Newbie trackable pick-up question

[+GeekyMummy]

Hi,

 

I am a bit of newbie but loving it. I have set-up a travel bug competition for my 6 year old daughter and her friends.

 

We are all very excited, but quite disappointed that we have now had two people visit the cache and they haven't even mentioned the TB. Is this normal? Do some geocachers not take TBs?

 

I know we are probably being impatient, it's not even been a week. I was just wondering if I should contact the last person to see if they just didn't realise it was there - or is that considered rude.

 

Hope it's ok to post here, wasn't quite sure if I should post here or in the trackables forum.

 

Thanks

GeekyMummy

[+The Blorenges]

Hmmm.

 

I note the cache has been visited by two cachers since the drop off - one newbie and one very newbie. It's possible that one of them may have picked up your TB and either not realised what it is or not realised that they have to log it out of the cache inventory (not just pick it up). Either way it might be worth sending them a friendly worded email just to enquire whether they retrieved, or saw, the trackable.

 

MrsB

[+TheJudgeFamily]

Or pop down to the cache if it local to see if the TB is still there??

[+TheJudgeFamily]

Just done a bit of digging, and I see you have placed your TB in a puzzle cache, I have found that TB's seem to sit in these for a while as they do not tend to get as many visits as Trad's. I have found to get TB's moving the quickest the best bet is to either drop it off at a TB Hotel or a New cache which will attract more finders

[+thehoomer]

And just for our two-penneth, which may ease your mind......

When we first started caching, we did take the odd bug or coin to move it on but it wasn't very long at all before we decided that it wasn't part of the game we enjoyed, so we never take bugs or coins any more. Saying that, we have on very rare occasion, taken a bug from a cache because the cache was wet or damaged and the bug was of the type that would be vulnerable in this environment.

I'm sure we aren't the only cachers who aren't interested in trackables though, so please don't worry.

 

Would agree with Spunky86 though, your bugs will almost certainly get going quicker if you place them in a straightforward traditional cache to start their journey.

 

Good luck with them.

Edited May 30, 2011 by thehoomer

[+Bear and Ragged]

If I know I can't get a TB in to another cache soon, I don't bother with it... Unless as thehoomer said, the cache is not one of the best, or the TB had been there, in an infrequently visited cache, for a long time.

 

From the TB's page:

If you can't appropriately place Flitter Flutter within two weeks please return her back to the cache in which you found her - 6 year old's aren't known for their patience.

 

"Sorry I can't move your bug, are you going to pay for petrol/time, for me to return it to where I found it, which is 200 miles away?"

 

I know what you're wanting to say, but maybe it could be better worded?

 

[+drsolly]

Same here. We almost never take a TB or coin; it just isn't something that appeals to us. Although it a trackable looks "STRANDED" (in a cache that hasn'tbeen visited for a long time), I'll "rescue" it. Sometimes.

[+The Patrician]

Ditto what drsolly said!

[+MartyBartfast]

Another thing to bear in mind is that two of the cachers visited on the same day as you and they may have been there before you dropped off the TB, therefore you might only be looking at one cacher who's overlooked it. A TB sitting in a cache for a week is nothing unusual.

 

You should also be aware that TBs do go missing unfortunately so if you're little one is too attached to this TB there could be some heartache to come though I hope not .

[+GeekyMummy]

Thanks for all of your replies.

 

It hadn't occured to me that some geocachers might not be interested in a trackable, so it's good to know that just because someone doesn't take a TB it doesn't mean that the TB has gone awol. The people that have visited the cache have all been relative newbies so it could have been that that was the problem. I know that they didn't visit before me as I checked the log book when we placed it.

 

Thanks for the feedback re the location - ie putting it in a puzzle cache. That had occured to me before we chose it, but I figured we should be ok as it's a really easy puzzle and very new. So I hoped that locals would jump at the opportunity to complete a local cache. So far this has proved to be the case - it has been the local cache with the most activity. In any case I was limited in my options as I had to find 4 local caches that we could all find. But I am not too worried, it's not even been a week and if all else fails and Flitter Flutter is that last TB to move anywhere, hubby will move her.

 

That said, would love to know what a TB Hotel is.

 

Thanks Bear and Ragged for your comments about the 2 weeks. It has been bothering me to. I wrote it after reading somewhere that you shouldn't hold on to TBs for more than 2 weeks, but I agree, doesn't quite sound right. Will look at changing it.

 

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

GeekyMummy

[+Bear and Ragged]

Also, remember it's a Bank Holiday weekend.

It may have been picked up by someone away for the weekend, and may not be logged until they get home. Which could be Monday night, or even later in the week. Or if they are away for a week...

[+BorderMarley]

It's a shame people don't always pick up GC's & TB's. I know I'm still new at it all but, I just think it's nice that someone out there, somewhere in the world owns that item and is watching it's progress and travel around the country/world.

