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How long is too long to hold a TB?


WrongWayRandall

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I usualy only get to Geocache on Friday and Saturday so it occured to me that I did not know how long would be too long to hold a TB. If I know that I am going to a more distant cache, is one week too long to hold a TB? Personaly, I would not really consider holding for a second week but would rather either return the TB to its previous cache or drop it off as far down the road as I could. Comments?

 

WrongWayRandall

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In general I would hate to see anyone hold onto my bugs for more than a month, but am less apt to stress out if there is communication from the holder of the bug. I've had bugs sit for months with people with no response and this drove me batty. I've also had people hang onto them for a season, but they kept in touch.

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quote:
Originally posted by WrongWayRandall:

I usualy only get to Geocache on Friday and Saturday so it occured to me that I did not know how long would be too long to hold a TB. If I know that I am going to a more distant cache, is one week too long to hold a TB? Personaly, I would not really consider holding for a second week but would rather either return the TB to its previous cache or drop it off as far down the road as I could. Comments?

 

WrongWayRandall


 

I've held onto bugs for more than a month, but the key was communication with the owner, letting them know my intentions for their bug. The reason was I was getting ready for a camping trip and wanted to take them out of our area. Owners were agreeable and it worked for us. icon_biggrin.gif

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Two weeks - IMHO is not unreasonable, provided you contact the bug owner (which reminds me, I need to do that!). It's bugs being held for months on end that are a problem.

 

There's a couple of earlier threads on the topic. You might want to take a peek at them.

 

How long is too long?

how long should i hold a travel bug?

 

I still stand by my response:

quote:
Holding a bug that long makes it so that other people don't have a chance to move that bug. Even if the bug owner said it was OK, I wouldn't hold the bug that long. A month is too long in my opinion - even if you're going to the other side of the world.

 

Goals are just the end of the journey on bugs. The journey is the interesting part. Think of it with this hypothetical situations:

 

Situation 1:

I release a bug from home and want to send it to a specific cache in California. Someone picks it up from the first cache and holds on to it for 120 days because they're going to that specific area of California and they'll place the bug there.

 

Situation 2:

I release a bug from home and want to send it to a specific cache in California. It travels from cache to cache toward California and takes a full year to get there because no hop is more than 100 miles. It visits a whole lot of caches.

 

Which bug is having a better experience?


 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

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Is it proper to go back to a cache where you dropped off a bug to re-retrieve it if the bug does not move along? icon_confused.gif

 

If it is proper, how long should you wait? I would hate to place a bug in a cache that won't be visited again for a month or more...

 

I haven't released a bug yet, but my tags are sitting right here on the desk. I'd hate to have a bug just sitting around in a cache. I'd rather have it in someone's hands who may be moving it along.

 

Thanks!

 

Someone out there... Cache a million bucks please. I've got three weddings to pay for sometime soon...

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I have a TB that's been in my "possession" for a long time. Trouble is, I don't have it and until last week couldn't figure out what to do about it.

 

In my case I got my sister-in-law interested in caching and gave her the bug to place in a new cashe in CA when she got home. She lost it. I felt terrible and responsible but couldn't figure out how to tell anyone.

 

The bug has recently been found (behind her computer cabinet). If she doesn't place it real soon I've asked her to return it.

 

In the meantime I discovered there's actually a cashe to "place" lost TBs into but it's not made known on the site. IMHO it _should_ be a choice for anyone holding a TB. It's the Geo JOe Memorial Cache, GC4DED. icon_rolleyes.gif

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quote:
In my case I got my sister-in-law interested in caching and gave her the bug to place in a new cashe in CA when she got home. She lost it. I felt terrible and responsible but couldn't figure out how to tell anyone.

 

Go to your "My Cache Page" (5th button down on the left edge of the Geocaching home page). On the My Cache Page, under "Travel Bugs that you found:", click on the name of the lost Travel Bug. On the page for the Travel Bug, click the link for the owner's name. On the owner's profile, click the "Email this user" link.

 

Or did you mean how do I explain the situation? If that's the trouble, I suggest you just be honest and upfront. Your story sounds believable and you sound sincere - I think most TB owners would prefer to hear this story than be left wondering.

 

quote:
In the meantime I discovered there's actually a cashe to "place" lost TBs into but it's not made known on the site. IMHO it _should_ be a choice for anyone holding a TB. It's the Geo JOe Memorial Cache, GC4DED. icon_rolleyes.gif

 

I don't think this Geocache is an official feature of the site. There's at least one other TB Graveyard Geocache. Moving a TB to a Graveyard Geocache has a serious drawback: The TB adds up mileage and the map shows movement that the TB didn't really make. The alternative of having the TB owner "grab" the Bug is IMHO a better choice (and I've talked with a couple of other TB owners that agree). Either way, I think it should be up to the Travel Bug OWNER to make this decision.

