TBs not in cache

[+dickholmes]

I'm still new to this fun game and am greatly enjoying myself so far. hopefully I'm not repeating anything and if so just direct me in the right direction and Ill be grateful. Since I started geocaching every cache Ive been to that says there is a TB or geocoin is empty. (one geocoin was where it was supposed to be) that's 11 caches that are empty that were supposed to have a trackable.

 

Is this common in other peoples areas/my area or have I just been hitting a string of bad luck? I like the trackable game and have only been able to help out twice. The TB I moved along wasn't even supposed to be where I found it. Just wondering if this is common place as I will soon be releasing my own TB (following the longevity guidelines) and was just wondering if I should release it somewhere else or if this is a consistent problem for everyone?

 

Thanks for your help

[+ngrrfan]

Finding a TB or coin where it is listed is a chance thing. If the cache is out in the woods and mountains, and is only visited a few times per year the chances it will have the right inventory are high. If it's a cache in town, one that is logged at least once a week or more, chances are the TB or coin has moved on or has been muggled.

[+JoesBar]

Sadly, this is common in my area too.

Cachers grab trackables and either keep them, lose them, or just don't bother to log them. There is plenty of information on the GC site that tells folks how to handle trackables. I guess most just don't care.

The owner of the cache has the ablilty to mark a trackable as 'missing,' but some cache owners don't bother doing that. So the trackable ends up being listed on the cache page.

I check the listed trackables on a cache page to learn when they were dropped off. If the cache has been found a few times since, it's likely the trackable is gone.

Before you send a trackable out into the world, you need to understand that it will probably go missing. Including lazy cachers, caches get muggled.

I have sent 19 trackables out into the world. Only four are still viable. But those are the chances you take. It's a wild world out there.

[+Highpointer]

Sadly, this is common in my area too.

Cachers grab trackables and either keep them, lose them, or just don't bother to log them. There is plenty of information on the GC site that tells folks how to handle trackables. I guess most just don't care.

This happens far too often in the area where I live. I thought it was because people in the state where I live, Arizona, are not as smart as people overall, but I am finding out that this problem happens all over the USA and likely the rest of the world as well.

 

I enjoy geocaching, but one thing that discourages me about geocaching is that it appears to attract many people who, in my opinion, are not very intelligent . For example, I just completed writing and sending out a long e-mail to a geocacher with nearly 500 finds who in the past six days had picked up at least five trackable items without logging his finds, and he included the tracking item in each of his log entries. He is not a geocacher local to my area, but he visited my hometown and found several caches in or around the city where I live, and found travel bugs in several of them (without logging them into his inventory).

 

Ken Akerman (a.k.a. Highpointer)

[+The Blorenges]

... and it's not just in USA, it happens here too. I recently had to chase up some trackables which "disappeared" from one of our own caches: There were 6 items showing as being in the Inventory but a log said they weren't there. The logs from earlier in October indicated who had taken them, so I put a "slighly peeved" log onto the cache page hoping that might be noticed by the recent finders... but it wasn't.

 

After another week passed and they were still showing in the Inventory I emailed the two cachers who had indicated that they'd taken them and asked them to log them out of the cache, giving a link to instructions on how to do it and, at last, the items were then logged out.

One of the cachers was fairly new so I'll forgive him for not being up to speed on trackable logging, but the other person has over a thousand finds.

 

MrsB

[+dickholmes]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. when I do find these TB missing Ive posted it on the cache page and just recently learned I could make a note on the TBs page (thought the owner might want to know). Some have been logged as being in that cache since 2008. Is this the right thing to do and is there anything else I can do while not trying to be the police? is the Tb owner the only one that can remove them from that cache then?

[+The Blorenges]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. when I do find these TB missing Ive posted it on the cache page and just recently learned I could make a note on the TBs page (thought the owner might want to know). Some have been logged as being in that cache since 2008. Is this the right thing to do and is there anything else I can do while not trying to be the police? is the Tb owner the only one that can remove them from that cache then?

 

Yes, it's always helpful to put a note on the cache page and also on the TB page when a TB is not seen in the cache.

The TB owner and also the cache owner have the ability to mark a TB as missing and thus remove them from the cache inventory. A lot of cache owners either don't realise they can do this, or they don't see that it's their business to do so, or they don't bother to do so.

 

MrsB

[+FloridaFour]

If the cache owner marks them as missing, can the trackable be "found" and broght back into action by whomever picks it up?

[+BlueDeuce]

If the cache owner marks them as missing, can the trackable be "found" and broght back into action by whomever picks it up?

 

Yep, they would just use the log type: Grab from... to pull it into their inventory.

[+dickholmes]

would COs frown upon an email requesting such action be taken? Some have been missing for years.

[+coppermermaid]

I had someone pick up my first TB that I released in honor of a friend. The person who picked it up only discoverd it even though they stated they were taking it and would send it out soon. I emailed them the first time to tell them how to properly log their find and they fixed that. I have since sent another email stating that I would like my TB released and if they couldnt do that to please send it back to me and I would pay for the postage. I checked on this person and he has discovered several TB's and not moved them on properly. How do you handle this.

[+Eartha]

If you get no replies from the cache owner, or the TB owner, and you have verified that it is missing, please send me the link to the TB that is missing (just the TB link please, not the cache link or the TB name) and I will mark it missing.

[+dickholmes]

Im not very computer savvy and this is the first forum i have ever even read or posted in.

 

How do I send a link to the TB?

 

thanks for the help everyone.