I picked up a coin the other week and learnt that had started life in Switzerland in 2007! I think it's fun being part of it's progress, making someone happy in the knowledge that their item is still moving.

[+bones1]

something different seems to happen to me when i drop a travel bug or geocoin into a cache even before i get home to log them it has been grabbed by a cacher who visits that cache after i visited it.this is just personal to me but i think grabbing a traveller in these circumstances is about the rudest thing you can do in the caching scene,sometimes we have waited 2 even 3 weeks for the traveller to be dropped in.i know there are other circumstances where it can happen, eg travellers collected at an event. happy caching patandjeff=bones1.

[+BlueDeuce]

I'm happy to hear from one of my bugs once every three months.

[+GeekyMummy]

3 months? Yikes. Hmmm. Oh well, can distract with the creation of our own cache. 6 year old is desperate to do our own, so hopefully that might yield a more constant result. And of course we still have loads of caches to find.

[+Amberel]

3 months? Yikes. Hmmm.

I've a TB in a race, it was just picked up last week for the very first time since I placed it in a cache in January . This is not an appropriate activity if you are impatient . And, regrettably, all the TBs (except one) I have placed have disappeared after just one or two hops. My wife has a Teddy Bear TB that's still going after several years, though it can hardly be said to move fast.

Oh well, can distract with the creation of our own cache. 6 year old is desperate to do our own, so hopefully that might yield a more constant result.

A little patience can be helpful here, too. Like most things, as you do it you gain more experience, and that does tend to help when setting a cache. Of course it is possible for an inexperienced cacher to hide a better quality cache than someone who has done it for years, because there are many other factors too, but experience does make a difference.

And of course we still have loads of caches to find.

When you are starting, that's an excellent thing to be doing .

 

Rgds, Andy

Edited May 31, 2011 by Amberel

[+firestars]

I always pick up a TB or Coin as I work in Berkshire but live in Cambridge, so Im always able to drop them off 100+miles away.

 

I _would_ have visited the cache tomrorow but I have no idea at all of

 

a ) What the puzzle is supposed to be

or

How on earth I would work it out.

 

So, I will just do something else instead

Edited May 31, 2011 by firestars

[+firestars]

Incredible.

 

I go back to read the cache description again and the answers are now visible.

 

Where is my pen??

[+pompey4x4]

R E L A X !

 

I've got several TB's and GC's out there. 1 I took to Cornwall that was picked up by somebody calling themselves Walker Stephen (not his real name) and he held on to it for nearly 5 months only to return it to virtually my doorstep, which was not the intention.

 

Another I launched ended up in Africa after just 2 weeks.

 

Others I aint heard hide nor hair.

 

Personally I like to pick them up, take 'em home, and look up their story - usually over a glass of sherry. I do however have a caching friend who goes almost everywhere with me who rarely pics up a TB "I hate the responsibility."

 

I've just rescued a few off the top of The Coniston Old Man - been there months, and yet it's a busy tourist destination? Just goes to show. Be patient - or buy a gold fish!

[+GeekyMummy]

Thanks, I am not too worried. My first reaction when someone had visited and there was no mention of the TB was that poor Flitter Flutter might already be MIA. It had never occured to me that people would visit a cache and not take a TB. I thought we just had to have someone visit the cache and we'd be all systems go - oh the newbie naivety.

 

Setting up this challenge for the girls is proving to be a brilliant education, patience, risk management as well as geographical and statistical learning - effort well spent. Not to mention we are having a blast. Eqypt The Explorer after less than a week in the wilds has already made it to Germany! Spopts is in Oxfordshire and the others are waiting patiently.

[+firestars]

They _were_ waiting, I now have a couple of them on my desk next to me. :-)

[+Bear and Ragged]

They _were_ waiting, I now have a couple of them on my desk next to me. :-)

Would be nice, if you could do a 'Retrieve' log on the TB, to remove it from the cache page, and have it showing as being in your hands.

 

I know, I know, brain fade after solving the puzzle!

[+GeekyMummy]

Firestars, thanks you so much - it was very kind of you to have picked them all up. You have made two little girls very happy - there was much excitement. Such a shame about Poor Ryan the Lion, but we have the copy tag and a duplicate charm.

[+firestars]

He he - No problem.

 

Im taking them home for my daughter to see, then I will let them go.

[Ocean67]

Missing TBs... just thought I would mention that my little girls TB went missing, the last cache it was at, someone reported that there was none of the trackables listed in it still there. We decided that it was MIA. However six months later and I got an email this morning saying it has been found in a cache in Arizona USA.

So never give up hope for them.

[+redsox_mark]

While I generally will pick up a TB, I understand and agree many will not, so as has been said no need to panic. On the other hand, if there has been many visitors and no mention of the TB, then that could indicate a problem. One of my TBs was in that state, and I put a note on the cache page for the next finder to let me know if the TB was there or not... I soon got a message that it was not. Hopefully it will turn up somewhere.