 

As a side note, I can't believe people are actually logging GC4DED as a "find" instead of "posting a note". icon_rolleyes.gif

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Our first (and only, so far) bug was taken by a novice (4 finds, no hides) and all went quiet for a month.

 

I mailed him after a month and received a reply saying he hadn't been out caching due to snow and all is well.

 

Didn't take long to mail, and the reply has laid our fears to rest a little.

 

Amazing how communication helps!

 

Of course, if he didn't answer, I don't think that'd bode well!

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quote:
Originally posted by Stu & Sarah:

Amazing how communication helps!

 

Of course, if he didn't answer, I don't think that'd bode well!


 

The one time when I haven't had a person answer my email, the travel bug has been MIA ever since. I had the owner of the cache look in there to verify that the bug wasn't there and he even told me who had logged on the day it appeared to go MIA. I sent out two emails to two different cachers, one getting a response back within a day saying that it was in the cache when they got there and hearing nothing from the other person. I guess Top Hat was too cute to send back out in the wild. sigh icon_mad.gif

 

Webfoot icon_razz.gif

 

Tromping through the underbrush looking for Ammo cans & Tupperware containers.

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quote:
Originally posted by Webfoot:

I sent out two emails to two different cachers, one getting a response back within a day saying that it was in the cache when they got there and hearing nothing from the other person. I guess http://www.geocaching.com/track/track_detail.asp?ID=4493 was too cute to send back out in the wild. sigh icon_mad.gif


If I'm guessing right who took the your bug, it looks like they stopped using that account name and made a new one, right around the time you were questioning what happened to your TB. Don't know if they did that to avoid you, or if they changed emails or something and didnt know how to change it so just made a new account instead. They seem to still be active, having last logged into the site a few weeks ago. I doubt after a year MIA your gonna get the TB back, but maybe a little friendly reminder to the NEW account might be fun. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

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quote:
Originally posted by ShaneN4Girls:

Is it proper to go back to a cache where you dropped off a bug to re-retrieve it if the bug does not move along? icon_confused.gif

.........


 

It must be - I've done it icon_wink.gif

 

After getting approval from the forum members of course. icon_smile.gif I can't find the thread at the moment.

 

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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Got the same problem with a Tb which is in the US now. stlthy1 took it out of cache in November 2002 and our bug is still in his hands. No reply to our mail attempt at all.

Generally I'd suggest to keep a bug for a month approx. unless the owner is asked if the bug may stay for longer.

It's really disappointing to see bugs rotten in the hands of people who are obvious no longer interestes in caching.

Hope we'll see our Blinky Bill back on the track soon!!

 

Kind regards

 

Marco & Kerstin (Germany)

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What are we supposed to do about geocachers who find geocaches but do not log any of their cache findings and don't have a user name on Geocaching.com, especially those non-logging geocachers who take travel bugs, don't log their travel bug findings, and don't move the travel bug to another cache?

 

Here are two examples that are particularly infuriating to me. On Dec. 8, 2002 I put the travel bug Easy-Going Turtle in Estrella Mountain Park Cache. That bug is now lost, because a team named Palo or Paco took the bug on Dec. 25 and did not log their finding icon_mad.gif, according to TEAM420 on Feb. 6, 2003. Another geocacher, GeoScape, also did not report seeing the bug in the cache on Jan. 5, 2003.

 

On Jan. 31, 2003 I was at Cache Catalyst to get the travel bug Blinky the Ethernet Tranceiver, but it was not there. According to the log book, a geocaching team named D&D took this travel bug on Jan. 19 but did not log their finding of the cache nor of the bug icon_mad.gif.

 

Therefore, what can we, as geocachers, do about this problem icon_confused.gif? This is very inconsiderate of people to visit caches and to take travel bugs without logging them.

 

Here is an excerpt from my log entry for Cache Catalyst on Jan. 31:

 

Geocachers, please log your cache findings and your travel bug findings! It infuriates me icon_mad.gif to see so-called "geocachers" not logging their cache findings on geocaching.com, and taking travel bugs without logging them. Why do people look for and find geocaches without logging them, and take travel bugs without logging them? This is very inconsiderate and is improper geocaching practice icon_frown.gif.

 

Ken Akerman (a.k.a. Highpointer)

Tempe, AZ

 

[This message was edited by Highpointer on February 12, 2003 at 01:01 PM.]

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quote:
Originally posted by Mopar:

I doubt after a year MIA your gonna get the TB back, but maybe a little friendly reminder to the NEW account might be fun. icon_biggrin.gif


 

Well, we'll see what happens. I sent a general inquiry out to them asking whether they'd seen Top Hat.

 

I'm not holding my breath. icon_eek.gif

 

Webfoot icon_razz.gif

 

Tromping through the underbrush looking for Ammo cans, Tupperware containers, & little round disks.

