what shall I do if my TB was "kidnapped"?

[schizophrenic_Turtle]

Hello all!

 

What shall I do in the following situation:

 

My TB Ozzy the seaturtle TB41189 is in the hands of another cacher since four months.

After one and a half month I tried to contact him via PM several times. I tried several languages like dutch as he comes from the netherlands as well as english and german. He never answered... Then I contacted befriended geocachers from the netherlands as I thought they might know that cacher. They contacted him one more time. And he wrote them back that he will place my TB soon in another cache. This was kind of one and a half month ago. I tried to contact him one last time but he didn't answer like the times before.

 

Has anybody an Idea how to handle this situation?

[+Lieblweb]

Depends on your patience...

 

Since it appears he still has it with your round-about communication with him/her.... you could wait another month and see what happens.

 

Be patient.....

 

After a month has gone by, "Mark it as MISSING"

(or Mark it as missing now)

 

Eventually - it'll either be gone forever (unfortunately), it'll get placed in a cache, or someone else will find it in another cache and suddenly be back into the game again.

 

Yesterday, I found a TB that wasn't logged in the cache and apparently.....ONE person had it for 2+ years (they lost it for a year) and dropped it in a cache and never logged it there. I'm glad I found it and am able to get it moving again.

[+The Blorenges]

It sounds like this cacher has been contacted at least 6 times in total since he retrieved your TB last November.

 

What should you do now?

 

Well... I think you should just leave it for now. You've tried everything. Sometimes too many emails come across as nagging and annoying.

 

TBs do stall in their travels, sometimes they disappear completely, sometimes they can sit in another cacher's hands for months and months on end. I'm not saying that it's OK but it's the nature of this trackables game and there comes a point when a TB owner has to shrug their shoulders, mutter "Oh well..." and leave it up to Fate [while keeping their fingers crossed that their TB will start moving again one day].

 

You may be at that point for this TB.

 

MrsB

[+aka Momster]

Depends on your patience...

 

Since it appears he still has it with your round-about communication with him/her.... you could wait another month and see what happens.

 

Be patient.....

 

After a month has gone by, "Mark it as MISSING"

(or Mark it as missing now)

Eventually - it'll either be gone forever (unfortunately), it'll get placed in a cache, or someone else will find it in another cache and suddenly be back into the game again.

 

Yesterday, I found a TB that wasn't logged in the cache and apparently.....ONE person had it for 2+ years (they lost it for a year) and dropped it in a cache and never logged it there. I'm glad I found it and am able to get it moving again.

 

I am curious why you suggest marking a trackable that is in the hands of a cacher as missing. I cannot think of any advantage to doing so, but there appears to be several disadvantages.

 

Some of my trackables have rested in the hands of cachers for a long time, but they were later dropped and continued to travel. Just yesterday I received a notification that one of my TBs that had been held since April 2011 had been dropped. It has already been picked up, showing that it really was placed into the cache. (Writing holders isn't my style; this is something they did without any prompting from me.)

 

If I had marked the TB as missing, it would no longer have been in the cacher's inventory to drop. Once they placed it into a cache, they would not have the tracking number to grab and drop it properly, if they even understood the process to complete the drop that way. Maybe seeing the trackable on their inventory reminded them they had it.

 

Say it was dropped unrecorded into the cache and the person picking it up does not understand what to do with a trackable that is listed as missing. Maybe they just didn't see it in the cache's inventory and decided to wait for it to get dropped, but while waiting for that to happen, forget about the pick up entirely. Now the trackable is playing a different type of limbo, only the owner isn't even aware of the situation.

 

The only time I would mark a trackable as missing is when I become aware that it is not in the cache where it is listed via reading the cache logs or by trackable note. If it is listed as being in someone's hands, that is where it should remain. Unless you plan to grab and rerelease, or something. I always seem to have a glut of trackables to release, so never felt the need to do that.

 

Often, the trackables I could have written off have come back into play. That is always a very welcome surprise and I am thankful the holder(s) have made the effort to get the trackable moving again, even if it has been held by them for a long time.

[+kunarion]

Depends on your patience...

 

Since it appears he still has it with your round-about communication with him/her.... you could wait another month and see what happens.

 

Be patient.....

 

After a month has gone by, "Mark it as MISSING"

(or Mark it as missing now)

Eventually - it'll either be gone forever (unfortunately), it'll get placed in a cache, or someone else will find it in another cache and suddenly be back into the game again.

 

Yesterday, I found a TB that wasn't logged in the cache and apparently.....ONE person had it for 2+ years (they lost it for a year) and dropped it in a cache and never logged it there. I'm glad I found it and am able to get it moving again.

