1st Travel Bug lost:(

[+I Am Spartacus]

My 1st travel bug was taken but never logged. I contacted the person twice but never heard anything back. What do I do now? I knew I was in trouble when I saw they only had 8 finds. Kinda stinks because it was for my daughter. Thanks for the help:)

[+KRON family]

...make a copy of your TB or wait, wait, wait...

[+I Am Spartacus]

...make a copy of your TB or wait, wait, wait...

Copy?

[+kunarion]

My 1st travel bug was taken but never logged. I contacted the person twice but never heard anything back. What do I do now? I knew I was in trouble when I saw they only had 8 finds. Kinda stinks because it was for my daughter. Thanks for the help:)

It doesn't look very promising. But IMO, it's too soon to write it off. It was picked up four weeks ago. Since they couldn't figure out how to log it, they might have already dropped it in a cache, and not logged that. They also mentioned it's taking a trip (to Iowa?). Maybe when they find a couple more caches, they'll drop it off.

 

Eventually (after one year, perhaps), you may release another TB with the same number. You should have only one in play at a time, which is the reason to wait.

 

If a TB code is visible in a log, you may need to take action to get the number edited out.

Edited May 9, 2012 by kunarion

[+I Am Spartacus]

My 1st travel bug was taken but never logged. I contacted the person twice but never heard anything back. What do I do now? I knew I was in trouble when I saw they only had 8 finds. Kinda stinks because it was for my daughter. Thanks for the help:)

It doesn't look very promising. But IMO, it's too soon to write it off. It was picked up four weeks ago. Since they couldn't figure out how to log it, they might have already dropped it in a cache, and not logged that. They also mentioned it's taking a trip (to Iowa?). Maybe when they find a couple more caches, they'll drop it off.

 

Eventually (after one year, perhaps), you may release another TB with the same number. You should have only one in play at a time, which is the reason to wait.

 

If a TB code is visible in a log, you may need to take action to get the number edited out.

[+I Am Spartacus]

Thanks! With this being my first one I just feel like its a goner! I appreciate the advice and I'll just try and be patient:)

[+Phizy]

That sounds exactly what happened to mine. In fact, all of the TBs were taken around the same time, but the cache remained. I originally reported it as lost, and then decided to set the location back. Just recently, the CO did some maintenance on the cache and verified it was gone and marked it missing.

 

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do. Though, I have heard of long lost TBs showing up years later.

[+kunarion]

Thanks! With this being my first one I just feel like its a goner! I appreciate the advice and I'll just try and be patient:)

One of my TBs vanished in a similar way to yours. I placed it into my own cache, someone who only ever found a couple of caches took the TB and signed the log book, but made no online logs. Nine months later, the TB reappeared in Florida.

 

Of my 30 Trackables, only four are dead, being gone for over a year. I've reborn two of them, and won't release them (one's now a tiny solid gold charm!). I may re-release the others, when I decide what I want to do.

 

TBs can be re-released as a car TB, or a T-shirt, or a hiking stick. Lots of possibilities if you don't want to send it out again and risk losing it again. Or make a new tag (or use the "copy" tag), attach an item, and send it back out. It's good to be sure the first one's really gone (although it may turn up someday). But you can have fun thinking of ways you'd re-use the Tracking number.

Edited May 10, 2012 by kunarion

[+hzoi]

If it's only been four weeks, don't lose hope just yet. Two weeks was briefly adopted as the standard for getting TBs back out there, but I don't think that lasted more than a few months. A month's longer than I'd usually like, but not outside of the realm of possibility. More than a couple months, and I send a polite email for the holder to drop the TB off somewhere.

 

And even if it did go missing, sometimes TBs come back. I've had some reappear after apparently being missing for months or longer.

 

Unfortunately, sometimes they just vanish. It may be from a new cacher who doesn't know what to do with it, a person who quits caching, or a muggle who finds the cache and just makes off with it. Or the cache gets washed away. We have had all of those things happen to trackables we've owned.

 

Bottom line, when you release a TB into the world, you take the chance it might disappear. It's disappointing, but them's the breaks. I got annoyed the first couple times it happened. I only got a little miffed the next couple times. The next couple times after that, my reaction was scaled back to minor disappointment. Now I just shrug, think "Hey, that's a bummer," mark it missing, and drive on with my day.

[+I Am Spartacus]

If it's only been four weeks, don't lose hope just yet. Two weeks was briefly adopted as the standard for getting TBs back out there, but I don't think that lasted more than a few months. A month's longer than I'd usually like, but not outside of the realm of possibility. More than a couple months, and I send a polite email for the holder to drop the TB off somewhere.

 

And even if it did go missing, sometimes TBs come back. I've had some reappear after apparently being missing for months or longer.

 

Unfortunately, sometimes they just vanish. It may be from a new cacher who doesn't know what to do with it, a person who quits caching, or a muggle who finds the cache and just makes off with it. Or the cache gets washed away. We have had all of those things happen to trackables we've owned.

 

Bottom line, when you release a TB into the world, you take the chance it might disappear. It's disappointing, but them's the breaks. I got annoyed the first couple times it happened. I only got a little miffed the next couple times. The next couple times after that, my reaction was scaled back to minor disappointment. Now I just shrug, think "Hey, that's a bummer," mark it missing, and drive on with my day.

[+popokiiti]

I released two travellers and as far as I know they are lost somewhere on Vancouver Island. Mine were both geocoins, small and didn't have a mission statement attached - my fault. Maybe that was the reason. I have also met cachers new to the game who thought the TBs they picked up were nice trade items and kept them.

It is a shame that it was for your daughter. Have you considered having a T-shirt made so she can be discovered at events? Here is a link to one we've discovered......

Joe, The Littlest Moss Trooper TB

[+I Am Spartacus]

Very cool I didn't know you could do that. Thanks! I'm a newbie myself but before I started I looked into everything to make sure I knew what I was doing. I wouldn't care if it was out for a few years but it only made it to 2 trips:( I'll check out that site and thanks to everyone for the advice:) Maybe I'll be wrong and it will pop up!

[+J the Goat]

Very cool I didn't know you could do that. Thanks! I'm a newbie myself but before I started I looked into everything to make sure I knew what I was doing. I wouldn't care if it was out for a few years but it only made it to 2 trips:( I'll check out that site and thanks to everyone for the advice:) Maybe I'll be wrong and it will pop up!

 

Ya, I've had a couple pop up after several (6 or more) months that I'd thought were goners. One accidentally ended up under somebody's passenger seat of their car, and when they found it, it started moving nicely again

 

Patience and acceptance that you'll probably lose your bug are essential if you're going to release them into the wild without giving yourself an ulcer over the whole thing

[+scrapcat]

There is a forum topic - http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=282332&st=0&p=5037872&hl=good%20news&fromsearch=1entry5037872 - about "more good news" where people post about "long-lost TBs" reappearing. I just picked up one that was "missing" for 3+ years and suddenly appeared last month out of the blue!

Edited May 14, 2012 by scrapcat

[+popokiiti]

Someone once found a traveller that had been inactive for I think it was 5 years. They were coming to Victoria BC, and placed it here. We can live in hope!