Just released my first trackable

[+Woodduckdawg]

I just released my first trackable into the world. It was a Civil War geocoin. After hearing some responses and seeing logs where trackables suddenly "disappear", is there any advice for someone new to the game regarding watching this trackable?

 

**Assume it will not move quickly?

**It may get stolen or not logged?

etc?

[+The Blorenges]

Congratulations on releasing your first into the wild world, it's a brave thing to do, I wish your geocoin well.

 

You may have realised that you don't have to put it on your Watchlist - You will automatically get email notification of 'retrieved' and 'dropped off' logs on your coin.

 

It may be a bit too late to mention this, depending on how far away the cache is, but it's a good idea to put a photo of the trackable on its homepage so that other cachers can see what it looks like, for easy reference. It can be useful if you ever need to ask questions such as, "Did you happen to see my coin when you found Whatevername geocache?"

 

Although the ideal is that cachers should move trackables along within 2 or 3 weeks, be aware that that often doesn't happen. Sometimes it may sit in somebody's hands for 4... 5... 6 weeks... 2 months... 3 months Eventually you'll have to decide when your natural anxiety about its welfare will kick in and you may need to send an email reminder to whoever has it.

 

That'll do for now. I'm sure others will have words of advice to add.

 

MrsB

[+briansnat]

I've released geocoins that were never seen again after I place them in a cache and some that have been traveling around for a few years. Ya never know. I'd say most go missing fairly quickly.

 

Not much advice to give other than if you don't want to lose something, never release it as a trackable.

[+Thrak]

I just released my first trackable into the world. It was a Civil War geocoin. After hearing some responses and seeing logs where trackables suddenly "disappear", is there any advice for someone new to the game regarding watching this trackable?

 

**Assume it will not move quickly?

**It may get stolen or not logged?

etc?

 

I have bugs that have traveled over 26,000 miles. I have other bugs that disappeared. One of my bugs disappeared for over a year and then suddenly reappeared. I've found coins in caches that were stuck for a year. I've moved bugs that were stuck in mountain caches that were hardly ever visited - I picked them up so they could MOVE again. (I'll never understand why people will drop someone else's TB into a cache that gets maybe 1 or 2 visitors per year...........) I actually found a coin when I had a DNF on the cache. The coin had been lost more than a year ago and I found it in the dirt with some pine needles and such covering it in a place where I looked for the cache. It's always cool to restore something like that to life again. The owners get quite a boost from having a lost item turn up.

 

Like others have said, if you can't stand to have it vanish then don't make it a TB. Some people will steal anything. Others will take the bug and then lose it or else simply never geocache again. It happens. Out of 15 I have released, 7 are now "residing" in one of my archived caches after having vanished. I have others that I need to move there as well - haven't been seen since 2009. It sucks but it happens.

[hoosier guy]

Send a note to someone who moves it for you & say thanks. If it stays with one person too long send a note along and remind them to move it when they can. Be polite, that works much better.

[xKro]

I just put the car magnet trackable on my car. Waiting for someone some day to realize it while driving and discover it.

[+luvvinbird]

I just released my first trackable into the world. It was a Civil War geocoin. After hearing some responses and seeing logs where trackables suddenly "disappear", is there any advice for someone new to the game regarding watching this trackable?

 

**Assume it will not move quickly?

**It may get stolen or not logged?

etc?

Yeah....prepare to be disappointed. If you're expecting your TB to physically travel from cache to cache and hand to hand, guess what?...it probably won't. Rather, it'll end up in one person's hands and get "dipped" occasionally with emphasis on "occasionally". I'm sorry to burst your bubble but it seems some people have quite a different opinion of what a travel bug is and who "owns" it.

[+BlueDeuce]

Yeah....prepare to be disappointed. If you're expecting your TB to physically travel from cache to cache and hand to hand, guess what?...it probably won't. Rather, it'll end up in one person's hands and get "dipped" occasionally with emphasis on "occasionally". I'm sorry to burst your bubble but it seems some people have quite a different opinion of what a travel bug is and who "owns" it.

 

With a bit of preparation, travelers can have a long life. Sharing experience so people know how to prepare seems to be a problem.

[+germanybert]

Hmmmmm...a Geocoin. I also think you should be prepared for it to go missing rather quickly. I only release travel bugs with my signaute wooden nickel on them because they are inexpensive and people don't tend to collect TBs. Someone who collects wooden nickels might keep it but they are fewer.

 

Still many of my Wooden Nickel TBs go missing. Nothing I can do about it if it goes missing from a cache other than send a message to each person who found the cache after you dropped it in. If none of them admint to having it then there is not much more you can do other than hope that it will reappear which happens sometimes.

 

Friend of mine got an email from a person coupla weeks ago telling them that they have one of their Geocoins. The GC had been missing for FOUR years. The cacher that picked it up died. The daughter of the dead person found it and after checking it out online found a person to put it back in a cache.

 

So...hopefully your coin will travel millions of miles but don't get too upset if it does not.

Edited September 23, 2011 by GermanyBert