If I had marked the TB as missing, it would no longer have been in the cacher's inventory to drop. Once they placed it into a cache, they would not have the tracking number to grab and drop it properly, if they even understood the process to complete the drop that way. Maybe seeing the trackable on their inventory reminded them they had it.

Before someone places a TB into a cache, they need to note the tracking number. If they've already placed it (which is likely) with no log, marking it Missing is the best approach. I also mark my page up, but good, so there's no mistaking that it's Missing and needs to move NOW. I don't point out who had it last, but one clue is it's the most recent Retrieve log with the name in plain view. But once it's been in someones hand for the time I feel is too long, I shall return the Tracking Number to myself. At that point I'm done reminding people, and I get my Trackable back (as a re-release).

 

Say it was dropped unrecorded into the cache and the person picking it up does not understand what to do with a trackable that is listed as missing. Maybe they just didn't see it in the cache's inventory and decided to wait for it to get dropped, but while waiting for that to happen, forget about the pick up entirely. Now the trackable is playing a different type of limbo, only the owner isn't even aware of the situation.

Mark it Missing, and after a time of one's own choosing, make a new TB with that Tracking Number, and let it travel again. There's no need to wait for everyone else to get their act together. And my two re-releases are NEVER leaving my sight, so I don't depend on others' competency with Trackables. Maybe my other dead bugs will eventually travel, but I get to decide when the time comes.

Edited March 13, 2012 by kunarion

[+aka Momster]

kunarion, I still see no advantage to marking it missing until you plan to rerelease the trackable. Removing it from the holder's inventory only places it completely out of their sight and mind. Even if many months have passed before they become active in geocaching again, for example, it is better to have them see that "Oh yeah, I still have that TB from last year..." reminder on their profile page inventory. Trackable page shaming will most likely do nothing; what would cause them to remember that trackable to go to the page and even see it?

 

I know the importance of recording trackable numbers. I make an attempt to photograph every one I move to be certain I have it recorded. But most cachers are not aware of the importance until after they are in a logging bind. And even experienced cachers forget to record the number occasionally when they drop trackables prior to recording the pick up. (Proof by occasional e-mails from geofriends who know if I moved it, I can often reply quicker with the needed info than their hearing back from the owner. )

[+kunarion]

what would cause them to remember that trackable to go to the page and even see it?

Maybe they'll remember when they see the TB under the seat of their car, and they think "I'd better go take care of this". If they've already dropped it off, long ago, I don't need their help anymore. Let the next finder log it (if that's a problem for the finder, it's a problem regardless of the current TB status).

 

Trackable page shaming will most likely do nothing;

True, and that's a reason to not leave it showing in someone's posession . I merely mark it Missing and change the page to say "it's missing", in bold red letters. I use a lot of sleuthing to decide if the TB still has life in it or not. It's missing, go ahead and say it. If I leave the TB page unedited, no visitor to the page can automatically know there's a problem. Yet with the "Missing" update, any visitor might be a huge help, because they know I'm trying to locate the TB.

 

AND, a while ago when I casually mentioned one of my trackables had been held for a long time, it was placed into a container the following day. I gave no specifics, yet the current holder drove 60 miles in a snowstorm to find a non-snow cache to place it. Go figure.

Edited March 13, 2012 by kunarion

[+Lieblweb]

When you've done all that you can in terms of communicating to cachers about your TB and months go by without any results and you have no idea what happened or where your TB is...... Marking a TB as Missing simply says..."I don't know where this TB is" It puts the TB in an UNKNOWN state. Nothing more, nothing less.....

 

It can easily be brought back into service as soon as someone finds it.

 

Personally for me, I wouldn't re-issue a TB (unless a full YEAR goes by that its been missing).

[+fuzziebear3]

Depends on your patience...

 

Since it appears he still has it with your round-about communication with him/her.... you could wait another month and see what happens.

 

Be patient.....

 

After a month has gone by, "Mark it as MISSING"

(or Mark it as missing now)

Eventually - it'll either be gone forever (unfortunately), it'll get placed in a cache, or someone else will find it in another cache and suddenly be back into the game again.

 

Yesterday, I found a TB that wasn't logged in the cache and apparently.....ONE person had it for 2+ years (they lost it for a year) and dropped it in a cache and never logged it there. I'm glad I found it and am able to get it moving again.

 

I am curious why you suggest marking a trackable that is in the hands of a cacher as missing. I cannot think of any advantage to doing so, but there appears to be several disadvantages.