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We have 16 TB's. I guess 1 MIA in 16 isn't bad. We don't like it, but it's out of our hands. What upsets us is that the person that has it, is still caching. And placing other Bugs. I have emailed & emailed, but nothing. If he lost it, We'd like to know.

If I'm holding up a TB I mail the owner. Also, I get upset when I place someone's bug that I grabbed & it comes up MIA. Or is held for 8 yes 8 months.

Anyway, we are still hoping that Kirk isn't MIA & will beam again.

rocker51

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quote:
Originally posted by Webfoot:

quote:
Originally posted by Mopar:

I doubt after a year MIA your gonna get the TB back, but maybe a little friendly reminder to the NEW account might be fun. icon_biggrin.gif


 

Well, we'll see what happens. I sent a general inquiry out to them asking whether they'd seen Top Hat.

 

I'm not holding my breath. icon_eek.gif


 

Like I said, I'm not holding my breath. I emailed the person who probably has the bug again two days ago. Nothing in return yet. icon_frown.gif

 

Further bulletins as warranted. icon_rolleyes.gif

 

Webfoot icon_razz.gif

 

Tromping through the underbrush looking for Ammo cans, Tupperware containers, & little round disks.

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OK, I admit it. I've held onto a TB for too long.

Why? it was my first and only, and I thought this will be fun. But successive caches that came after were all physically too small. My far afield trips never quite worked out and the option of making a new cache was a little daunting.

 

I kept in touch with the owner and understand their frustration and I finally managed to set a new cache. I'm now a nervous wreck hoping someone else will find the TB and move it on (I'm now a surrogate bug parent)

 

This may sound daft but grabbing a TB is a bigger responsibility than I ever imagined. Maybe some of the MIAs are the results of Post Buggal Depression among novice cachers icon_smile.gif over awed at the attention the little blighters demand.

 

I now avoid Bugs unless I'm sure I can drop them off and that would probably be to a cache I have already logged.

 

Lance

It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

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quote:
Originally posted by Stu & Sarah:

Our first (and only, so far) bug was taken by a novice (4 finds, no hides) and all went quiet for a month.

I mailed him after a month and received a reply saying he hadn't been out caching due to snow and all is well.

Didn't take long to mail, and the reply has laid our fears to rest a little.

Amazing how communication helps!

Of course, if he didn't answer, I don't think that'd bode well!


 

Of course, the bug still hasn't been placed in a cache!

 

D'oh!

 

Waiting...........

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quote:
Originally posted by Stu & Sarah:

quote:
Originally posted by Stu & Sarah:

Our first (and only, so far) bug was taken by a novice (4 finds, no hides) and all went quiet for a month.

I mailed him after a month and received a reply saying he hadn't been out caching due to snow and all is well.

Didn't take long to mail, and the reply has laid our fears to rest a little.

Amazing how communication helps!

Of course, if he didn't answer, I don't think that'd bode well!


 

Of course, the bug still hasn't been placed in a cache!

 

D'oh!

 

Waiting...........


 

Yeah, I've had something similar.

 

One of my bugs was picked up around the middle of January, and after a month, I contacted the cacher who said that they were unable to place it.

 

Now, it's been almost another month, and I'm still waiting. I'm inclined to believe the cacher (they haven't been caching since the middle of January either, so...)

 

However, it would have been nice to have been kept abreast of events. When I've been unable to place a TB for whatever reason, I try and contact the cacher ASAP, and again if it takes longer.

 

Hell, in future I might email the owner of any TB that I pick up as soon as I get it... that way, I can immediately let them know what my intentions are, and how long it is likely to take, just as a mark of respect.

 

------

An it harm none, do what ye will

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When I find a bug I email the owner to let them know my plans. I had the SHREK TB and planned to drop him in Mississippi. It didn't work out. The next weekend I took him to another part of Mississippi and dropped him off. He promptly returned to a cache about five miles from his original cache where I found him. So, I took him again to another cache.

 

My heartbreak is when a TB was placed in my cache and the cache was stolen. I replaced the cache and the replacement was stolen. Naturally I emailed the TB owners and reported the problem with the cache.

 

Capn Skully

Vini Vidi Velcro I came I saw I stuck around

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Being kinda new to the TB,I placed TB APU the day after I got him. I now have NYPD bule and will place him farther away than I did with APU. I think it really sucks that a person would steal one and keep cacheingicon_mad.gif I just read the goals of the NYPD TB and found he is heading for NYC. I will be going (i hope) later in the spring to tour the city on my BMX bike(the only way to go!),so it's OK if I hold it till' them as long as I alert the owner?

 

[This message was edited by 111 on March 10, 2003 at 12:25 PM.]

