Missing Trackables

[+Steak'n'Eggs]

If this is covered elsewhere, please redirect me to that post, I am new to the forums.

 

I live and cache in Manatee/Sarasota, FL, caches here supposedly containing trackables are turning up empty roughly 80% of the time. My first thought is a trackable thief, are there people who do this? My second thought is, how do you go about determining who this person(s) are? Once you suspect someone(s), what are the appropriate steps to take to make sure they do not continue to ruin everyone else's good time?

 

Missing Trackables are annoying...

 

Steak'n'Eggs

[+GeoGeeBee]

It happens.

 

Sometimes they've been stolen. More often, someone has picked them up and hasn't logged them yet.

 

It's really not worth getting all worked up over. But if you really want to get all worked up over it, there's a forum just down the page a bit for discussing travel bugs and their issues.

 

Edited to add: I almost forgot to address the most important part of your post. How do you identify the thief, and what do you do about it?

 

The answer to the first part of that is, you don't. And the answer to the second part is, even if you do, just shrug your shoulders and forget about it. You might be wrong, and accusing an innocent person of being a thief is far worse than having a travel bug go missing.

Edited May 18, 2010 by GeoGeeBee

[+StarBrand]

This happens frequently - best you can do is let the bug owner and cacher owner know that it isn't around anymore. Hopefully - one of them will mark it missing and get it off the cache inventory.

 

Sometimes these trackables surface again - sometimes thousands of miles and years later. More often - it is a sign they have gone off to the greate cache in the sky.

[+Touchstone]

I tend to think quite the opposite. People travelling, for instance, sometimes don't log the travellers until they get home. I would think FL, like CA has tons of tourists that fit this mold.

 

That being said, I'll usually mention the absence of travelbugs and coins in my log entry if I don't see them.

[+dorqie]

This bothers me too, but there isn't a lot we can do about it.

All of my GCs have a passport attached to them with a reminder that they are not meant to be kept and to please log their find.

Sometimes I wonder if it's people that just don't know what they've found, or don't understand the importance to the owner to log it promptly.

 

On a sidebar to the issue...if I pick up a GC/TB and plan on taking it on a trip with me, or for some reason won't be logging it right away, I always send a note to the trackables owner to tell them when to expect their item to be logged. For example, I picked up a GC heading east last week, this weekend I am going east for a wedding, and plan to drop it off then. I promptly logged my discovery of said GC and sent a message to it's owner to tell them to expect to see it surface in another cache on the 23rd, that way they know I have it, and that I haven't stolen, lost or forgotten about it.

[+palmetto]

Please, if you notice that a coin or bug is missing, post a note to the coin or bug listing!

 

From time to time I'll mark trackables missing. I'm working on that right now (Florida). It's going to take a while.

 

It's enormously helpful to have that note on the trackable page, not buried somewhere in log on the cache page.

 

Few cache owners seem to know that they can mark an item missing to get it out of their cache inventory. Hard to say about traveler owners. The ones who are doing it make their travelers invisible. The owners who don't do it are noticeable by the way they let their long missing trackables stay logged into caches where they aren't. I marked a TB missing today that was last logged August '03, and that was a "not in cache" log ;-)

[+Steak'n'Eggs]

Thank you palmetto, I will

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

This bothers me too, but there isn't a lot we can do about it.

All of my GCs have a passport attached to them with a reminder that they are not meant to be kept and to please log their find.

Sometimes I wonder if it's people that just don't know what they've found, or don't understand the importance to the owner to log it promptly.

 

On a sidebar to the issue...if I pick up a GC/TB and plan on taking it on a trip with me, or for some reason won't be logging it right away, I always send a note to the trackables owner to tell them when to expect their item to be logged. For example, I picked up a GC heading east last week, this weekend I am going east for a wedding, and plan to drop it off then. I promptly logged my discovery of said GC and sent a message to it's owner to tell them to expect to see it surface in another cache on the 23rd, that way they know I have it, and that I haven't stolen, lost or forgotten about it.

