Questions about trackables and Travel Bugs

[+ScoutDadNC]

I was at REI the other day an they had some trackables for sale. (Dog Tag Style)

 

My questions is, can you only use the ones that you buy?

 

Is there a way to make your own trackable and get a number asigned to it?

 

Does a trackable require Premium Membership?

 

That is all I can think of right now.

[+webscouter.]

You need to purchase a trackable in order to track it on this site.

 

Once you own the number you can put it on anything you want. You don't need to attach the tag, however many people will not know it is a trackable without the tag.

 

You don't have to have a premium membership to release or log a trackable.

[+NanCycle]

There's a forun section for trackables. Scroll down the main forum page to "Geocaching Hitchhikers." Lots of information for you there.

 

(Not meaning to imply that you shouldn't have posted your question here--please don't take this that way--just directing you to more information.)

[+BigAl437]

You also don't have to trade a TB. If you want to take one out of a cache and don't have one with you that is okay. Just take the one that's there and move it along as soon as you can. Just don't keep them. They are for traveling around. Great to see you on here asking questions. The site mentioned above is very helpful with lots more information about TB/GC.

[+hzoi]

Is there a way to make your own trackable and get a number asigned to it?

 

Can you make your own trackable? Sure. No requirement to use a travel bug or anything else. But, you can't just make up a code and register it. Groundspeak sells the tracking numbers, and they don't sell them individually. But if you wanted to make your own trackable, you could always buy a travel bug dog tag or one of the cheap micro geocoins, then just use that code on the trackable you made. On the system, it'd have the same icon as whatever trackable you got.

 

In the bigger sense, you can get your own coin made, if you're so inclined. We did a few years ago. We went through a coin maker (they helped us with the design; otherwise they were basically a middle man for the coin manufacturer in China and for getting the coin codes from Groundspeak), and we got 250 coins made up. It wasn't the cheapest thing we've ever done, I want to say it was around $1400. But they make a nice gift to geocachers and an easy FTF prize or giveaway during events.