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WOW, I only wish that we've been as lucky as most of you have been...I have 8 TB's in circulation, although I do have one that is always moving and 1 that has finally appeared since it was placed...The other 6 that are out are still in the hands of cachers since being removed from the original placement last summer and fall. Talking about frustration among some players when you go through the expense of putting them out!?! We've actually thought about not purchasing anymore until the other ones resurface, but we just purchased 8 more and we hope the same problem doesn't happen again...Ziggy Stardust

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As Lance mentioned above, the size of the bug is important in getting it moved along promptly. Last summer, because of construction, one of my caches had to be archived. It was a large ammo box. There was a bug inside that had been sitting there for quite a while. When I retrieved the cache, I found out why.

 

It was a hard rubber toy about the size of a man's fist. It traveled with its own logbook, and a camera, for crying out loud, all in a gallon size baggie. Trying to be helpful, my poor daughter grabbed it because she was going out of state on a caching trip. Unfortunately none of the caches she visited could house this behemoth. She received several impatient, ugly emails from the owners before she finally found a cache big enough for this big bertha of a bug.

 

I'm sure none of the missing bugs in this thread had this problem, but I just wanted to chime in for those reading who might be planning to release a bug. Choose something smallish that can fit in the average small to medium cache and it will likely move along more quickly.

 

52813_3100.gif

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I usually get out caching every weekend and will try to get any travel bugs I have picked up back into another cache the following weekend. But if I have a travel bug with a specific goal that requires me to take it in a certain direction, I will sometimes have to wait another week before getting it back out. But I have never held onto one longer then three weeks before making a special trip to drop it off. This has only happened once and in that case I just went to a cache I had already found to drop it off. SilverRubicon

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After reading some of the stories on this forum, I'm a bit scared for my sons' travel bugs. We sent 4 travel bugs out yesterday from Utah, and they're racing to the 4 corners of the USA. You can see them Here

 

I put an instruction tag on each of the bugs asking them to place them within 7 days. Is this asking too much of fellow cachers? icon_confused.gif

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You look at the website to find caches. You may even print out the cache page to assist you in your search. You notice there is a TB in the cache you'd like to visit. GO TO THE TB's PAGE and read about it! If it needs to go SOUTH, and you are traveling NORTH, DON'T take it for cryin' out loud! And if you do research your prospective TB, and you DO take it LOG IT QUICKLY to at least say you've TAKEN IT! There's nothing more frustrating than traveling to a cache, expecting to find a bug, only to NOT find it there! Grant it, someone may have only taken in hours before, but in most cases, I'm assuming, it is just because the Cacher arrives home, weary from a long day of hitting a dozen caches, and then is to lazy to enter their logs!

 

The other problem is that people will pick up a bug from ONE cache, and then drop it in ANOTHER cache on the same day, but forget to WRITE DOWN THE TAG NUMBER! So they get home, and go to log it in, and OOPS, they don't have a number! So the Bug doesn't officially get TAKEN OR PLACED. If that happens, PLEASE email the BUG's OWNER, who can easily give you the Bug's number. Problem solved.

 

You can take as long as you want to log your cache finds... if you do so at all, but PLEASE BE PROMPT (within 24 hours) to log that you've TAKEN A BUG!

 

How simple is that?

 

Wags, Russ & Erin

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I guess I take a much more relaxed approach.

 

<>

 

Good guidelines:

  • Log the bugs as soon as possible.
  • Write down the bug's number
  • If you're going to hold the bug for a while, contact the owner
  • Move the bug - it's better than having it languish in a cache somewhere
To my last point, I'll add that I've had a bug that was within 5 miles of its destination and was yanked 1500 miles away. So what? It added something to the story line. Sure my nose was bent out of shape for a little while, but when I realized that it wouldn't affect the prize I win for getting my bug to the goal, I had fun with it.

 

[This message was edited by Markwell on March 25, 2003 at 02:15 PM.]

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...I'd rather have my bugs move, even if it does happen to be in the "wrong" direction. Many times that "wrong" direction can be a blessing.

 

My guideline is to try to keep the bugs moving by putting them in "popular" caches, regardless of their mission (assuming I can't directly help them, of course). That way they have more opportunities to complete their task.

 

Putting them in in "difficult" or "remote" caches is often counter-productive. I've learned that by experience.

 

George

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Hello there

 

I've got aproblem with my TB too!

 

The guy who grabbed it from the last cache (a month ago!) doesn't even answer my eMails! His profile shows, that he wasn't even visiting GC.com since Monday, December 01, 2003!

 

He said, that he'd be up to "get it moving soon"! Well ..... that's the result know!

 

So what to do know?

 

I think it's rather unfair, not because the sense of TBs is violated by those "TB-keepers" but TB are rather expensive for German cachers! ;)

 

Next I'll be thinking twice getting such a thing on the run!!

 

Greetings from Germany

Havrix

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