My travelbug is being held hostage.

[+me2xv]

I let a travelbug go late last year and someone finally picked it up in March. The person who picked it up has been holding it hostage (for 6 months) along with four other people's travelbugs. What should I do? Should I message the person and see what the problem is?

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[+BlueDeuce]

Send them a short and very polite email asking if they'll have a chance to place your bug into a cache soon.

 

See what type of response you get. They may just be confused about how to handle them.

 

The last one I had held for several months turned out that the guy did drop it (into a high difficulty cache), he just forgot to log it.

Edited August 26, 2008 by BlueDeuce

[+Eartha]

I've checked all of the logs this person has posted since picking up your TB. This is a classic example of messing it up from the start. If they did physically pick up your bug, they used the "Discover" option. They should have used the "Retrieve" option. So, if they went to drop it off, they probably couldn't figure out how to do it, since by "discovering" it, it was not in their inventory to drop off. You've waited quite a while to say something (not a bad thing) so now is the time to send them this link (also send them the link in my signature here) and ask them if they ever dropped it off (they have not logged anywhere that they did) or if they still have it in their hands, could they please drop it in a nearby cache. Don't be afraid to ask, they might just need a reminder. And as Blue Deuce says, be polite. That's always a key to keeping your TB safe This looks like a family, and it looks like one of the children or perhaps the Mom, is doing the logging. They were also caching under a previous user account. But they picked up your TB after switching names.

Good luck.

[+JennM]

Hope yours gets back into circulation again soon.

 

I think there's a conspiracy out against my bugs. One has been held hostage for over a year now - when I politely contacted the picker-upper (who also has other bugs and coins), I was told last year (after they had the bug(s) for a few months) that their son took the bugs back to another state to be dropped off with/by the other parent. So that one is gone likely forever

 

I've got one that logged into a cache and several months later I posted a note on the cache page for the next visitor to please see if my bug was there and feel free to move it - and I found out it's not there anymore. Oddly - it was an odd sock - I guess the dryer monster found it in a cache...

 

I have another picked up over a month ago by another newer cacher, along with others... they cached twice, picked up a handful of travelers and haven't logged onto the site since.

 

I sent a polite email asking if they could place the bug in a cache, or if they were willing to mail it to me, I'd provide them with the address - but I have not had a reply.

 

Out of my 4 bugs, one is confirmed "unknown", one is still listed in a cache that's had a ton of visitors lately, nobody has mentioned it or picked it up (missing perhaps?), and 2 are being held prisoner by cachers who'd picked them up after only an outing or two of caching and then seemingly have quit.

 

I picked up travelers on my first day caching - and knew what I had to do with them, and moved them along, so being a newbie is not a reason to slam somebody or assume they are uninformed... if they knew to log it, they should know that they need to move them.

 

I just find it frustrating that my bugs are just "disappearing" like that. Heck I feel guilty if I hold a traveler for more than a week or so - and if it's longer than that I will let the owner know the circumstances and get it moving as soon as I can. But hey, that's just me

 

Jenn

[+BlueDeuce]

Hey JennM!

 

Looks like it's about time to re-release that Bag-o-Wishes TB.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I let a travelbug go late last year and someone finally picked it up in March. The person who picked it up has been holding it hostage (for 6 months) along with four other people's travelbugs. What should I do? Should I message the person and see what the problem is?

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Oh, dear. There is definitely a problem here.

My travelbug is being held hostage.

It's called attitude. 'Hostage' is defined by ransom demands. Have ransom demands been made???

You set your coin/bug free, and hope for the best. Hey! I just had one set loose after being held for a year.. Good luck, my bug! Many cachers have no idea how to log a bug (Unfortunate but true.) With the proliferation of spew, sometimes it is difficult to find a cache to put a bug into. I see a lot of caches that I wouldn't put a bug into (though others do not seem to have my queasiness.) Sometimes, life gets in the way, and cachers don't get to cache as often as they would like. And, sad but true, some cachers stop caching after a few months. And the bugs are never seen again. Two weeks is the suggested time frame for dropping off a bug. A month is not unusual. Six months does suggest that there is a problem, but Eartha has researched what the problem is.