 

I have one TB which I released in November, and it was picked up right away, by an active geocacher (1600+ finds), who has found lots of caches since, but hasn't moved the coin. In 6 months the coin has travelled zero miles...

[jadenrich2101]

Hi there...weldone for setting one up for ur girls...must be really exciting for them to keep track and see how far it end up Good luck with it.

 

I was over in Leeds at the weekend an picked up a Jeep TB that had been going since June 2007 n started in Virginia...i brought it home and read the story and flicked through the retrieved and dropped section and its been all over....Have faith in ur TBs im sure they will travel and see the world!

 

On the other hand you do get ppl who set out looking for TBs that dont log them I believe if your not interested in moving them on then dont pick them up! It just makes it easy for the rest of us who enjoy moving them and seein there progress.

 

Good luck again and i hope u have sucsessful Tbs with lots of wonderful pictures of the world

[+Geogamy & Sheldor]

The heady days of newbie-dom. I remember when we first started there was an almost indecent obsession with all things trackable- our first actual pick-up was a GC from Ohio... so beautiful, so unexpected! (The first coin we found seemed so valuable we assumed it belonged in the cache. I lie- I was convinced it was the receiver the satellite used to pinpoint the cache location. I thought if we moved it no one would ever find the cache again. I actually argued this to sheldor. And won...)

 

And then the inevitable happens. One sunny weekend we took a couple of trackables to release in Richmond park, and the cache we chose was muggled during routine maintenance. And it's a little hard to forgive yourself, even if it's an unforseen event. So now I only pick them up if I'm about to country/continent hop, or if the cache is obscure and the log hasn't been signed in more than two months. We have a local cache near a marina in London that's really well hidden and a decent size for TBs where we do regular drop-offs.

 

With your TBs- be prepared. They get misplaced, forgotten- and then leap into a flurry of activity and refuse to sit still! It's all part of the fun.

My Hoppy is still in the UK after two years, whilst his Cloggy is bouncing round the states. Makes me smile to think of them!

 

Geogamy of G&S

[+dgwebster]

I tend to avoid ones where the purpose is not known when out and about, in case I hinder it, but generally will pick them up, but id expect 2-4 weeks to move one on. juggling a very small personed family, running a home, working etc. time can be quite limited. I dont think I got any caches in May for example.

[+GeekyMummy]

Thanks for your comments. It very exciting - Eqypt the Explorer is living up to her name and is currently touring Germany, moving fast, Flitter Flutter and Pretty Starfish seem to refuse to be seperated and have ended up the hands of the same geocacher, Spots started well but seem to have stalled and poor Ryan was muggled and feared lost forever before he was even found - have yet to talk to Ryan's owner's mum to decide what to do about him - whether to release the copy of start afresh in case he does get found.

[+Pharisee]

Don't give up hope yet.... One of my geocoins has just been 'discovered' in a cache in south eastern France nearly 3 years after disappearing from a cache in Germany :)

[Dr. B + Family]

As a newb, I haven't paid any attention to trackables as yet.

Firstly, I wasn't really sure what to do with them - I hadn't checked the cache contents before I left so wasn't sure where they should be headed, or even what the idea of them was.

I figured better to leave them where they are so someone who knows what they are doing can take them.

Secondly, I hadn't read all the rules regarding them. I didn't know whether you were allowed to take them home, had to move them on in a certain amount of time, etc.

Thirdly, I thought they were an optional part of the hobby.

Now I know what I'm doing a bit more I will probably start to move them on.

[+The Blorenges]

As a newb, I haven't paid any attention to trackables as yet.

Firstly, I wasn't really sure what to do with them - I hadn't checked the cache contents before I left so wasn't sure where they should be headed, or even what the idea of them was.

I figured better to leave them where they are so someone who knows what they are doing can take them.

Secondly, I hadn't read all the rules regarding them. I didn't know whether you were allowed to take them home, had to move them on in a certain amount of time, etc.

Thirdly, I thought they were an optional part of the hobby.

Now I know what I'm doing a bit more I will probably start to move them on.

 

They are definitely "optional" There's no obligation to move them around. Some cachers enjoy them, others prefer not to get involved with them at all and leave them for some body else to retrieve.

 

MrsB

[+Bear and Ragged]

Optional. Yes.

 

Take them home. You can.

 

Time to hold on to them. Two weeks, if over four weeks courtesy to let the owner know how long you plan on holding their TB.

 

They are not Swag. There is no need to 'Leave' or 'Take' something if you 'Drop' or 'Retrieve' a trackable. (And no need to swap trackables)

[Dr. B + Family]

Thanks B&R. I had worked most of that out by now, but didn't want to risk it when I wasn't sure.