TB missing after inital placement - already !?

[+danboss]

Dear all,

 

Apparently, one of my placed TBs went to Nirvana directly from its initial cache (based on comments by a cache visitor)

 

I know it is possible but how do you cope with it? Did you have similar experiences?

 

How can one actually think about keeping a trackable item? I would never do that...

 

I am depressed

 

Best regards,

 

danboss

 

the trackable: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=2733261

[+Eartha]

Bummer. I checked the logs, translated them, and it appears that it was gone for sure by the 24th of May. I would email the people who logged the cache in between the drop, and the log on the 24th, that says it's missing. One of them is a new cacher.

Maker your note polite, sweet, lots of pleases and thank yous, ask if they happened to pick it up, what it looked like (they may not know it was a Travel Bug, they may not even have seen one yet) and offer them the link for How To Log a Trackable Item (see pinned thread here). Thank them for their help, then post a note to the TB page asking if anyone has seen it. I had to do this myself recently, and my TB has a long history! I'm sure going to miss it if it doesn't come back. But I move on. That's the only way to deal with it. Don't be depressed. If it never shows up, you can still release the copy tag, but wait a long time. Some go missing because they weren't logged and show up later. Yours only just went missing. I wouldn't even say it's gone yet. Someone might be on vacation and hasn't gotten home yet. Posting a note to the TB page might give them the nudge they need to remind them to log it. We can only hope for the best.

[+bugleann]

Don't give up hope. I had one disappear out of the 2nd cache it was in. It finally showed up, months later, in a completely different cache. SO you never know.

[+dad-and-ash]

We had the same type of thing happen to us last year. I took a TB of ours from Milwaukee, WI to Rochester, NY. Dipped it in a cache before I left and then logged the drop when I did it. A week or so later someone posts and the cache page that the cache had been muggled and strewn about the area, and there was no sign of a TB. It went missing right off the bat. I'm going back out there this July, staying at the same hotel, and plan on visiting the cache area to see if I can find it myself. In other words, never give up. I refuse to lose on my TB, so you shouldn't either. You never know....

[+Twitch Hugs Trees]

This just happened to me too. The cache I placed it in got muggled and completely destroyed (I have my suspicions about who did it...). I'm pretty sure it's missing for good, because the people (whom I believe) took it are NOT geocache-friendly. The best we can do is move on and hope it'll show up again some time.

[+Walts Hunting]

I know it is possible but how do you cope with it?

 

Two margaritas and a good movie.

[+danboss]

Thank you all for your feedback.

 

I will leave for holidays anyway next week - let's see if I can collect a few caches in Alaska without upsetting my wife too much.

 

Thanks

[+Eartha]

Well, if an Alaska trip doesn't cheer you up about the poor TB, (or even make you forget about it for a while) I'm afraid there isn't much we'll be able to do! Have a great trip.

[+NanCycle]

Dear all,

 

Apparently, one of my placed TBs went to Nirvana directly from its initial cache (based on comments by a cache visitor)

 

I know it is possible but how do you cope with it? Did you have similar experiences?

 

How can one actually think about keeping a trackable item? I would never do that...

 

I am depressed

 

Best regards,

 

danboss

 

the trackable: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=2733261

 

Yes, it happened to me too.

 

A newish cacher took one of mine out of its very first cache and he hasn't been caching again since that day. He also hasn't responded to my emails.

 

It has been over a year (about 15 months) and I'm ready to restart it using the COPY tag and a new hitchhiker.

 

It's sad, but it does happen.

[+Flutterwheelers]

This just happened to me too. I'm pretty sure it's missing for good, because the people (whom I believe) took it are NOT geocache-friendly.

 

Would you care to elaborate? Is there a cache close to where they live, and they don't like so many visitors, ... or ?

 

Gary

[+BlueDeuce]

This just happened to me too. I'm pretty sure it's missing for good, because the people (whom I believe) took it are NOT geocache-friendly.

 

Would you care to elaborate? Is there a cache close to where they live, and they don't like so many visitors, ... or ?

 

Gary

 

Careful, you don't want to call people out by name here in the forum. PM might work better.

[+Twitch Hugs Trees]

Would you care to elaborate? Is there a cache close to where they live, and they don't like so many visitors, ... or ?

The cache is located on public property, but it's in front of some kind of industrial business/thing. There's a fence between the property and the cache, but the people there still harass cachers when they're out.

 

Careful, you don't want to call people out by name here in the forum. PM might work better.

 

I don't even know they business' name, let alone specific people, so no way to call them out. Even if I did, I'm not that kind of person.

[+sunwonder]

Dear all,

 

Apparently, one of my placed TBs went to Nirvana directly from its initial cache (based on comments by a cache visitor)

 

I know it is possible but how do you cope with it? Did you have similar experiences?

 

How can one actually think about keeping a trackable item? I would never do that...

 

I am depressed

 

Best regards,

 

danboss

 

the trackable: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=2733261

I know what you mean danboss, in the last week I have had 4 to go missing! I posted on the forum but Groundspeak must had mistaken my post as trying to sell them talk about being REALLY flustered. how the heck does that sound like I'm trying to sell them. I think they should put on the front page a little TB edicate.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Please mark the item missing, it's not in the cache now, and you know it.

 

Take it out of the cache inventory. this won't have any negative effect on the trackable, and will have a positive effect on the cache page, for cachers who won't be looking for something that isn't there.

[+Steph74de+ the Celt]

I have the same problem! I placed one with my little goddaughter, it got picked up by a newbie who cached only once (the day he found the cache). First I was really okay about it because he knew how to log it ... but unfortunately he has it now since more than seven weeks and has not been to the page at all.

 

I have emailed them and not gotten any reply. I am just sad because the holiday season starts and many peope are visiting the cache who cache regularly. But well ... guess this is just how it goes.

 

I recently saw a TB and I could have helped him 400 miles towards his mission. Went to the cache ... it was gone. It took the person three weeks to log it out, he kept it another couple of weeks and then he left it in a cache three miles down the road. Especially at holiday season I don't pick them up when I am not going anywhere.

 

But well ... we have made many nice experiences with our bugs as well ... so I think that this is what matters. In the worst case I will rerelease the bug in a couple of months.

Steph

[Andronicus]

I have had no luck with any of my 3 trackables.

 

First one got held onto by the first grabber for the entire summer (peak caching season), then put in a cache 17km away (in the wrong direction of it's goal), and then stolen.

 

Second one I put in a cool cache, and no one has visited the cache since (2 months now). Who would have thought that a 20min hike/climb would deter people that much. All the caches in the valley below get lots of finds.

 

Third was picked up shortly after I left it, and now 1 month later, has not moved.

 

Anyway, I am sure the the 2nd and 3rd will get going eventualy, but still agravating.

[+AuntieWeasel]

Oof. Yes. That's happened to me.

 

I've got 20 bugs (not counting my personal TB). Only four of them have made a move in 2010. Oddly, one of those is my very first bug, which is getting on for six years old.

 

The ways of trackables are mysterious.

[+Eartha]

I know what you mean danboss, in the last week I have had 4 to go missing! I posted on the forum but Groundspeak must had mistaken my post as trying to sell them talk about being REALLY flustered. how the heck does that sound like I'm trying to sell them. I think they should put on the front page a little TB edicate.

 

I've looked at your forum posts, and I cannot see what you mean by this remark. Please explain this??? Also, regarding what Groundspeak should do about it, see my post about that in your thread.