As Blue Deuce suggest, a very polite e-mail can work wonders. Very polite is the keyword here. E-mail me politely that you think that I've been holding your bug too long, it will go into the next appropriate cache, no matter how rusty the cache is. Accuse me of holding it 'hostage'? Ooh! I can fit your rubber ducky into that magnetic keyholder! Give us the opportunity to put your bug where I think would be a good place for it? You'd be surprised what we can do! We took an almond from California to the Statue of Liberty. More recently, we took a rubber ducky on a tour of South Jersey. The owners were very thankful!

I think it was Blue Deuce who said "Release your bug. Wish it luck. Be grateful if you ever hear from it again." Such is life. Approach this part of geocaching with an attitude, you will never be disappointed.

Lighten up, and have fun!

[+JennM]

Hey JennM!

 

Looks like it's about time to re-release that Bag-o-Wishes TB.

 

Re-release... as in set out a duplicate? I have the duplicate tags someplace...I've thought about that.

 

Then I just read another thread where bugs that were AWOL for years, have resurfaced.

 

On my first day of caching 2 years ago, I had intended to pick up bugs that were listed in caches that I visited, but when I got to the caches, they weren't there.

 

They actually turned up in another local cache on Jan. 1 of this year. It appears that the cachers that had picked up said bugs (there were 2, listed in the inventories of 2 local caches), hung onto them for about 2 years. They literally placed a cache in their own front yard... I picked the bugs up when I FTF'd it, and moved them along. A few more bugs came and went through their front yard cache, and a couple of months later they archived the cache. I think rather than go and place the bugs in the wild, they deposited them in their front yard to get rid of them.... but at least they got back out there.

 

Relative to some of the long-time disappearances of bugs, mine have been gone just a short time...so they might resurface. It just stinks when a bug has a specific mission (2 of ours have specific destinations posted) and they just vanish.

 

One has a mission to go to Australia. It got all the way to Hawaii, then somebody brought it all the way back to Seattle. It's been stuck in the same area for 9 months now...urgh... I know half of the fun is watching it take the "scenic route"... but that bug hasn't been moved since June, and about 10 cachers have found the cache since the bug was dropped, and nobody has picked it up or discovered it, which leads me to believe it might be gone too.

 

Jenn

[+JennM]

Harry - I can only speak for myself here, but when I posted about my bugs being "held hostage" too... I certainly didn't take that tone when I contacted the parties last known to hold my bug(s).

 

You're right - you can catch more flies with honey. I've been nothing but polite, and have given the benefit of the doubt in my notes that I'm sure that the holder has no ill will, and offered a way out - to mail the item to me if they are willing. The first one passed the buck to their child's other parent, the second one has not replied to my note.

 

Some folks just don't care

 

I don't put coins out there, because they seem to disappear much more readily than bugs do. I can see the appeal of keeping a pretty collectible coin, but a metal tag with an old sock or a dollar-store keychain?

 

I'm still hoping that my bugs turn up one day... it's just frustrating when they disappear for no apparent reason (like the sock - in a cache at one point, vanished the next).

 

It's one thing when a cache gets muggled and a traveler is an unfortunate victim of same... but it's another when somebody picks it up, logs it and then just never bothers to follow through.

 

Jenn

[+JennM]

Well right after I typed that last note, a log was posted for one of my missing bugs - the latest to go 'missing' ... the cacher had not replied to my polite email - but they did drop the bug in another cache

 

One found - 2 still lost, one might be lost but unconfirmed...

 

Jenn

[+Silfron Mandotheneset]

Well right after I typed that last note, a log was posted for one of my missing bugs - the latest to go 'missing' ... the cacher had not replied to my polite email - but they did drop the bug in another cache

 

One found - 2 still lost, one might be lost but unconfirmed...

 

Jenn

 

Maybe they're forum lurkers and your posts made them feel bad

[+JennM]

Heh you never know!

 

They moved it 111 miles too

 

I'd still like to know where the other 2 are, and if the one still in inventory in a given cache, is actually there.

 

Moving bugs are happy bugs!

 

Jenn

[+Harry Dolphin]

Some folks just don't care

 

I don't put coins out there, because they seem to disappear much more readily than bugs do. I can see the appeal of keeping a pretty collectible coin, but a metal tag with an old sock or a dollar-store keychain?

 

I'm still hoping that my bugs turn up one day... it's just frustrating when they disappear for no apparent reason (like the sock - in a cache at one point, vanished the next).

 

It's one thing when a cache gets muggled and a traveler is an unfortunate victim of same... but it's another when somebody picks it up, logs it and then just never bothers to follow through.

