Grabbing Coins and TBs

[+South Lyon Trekkers]

I admit that, on occasion, I have waited too long to log a TB or coin I have picked up or dropped off. Lately I have found coins and TBs are getting grabbed too quickly. I have had some grabbed within two hours of dropping it off and I haven't even finished caching for the day.

 

I'd like to see a 24-48 grace period in which a coin or TB could not be grabbed without first having the current holder notified and OKing it ("release it").

 

Coins and TBs don't get the mileage they have earned when this happens and it can be somewhat annoying.

[+Cache O'Plenty]

When I find a TB/Coin in a different cache than it should be in (usually because the one who dropped it hasn't logged the drop yet), I wait a day or two and then dip it into the cache where it was found after "grabbing" it. That gets it the mileage and the history is more accurate. Of course, I have no idea when it was dropped so I don't worry about the date.

[+BlueDeuce]

I admit that, on occasion, I have waited too long to log a TB or coin I have picked up or dropped off. Lately I have found coins and TBs are getting grabbed too quickly. I have had some grabbed within two hours of dropping it off and I haven't even finished caching for the day.

 

I'd like to see a 24-48 grace period in which a coin or TB could not be grabbed without first having the current holder notified and OKing it ("release it").

 

Coins and TBs don't get the mileage they have earned when this happens and it can be somewhat annoying.

 

Logging can always be corrected quiet easily. It's better that the traveler be listed where it's truly at as soon as possible, including in the hands of another cacher.

[Skippermark]

I've noticed this too. It's frustrating because the TB doesn't get the mileage or credited for being inside that cache and you go to drop it into a cache, but it's no longer in your inventory.

 

Like SLT, I've had TBs get grabbed before I even get home and get a chance to drop them into the cache where I'd left them.

 

BlueDeuce, how can you fix it once someone's grabbed it from you?

[+BlueDeuce]

BlueDeuce, how can you fix it once someone's grabbed it from you?

 

The back-logging can happen at any time, so there's no rush to Grab the bug back out of their hands just to do the Drop.

 

Typically I would leave back-logging to the owner and I do recommend waiting for the bug to be dropped into a cache, but if you still had the tracking number you could Retrieve the bug from the current cache post a back-dated Note on the missing cache, drop & retrieve the bug then place it back in the current cache.

 

Full and formal procedures are available upon request.

[+MYater]

I'd like to see a 24-48 grace period in which a coin or TB could not be grabbed without first having the current holder notified and OKing it ("release it").

 

Coins and TBs don't get the mileage they have earned when this happens and it can be somewhat annoying.

I agree with your last statement, since too often people do grab a trackable without waiting a day once it is in their posession, but I am a bit confused by your time period suggestion. I

 

f I have a trackable for a week and then take it out and drop it in a cache and 7 hours later I get back home and start logging, the trackable may have been taken from my possesion due to frisky people. The 24-48 hour period would have already expired from when I pulled it from the cache I found it in so a time stopper wouldn't really do anything to aleviate this problem in a situation like this.

 

Please expand on your idea to help everybody understand how you would implement it.

 

MYater

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Please bear with me folks......... I am not good at all, with transferring, cut and paste maneuvers.

 

We carry with us cards that we (temporarily) afix to a TB or GC when we deposit same into a cache.

We are not mobile with iPhone or better cellphones, therefore we must either get home or to a location with a computer to log our finds and drops.

 

Although I cannot "copy" the card and deposit it in this forum, I can copy and paste the info that we put on the card (I tried already, in the area for testing).

 

Here is the info on the card (It has worked very well, up to this point).

 

If you pick up this Travel Bug or GeoCoin

 

Please read this

 

We are traveling. As such this TB or GC may not yet be logged into this cache. If such is the case, please do not “grab” it. Give us a chance to get to where we are going so that we may properly log it in.

We expect to be able to log it on _______________ .

After that date, you may log your find and move it on. At that time too, please discard this notice.

 

 

Thank you.

 

Gitchee-Gummee

 

Certain parts are bolder, it is centered....... all of that good stuff. Even shows our goofy avatar.

 

EDIT INFO: Changed iPod to iPhone. Didn't I say how "behind" we were?

Edited September 30, 2009 by Gitchee-Gummee

[Skippermark]

Typically I would leave back-logging to the owner and I do recommend waiting for the bug to be dropped into a cache, but if you still had the tracking number you could Retrieve the bug from the current cache post a back-dated Note on the missing cache, drop & retrieve the bug then place it back in the current cache.

 

Full and formal procedures are available upon request.

No formal procedure needed, but once I've physically dropped the TB into a cache and someone has grabbed it from me on the site, where would a non-owner get the TB number to move it back into the cache and then back into the grabber's possession?

 

Maybe I do need a formal procedure.

[+BlueDeuce]

Typically I would leave back-logging to the owner and I do recommend waiting for the bug to be dropped into a cache, but if you still had the tracking number you could Retrieve the bug from the current cache post a back-dated Note on the missing cache, drop & retrieve the bug then place it back in the current cache.

 

Full and formal procedures are available upon request.

No formal procedure needed, but once I've physically dropped the TB into a cache and someone has grabbed it from me on the site, where would a non-owner get the TB number to move it back into the cache and then back into the grabber's possession?

 

Maybe I do need a formal procedure.

 

Well I hope you had saved the tracking number from when you picked. If you didn't, leave it to the owner.

[AZcachemeister]

Website features will never take the place of common courtesy.

 

When I pick up a traveler that has not yet been dropped, I USUALLY check the profile of the possessor of record. If I see they are from East Timor, I might assume they are on vacation, and it could take a while for them to log the cache and drop the traveler.

 

I 'put a watch' on the cache and wait. I assume they would not get any email inquiries I might send.

