understand the disappointment when they go missing.

 

Not forgetting that even when you lose the TB you still have the copy tag to send out a replacement TB with, and after that, you can still use the number to continue your trackables life, so a spot of muggling is not terminal. Is the TB graveyard supported by people who sell TB tags perhaps?

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