 

Jenn

 

Jenn,

You build a shell after a while. You set your loved one loose in the world. You wish it luck, and you kiss it goodbye. You hope to hear from it again! But don't set your hopes too high. You are relying on the average geocacher. And they are just average people. Some care. Some do not. The worst losses seem to be from newbies who quit geocaching, and events. Stoicism can help.

I sent my sister a furby (and they do not fit well into the average ammo can.) She received it a few months later, and used the tag to try to send me a pink flamingo. Yes. One of those lawn ornaments! Florida made it to an event in New Hampshire. As far as I can tell, she's still sitting in a bar in New Hampshire, probably running up one heck of a bar tab!

One of my geocoins got muggled out of my own cache!

The one that annoys me the most is a bug I set out to see the world! It spent three and a half years wandering about the USA. I set it out in New York. It went to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland, Delaware, back to New Jersey, Maine, and Pennsylvania, off to Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Virginia, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado. Then it finally made it to the big time. It's goal! Leichtenstein! Austria, and Germany. It's finally seeing the world! And there's where its luck changed. Usually, European geocachers are the best at moving bugs around. (Though they may get stuck in some European countries for years, they do move!) As misfortune happens, a well-known Pennsylvania cacher snatched him from his European adventures and brought him back to Pennsylvania! He wants to travel the world! He's already been to Pennsylvania! Alas, and alack, three and a half years later, and 17847 miles travelled, poor Wannabe Bird (pronounced wuh-NAH-be) disappeared at an event in Pennsylvania. You had a good trip, Wannabe! You did good! What a shame that your travels were cut short. Yes. I will mourn you and miss you. (Some descriptive text censored by bug owner.) You did good! I bid you a fond farewell.

You put out your bug. You kiss it goodbye. You wish it well in its travels. But, you rely on other cachers. Some are reliable. Some are not. Goodbye, Wannabe. You did good. Yes. You mourn. But you accept the inevitable. Some people do not care!

And, so, we continue on with life. How is Furby For a Change doing? 11032 miles! Strange story there... One of my brother's stuffed birds fell asleep in my sisters luggage, and woke up in Maine. We attached a TB tag, and sent him back to Seattle. He arrived safely. My brother attached the tag to a Furby change purse, and dropped him off in the Czech Republik! With the goal to go to Maine. 7 months in the Czech Repuclik. 2 years in the Netherlands. 6 months in France. Currently in Germany. May never make it back to maine. Oh,well. He's having fun in Europe!

Hmm... My California Micro Coin has travelled 10803 miles. In the Netherlands. Priobably be there for years!

And so, to make a long story short: Cut your losses. Glory in the succcesses. Curse the idiots. And move on with life.

[+BlueDeuce]

And so, to make a long story short: Cut your losses. Glory in the successes. Curse the idiots. And move on with life.

 

Personally I take the more Pollyanna approach that things tend to go pretty well even with a little effort.

Edited September 4, 2008 by BlueDeuce

[+JennM]

Well it's official. My 3rd of 4 bugs is MIA.

 

One turned up within a month, but the other 3 have just disappeared. One was picked up and never dropped off, (ie logged by the picker-upper), and the other 2 just vanished out of the caches they were in.

 

Stinks.

 

Jenn

[+me2xv]

I sent the person who has my TB two very polite messages (one at about three months and one about two weeks ago) in the six months that is has been in their possession. I really don't think my TB is going to be moving on to another cache. So, I think I am going to send a duplicate out sometime and hope that this one goes further that the first one did and went MIA.

[+ianafraser]

Yeah I hear ya. Some guy has had one of mine since last November. despite several polite e-mails (no response) it still remains in his possession. I can't figure it out, this guy caches, has one of his own, has 2 of his own geo coins, and yet still hangs on to it. Weird!

[+Bandit & Magna]

I am trying to figure out what bugs of mine still exist. Those that don't will be duplicated and sent with a friend to Switzerland when he does some geocaching there.

 

We got bit a few times by the "one timers" that spend the day looting caches then never do it again and never move them on.

 

Poor Mickey Mouse went to Texas and can't get back out to save his life - along with other bugs we had.

 

Not much you can do about it. It's chance you take.

 

Hoping mine do better in Europe... They can't do worse. Hoping they know what to do with them there. If nothing else they won't die in Texas.