 

If (after a few days) I find the perfect cache to drop the traveler in, I would then grab it, drop it in the cache I found it in, retrieve it, drop it in the cache I left it in, and send an apologetic note to the team I grabbed it from.

 

If 'Team Timor' logs the cache and drops the traveler before I need to, I will know about it and can proceed in a normal fashion.

[+BlueDeuce]

Website features will never take the place of common courtesy.

 

When I pick up a traveler that has not yet been dropped, I USUALLY check the profile of the possessor of record. If I see they are from East Timor, I might assume they are on vacation, and it could take a while for them to log the cache and drop the traveler.

 

I 'put a watch' on the cache and wait. I assume they would not get any email inquiries I might send.

 

If (after a few days) I find the perfect cache to drop the traveler in, I would then grab it, drop it in the cache I found it in, retrieve it, drop it in the cache I left it in, and send an apologetic note to the team I grabbed it from.

 

If 'Team Timor' logs the cache and drops the traveler before I need to, I will know about it and can proceed in a normal fashion.

 

Let me put it like this - I would rather see a bug listed exactly where it's at even if it means that people can Grab a bug away from someone, rather than use the website to maintain this courtesy by delaying logging.

[+WRASTRO]

Website features will never take the place of common courtesy.

 

When I pick up a traveler that has not yet been dropped, I USUALLY check the profile of the possessor of record. If I see they are from East Timor, I might assume they are on vacation, and it could take a while for them to log the cache and drop the traveler.

 

I 'put a watch' on the cache and wait. I assume they would not get any email inquiries I might send.

 

If (after a few days) I find the perfect cache to drop the traveler in, I would then grab it, drop it in the cache I found it in, retrieve it, drop it in the cache I left it in, and send an apologetic note to the team I grabbed it from.

 

If 'Team Timor' logs the cache and drops the traveler before I need to, I will know about it and can proceed in a normal fashion.

 

Let me put it like this - I would rather see a bug listed exactly where it's at even if it means that people can Grab a bug away from someone, rather than use the website to maintain this courtesy by delaying logging.

I think cachers should do as AZcachemeister has suggested. There have been several times when I have been out for a day of caching and dropped a bug in a cache only to get home and find someone has already grabbed it from me. In my opinion it is so easy to take a few moments to check out the history and status of a trackable there is really no excuse for someone to simply grab on from an active cacher who dropped it earlier in the day. Sure, I can fix it, but that isn't the point. The point is that cachers should perform a small amount of due diligence and use some common sense before grabbing a trackable.

[+Isonzo Karst]

PROCEDURE:

you've dropped traveler in cache

you get home, traveler has already been picked up by another cacher;

it's not in your inventory, you don't have the tracking #

 

Using the reference # TBxxxx found under the traveler's name in the upper left corner of the trackable page, you write a note to the page, leaving the GC Code of the cache where you left the item. If the cache owner cares to backlog that drop for the correct mileage, they can. If they don't, they won't.

[+BlueDeuce]

Website features will never take the place of common courtesy.

 

When I pick up a traveler that has not yet been dropped, I USUALLY check the profile of the possessor of record. If I see they are from East Timor, I might assume they are on vacation, and it could take a while for them to log the cache and drop the traveler.

 

I 'put a watch' on the cache and wait. I assume they would not get any email inquiries I might send.

 

If (after a few days) I find the perfect cache to drop the traveler in, I would then grab it, drop it in the cache I found it in, retrieve it, drop it in the cache I left it in, and send an apologetic note to the team I grabbed it from.

 

If 'Team Timor' logs the cache and drops the traveler before I need to, I will know about it and can proceed in a normal fashion.

 

Let me put it like this - I would rather see a bug listed exactly where it's at even if it means that people can Grab a bug away from someone, rather than use the website to maintain this courtesy by delaying logging.

I think cachers should do as AZcachemeister has suggested. There have been several times when I have been out for a day of caching and dropped a bug in a cache only to get home and find someone has already grabbed it from me. In my opinion it is so easy to take a few moments to check out the history and status of a trackable there is really no excuse for someone to simply grab on from an active cacher who dropped it earlier in the day. Sure, I can fix it, but that isn't the point. The point is that cachers should perform a small amount of due diligence and use some common sense before grabbing a trackable.

 

I completely agree. I'm talking about a forced delay in being able to Grab the bug. People should wait to allow the last cacher to do the logging but the results of it being Grabbed isn't so bad that we have to change the system to prevent it.

[+WRASTRO]

I agree there is no change needed. This issue is annoying but that is about all.

[Knight-Errant]

I admit that, on occasion, I have waited too long to log a TB or coin I have picked up or dropped off. Lately I have found coins and TBs are getting grabbed too quickly. I have had some grabbed within two hours of dropping it off and I haven't even finished caching for the day.

 

I'd like to see a 24-48 grace period in which a coin or TB could not be grabbed without first having the current holder notified and OKing it ("release it").

 

Coins and TBs don't get the mileage they have earned when this happens and it can be somewhat annoying.

The biggest problem with this is when does the grace period start? Since there is no log, it would be difficult to know when the traveler was actually dropped off. Notwithstanding, whenever we find a traveler that has not been logged into the cache (either still in possession of another cacher or even still in another cache) we try, whenever feasible, to wait at least three days before grabbing the traveler.

[+BigFurryMonster]

A cacher mentioned this problem on the Dutch forums: when you drop a TB into a cache, but cannot log it (for example, because you're traveling) immediately, it sometimes happens that the next finder grabs it and moves it on.

 

Feature request: for a 'grab' log, show an additional screen with an 'are you sure?' message and some explanation. This way, people would need to think twice to actually grab the trackable before the previous holder has a chance to log it.