So to log that situation properly, you should not be logging a discovery. that option is for when you see the coin but did NOT take it. Since you took the coin with you it should be logged as Grabbed, ot Retreived.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Please, if you notice that a coin or bug is missing, post a note to the coin or bug listing!

 

From time to time I'll mark trackables missing. I'm working on that right now (Florida). It's going to take a while.

 

It's enormously helpful to have that note on the trackable page, not buried somewhere in log on the cache page.

 

Few cache owners seem to know that they can mark an item missing to get it out of their cache inventory. Hard to say about traveler owners. The ones who are doing it make their travelers invisible. The owners who don't do it are noticeable by the way they let their long missing trackables stay logged into caches where they aren't. I marked a TB missing today that was last logged August '03, and that was a "not in cache" log ;-)

I think one of the biggest difficulties in this aspect is that MANY people will mention the missing trackable on the Cache page, but never go to the bug page to say anything. Bug owners do not get any notice when that happens, and therefore have no way to know that it's missing.

[+dorqie]

This bothers me too, but there isn't a lot we can do about it.

All of my GCs have a passport attached to them with a reminder that they are not meant to be kept and to please log their find.

Sometimes I wonder if it's people that just don't know what they've found, or don't understand the importance to the owner to log it promptly.

 

On a sidebar to the issue...if I pick up a GC/TB and plan on taking it on a trip with me, or for some reason won't be logging it right away, I always send a note to the trackables owner to tell them when to expect their item to be logged. For example, I picked up a GC heading east last week, this weekend I am going east for a wedding, and plan to drop it off then. I promptly logged my discovery of said GC and sent a message to it's owner to tell them to expect to see it surface in another cache on the 23rd, that way they know I have it, and that I haven't stolen, lost or forgotten about it.

So to log that situation properly, you should not be logging a discovery. that option is for when you see the coin but did NOT take it. Since you took the coin with you it should be logged as Grabbed, ot Retreived.

umm, I do log as "grabbed"

I just send along a note if I'm going to be hanging on to it for a week or longer.

[+Eagle and the nuts]

If this is covered elsewhere, please redirect me to that post, I am new to the forums.

 

I live and cache in Manatee/Sarasota, FL, caches here supposedly containing trackables are turning up empty roughly 80% of the time. My first thought is a trackable thief, are there people who do this? My second thought is, how do you go about determining who this person(s) are? Once you suspect someone(s), what are the appropriate steps to take to make sure they do not continue to ruin everyone else's good time?

 

Missing Trackables are annoying...

 

Steak'n'Eggs

I am from the same area and and saw a very dramatic rise in missing trackables in just the last three or four months. The caches still have the regular swag. We have a thief in the area that gets his jollies by taking trackables. He probably prints out these forum posts and wallpapers his room with them like all the sickos you see on TV.

[+Walts Hunting]

what are the appropriate steps to take

 

The most appropriate step at this point is two margaritas and a good movie.

[4wheelin_fool]

If this is covered elsewhere, please redirect me to that post, I am new to the forums.

 

I live and cache in Manatee/Sarasota, FL, caches here supposedly containing trackables are turning up empty roughly 80% of the time. My first thought is a trackable thief, are there people who do this? My second thought is, how do you go about determining who this person(s) are? Once you suspect someone(s), what are the appropriate steps to take to make sure they do not continue to ruin everyone else's good time?

 

Missing Trackables are annoying...

 

Steak'n'Eggs

I am from the same area and and saw a very dramatic rise in missing trackables in just the last three or four months. The caches still have the regular swag. We have a thief in the area that gets his jollies by taking trackables. He probably prints out these forum posts and wallpapers his room with them like all the sickos you see on TV.

 

It's most likely a disgruntled and bored employee of Florida Automotive Distributors (FAD) in St Pete. Tell Gail to track the drivers better, as suggested by a former worker who lives in Jersey..

[newdiscovery]

I made a mistake and left one in a store. I got a message saying it was found in the lost and found by a cacher who will put it in a cache again. Yay!

Edited May 20, 2010 by newdiscovery