 

Collette bug finally surfaced after a long time. It just had not been logged in forever. No idea where it's been all this time. Just real glad to see her again.

[+me2xv]

Guess what? My travelbug is finally back in action. I was about to send out a duplicate. I just received a new travelbug tag in the mail.

 

Happy caching everyone!

 

-Michael

[+hattie81]

I've checked all of the logs this person has posted since picking up your TB. This is a classic example of messing it up from the start. If they did physically pick up your bug, they used the "Discover" option. They should have used the "Retrieve" option. So, if they went to drop it off, they probably couldn't figure out how to do it, since by "discovering" it, it was not in their inventory to drop off. You've waited quite a while to say something (not a bad thing) so now is the time to send them this link (also send them the link in my signature here) and ask them if they ever dropped it off (they have not logged anywhere that they did) or if they still have it in their hands, could they please drop it in a nearby cache. Don't be afraid to ask, they might just need a reminder. And as Blue Deuce says, be polite. That's always a key to keeping your TB safe This looks like a family, and it looks like one of the children or perhaps the Mom, is doing the logging. They were also caching under a previous user account. But they picked up your TB after switching names.

Good luck.

[+hattie81]

I've checked all of the logs this person has posted since picking up your TB. This is a classic example of messing it up from the start. If they did physically pick up your bug, they used the "Discover" option. They should have used the "Retrieve" option. So, if they went to drop it off, they probably couldn't figure out how to do it, since by "discovering" it, it was not in their inventory to drop off. You've waited quite a while to say something (not a bad thing) so now is the time to send them this link (also send them the link in my signature here) and ask them if they ever dropped it off (they have not logged anywhere that they did) or if they still have it in their hands, could they please drop it in a nearby cache. Don't be afraid to ask, they might just need a reminder. And as Blue Deuce says, be polite. That's always a key to keeping your TB safe This looks like a family, and it looks like one of the children or perhaps the Mom, is doing the logging. They were also caching under a previous user account. But they picked up your TB after switching names.

Good luck.

 

Eartha I hope you can help me "sigh" I confess I am a new cacher My first bug I found I logged "discovered"instead of retrieve What can I do now when I place the bug. I am not holding him ransom or trying to keep him. I am new and learning (it is fun!!) Thanks for your guidance!

Edited October 8, 2008 by hattie81

[+Crow-T-Robot]

Hattie,

 

You can go to the trackables page Trackables, punch in the number on the TB and on the travel bugs homepage, click on the log entry link. This should give you an option to grab the TB from the cache it's in and put it into your inventory. Then you can drop it into a new cache and when you go to log the find on the cache, the bug will show on the bottom of the screen and you can highlight it, click submit and the TB will transfer from your inventory to the cache you placed it in.

 

Bruce

[+hattie81]

Thank-you very much. I will let this bug go this weekend. He is one of the MN State Park History Challenge bugs. Nothing like experience to help a person learn

[+hattie81]

Hattie,

 

You can go to the trackables page Trackables, punch in the number on the TB and on the travel bugs homepage, click on the log entry link. This should give you an option to grab the TB from the cache it's in and put it into your inventory. Then you can drop it into a new cache and when you go to log the find on the cache, the bug will show on the bottom of the screen and you can highlight it, click submit and the TB will transfer from your inventory to the cache you placed it in.

 

Bruce

I did it Bruce and the bug is there!! I will let him go this w/e Thanks again.

[+Eartha]

Oh good, another happy TB! Sorry I didn't get back here sooner, but someone always helps out in these forums.

[+deb3day]

I have one that has disappeared into a black hole called an "Event". It is still listed as being "at" that event, when in fact the event was weeks ago. Where did it go? Who knows? Emailed the event organizer who told me all bugs were taken, none left behind. Emailed the person who dropped it at the event, they didn't take it home afterwards.

[+The Blorenges]

I have one that has disappeared into a black hole called an "Event". It is still listed as being "at" that event, when in fact the event was weeks ago. Where did it go? Who knows? Emailed the event organizer who told me all bugs were taken, none left behind. Emailed the person who dropped it at the event, they didn't take it home afterwards.

 

Depending on how long ago the Event was...There's a just a slim chance that the Event page is still on the Watchlist of whoever took your TB, so it might be worth posting a note to the page saying "Did anyone pick up my Whateveritscalled TB?".

 

MrsB