 

Some of my trackables have rested in the hands of cachers for a long time, but they were later dropped and continued to travel. Just yesterday I received a notification that one of my TBs that had been held since April 2011 had been dropped. It has already been picked up, showing that it really was placed into the cache. (Writing holders isn't my style; this is something they did without any prompting from me.)

 

If I had marked the TB as missing, it would no longer have been in the cacher's inventory to drop. Once they placed it into a cache, they would not have the tracking number to grab and drop it properly, if they even understood the process to complete the drop that way. Maybe seeing the trackable on their inventory reminded them they had it.

 

Say it was dropped unrecorded into the cache and the person picking it up does not understand what to do with a trackable that is listed as missing. Maybe they just didn't see it in the cache's inventory and decided to wait for it to get dropped, but while waiting for that to happen, forget about the pick up entirely. Now the trackable is playing a different type of limbo, only the owner isn't even aware of the situation.

 

The only time I would mark a trackable as missing is when I become aware that it is not in the cache where it is listed via reading the cache logs or by trackable note. If it is listed as being in someone's hands, that is where it should remain. Unless you plan to grab and rerelease, or something. I always seem to have a glut of trackables to release, so never felt the need to do that.

 

Often, the trackables I could have written off have come back into play. That is always a very welcome surprise and I am thankful the holder(s) have made the effort to get the trackable moving again, even if it has been held by them for a long time.

 

I'm with Momster on all of this. I don't change a trackable that is in someone's hands to Missing unless they have contacted me and asked me to do so because they lost it, or if it has been so long that I am convinced it is lost and I am going to re-release it. I still have more numbers to use before I need to recycle the ones that are currently in someones hands.

[+K0BKL]

I guess this is why I don't own any trackable!

I no longer even have active caches.

[+kunarion]

I guess this is why I don't own any trackable!

I no longer even have active caches.

I have a bunch of trackables out there. Some were kidnapped, some were stolen along with the entire cache, some were taken by a new cacher who then lost interest, some vanished entirely. And they keep turning up. I have a hard time deciding which to re-release, due to not being able to lose them.

Edited March 15, 2012 by kunarion

[+kunarion]

(sorry, double post)

Edited March 15, 2012 by kunarion

[schizophrenic_Turtle]

Thanks for all the answers!

 

So it's just being patient, or mark it missing and rerelease it.

Perhaps I'm to emotionally bonded to my TBs [] It's a pitty as Ozzy was my first one! Propably I'll keep on waiting for some more time as I don't want to believe he won't travel again...Hopefully the current holder would drop him off someday...Hope dies last!

[+GoShaz]

I havn't had my tb's long and I have been lucky so far. But I read once that you should have several tb's and realise that they may go missing. So that is the attitude I will take when one goes missing.

 

One of first one was a cute kangaroo which I realeased only to read soon after so not send out cute cuddly toys. Oh whoops. Never mind it is still going and is heading to the US soon as its mission is to visit each US state.

[+spiritwolf922]

I'm new here, but thought I'd add my two cents' worth. Last month, just after I started geocaching, I found my first trackable. I was very excited! This particular trackable was attached to a traveler, which was fairly sizeable. I wound up holding onto this trackable as well as two others because the caches I found after those first few were so small, that the trackables with travelers simply would not fit! It took a little time for me to find a cache big enough to put the trackable and traveler in so they could move along.

 

Reading your post, I know it has been a long time and that the person who has it has been unresponsive to your requests for information, but being a new geocacher, and wanting to believe the best in others, perhaps this geocacher hasn't kidnapped your TB, but is looking for a good size cache to place it.

 

Sure, it's possible (maybe even probable) that the person has decided s/he wants to keep it, but it may be just as valid to believe that s/he perhaps has not been active due to illness or something of that nature.

 

I sincerely hope that the person who has your TB will eventually return it to the game.

[+rayc64]

I picked up a TB last Thanksgiving and was laid up by surgery over the winter. A polite email from the owner not only got their TB in circulation again, but it also got me out in the field again. Don't be afraid to drop a polite email to the cacher with your TB.

[+Max and 99]

My brand-new coin that was in a race was taken, with ZERO miles on it, and by someone I know!! I sent them a nice email twice, asking them to please log the coin and move it along. Someone else in the race asked them the same thing. Nothing. And this is someone I know!

I've decided it's not worth the stress, and marked the TB as missing from the cache it started in and was still listed in (it's not there, and I don't want others to go to the cache thinking they will find the TB!)

 

SO frustrating!