Help with stopping trackable items going missing

[+Steve-e-b]

I own a travel bug hotel at my local airport. It's been there three-and-a-half years but in the past 12 months trackable items, particularly geocoins, have been going missing at frequent intervals.

 

I feel slightly responsible but mostly angry that it's happening and frustrated because I don't have any reliable means of stopping it.

Does anyone have any bright ideas or seen this tackled before, short of removing the cache altogether?

The cache has been moved since the first items were 'lost', which makes me wonder if someone with a GPS and a geocaching.com account is picking them off.

 

Help!

Steve

[greenworldfeather]

I own a travel bug hotel at my local airport. It's been there three-and-a-half years but in the past 12 months trackable items, particularly geocoins, have been going missing at frequent intervals.

 

I feel slightly responsible but mostly angry that it's happening and frustrated because I don't have any reliable means of stopping it.

Does anyone have any bright ideas or seen this tackled before, short of removing the cache altogether?

The cache has been moved since the first items were 'lost', which makes me wonder if someone with a GPS and a geocaching.com account is picking them off.

 

Help!

Steve

What i would do is out a lock on it, and make people figure out a code to get to it. Or, do it the more simple way, and install a video camera near the cache. Or, at the very least, make it look real but make sure that is not actually recording if neccesary. I hope that you have much help in this, and that the problem is stopped soon. Thanks, and have a great day. gwf

[+DodgeExplorer]

I own a travel bug hotel at my local airport. It's been there three-and-a-half years but in the past 12 months trackable items, particularly geocoins, have been going missing at frequent intervals.

 

I feel slightly responsible but mostly angry that it's happening and frustrated because I don't have any reliable means of stopping it.

Does anyone have any bright ideas or seen this tackled before, short of removing the cache altogether?

The cache has been moved since the first items were 'lost', which makes me wonder if someone with a GPS and a geocaching.com account is picking them off.

 

Help!

Steve

 

The same thing has been going on around here, within days of geocoins being dropped off, they disappear, we've lost two of our own in the last month alone

Hmmm, maybe a geocoin with a tracking device??

[+Prime Suspect]

What i would do is out a lock on it, and make people figure out a code to get to it. Or, do it the more simple way, and install a video camera near the cache.

I guess you and I have different definitions of "simple".

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

First, I suspect that the most likely venue for your thread is in the Travel Bugs section of the forum, and I suspect that the mods will be moving your thread shortly to that section.

 

Next, this issue, along with the concomitant issue of complaints about missing trackables, is one which has been the subject of many previous threads; you may find some inspiration or ideas in some of those earlier threads.

 

Lastly, these events which you are witnessing may point to the fact that perhaps your area is not a good one for hiding a travel bug hotel, and rather, perhaps it might be wiser to a allow trackables to be spread out far more diffusely than in your centralized 'hotel".

[+Star*Hopper]

How 'bout --- moving your hotel to the airport's security guard station?

Would need their cooperation of course, but I'd say that'd tend to end the shenanigans.

 

\all I've got

~*

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

First, I suspect that the most likely venue for your thread is in the Travel Bugs section of the forum, and I suspect that the mods will be moving your thread shortly to that section.

 

Next, this issue, along with the concomitant issue of complaints about missing trackables, is one which has been the subject of many previous threads; you may find some inspiration or ideas in some of those earlier threads.

 

Lastly, these events which you are witnessing may point to the fact that perhaps your area is not a good one for hiding a travel bug hotel, and rather, perhaps it might be wiser to a allow trackables to be spread out far more diffusely than in your centralized 'hotel".

I'd have to disagree with that, since the question is about the Cache, not the Bugs. Anyway, I've found several that are lockes, and attached to buildings. It's sad and really starting tio bother me that this is becoming such a problem. It's also bad news gor GS, since it makes a trackable item almost worthless, why should I buy more of them??

[+HOGFEVER]

Of course it's someone who is a member of this forum,my guess is they steal them to sell.Ebay?

[+Steve-e-b]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Moving the cache to somewhere that's overlooked by security cameras sounds like a good idea. I've often thought about moving the cache closer to the airport to make it more accessible, but security is another benefit.

The lock is also a simple idea. Although I wonder if a thief might then take the whole box.

Attaching a tracking device to a coin would prove interesting. It'd certainly sort out the question of whether the cache is being pilfered deliberately.

 

I've read some threads from the trackables forums to get an idea of all the possible reasons behind missing coins.

Ignorance is quite highly attributed to trackables going missing. To prevent cachers accidentally pocketing trackables I'll try putting a box inside the cache for trackables, with a big note on the lid explaining that anything taken from inside needs to be logged. Then there's no excuse for not knowing how trackable items work.

[+Too Tall John]

A cache with a history of trackables disappearing from it? I'd warn cachers not to place trackables in the cache. Of course, it would no longer be viable as a TB Hotel.

 

I have to say, I saw one of my TBs land in a "Hotel" that, according to several logs throughout the history, seemed to have trackables inexplicably disappear on a regular basis. I was upset, and left a note on the cache page requesting that the next cacher please be sure to take the TB, as I didn't want it in there.

 

As a TB/coin owner, I say archival is the answer. If you really need a hotel, put it somewhere else. Consider not having one at all, because if it is an active tb/gc thief, you're just making it easier for them.