What to do when people "collect" your tbs

June 25, 2012

I have a tb and the person who took it ga been holding on to it for three weeks. I have emailed them, but no reply. No emails telling me how it's doing, nothing. The only log they have posted was the pick up log which stated "cool coin... Will keep it moving." which they are not. They are being non responsive. I ask them to please move it along...no reply. Try again...no reply. What should I do?

June 25, 2012

Might I also add, the person DOES have an email and checks it every night. I know this because I have sent emails to this person before but on different topics and before they took the tb. I got a reply that very night. The tb has ZERO miles on it, which is what really frustrates me.

1.7k · June 25, 2012

Might I also add, the person DOES have an email and checks it every night. I know this because I have sent emails to this person before but on different topics and before they took the tb. I got a reply that very night. The tb has ZERO miles on it, which is what really frustrates me.

Just because the person has checked their email nightly in the past doesn't mean that they do now.

You turned a coin loose in the wild, set it free, all you can do is wait and watch. Although it may belong to you.... it now belongs to the care of others too.

If you wanted to retain control of it then you should have never let it go.

9.1k · June 25, 2012

Three weeks is a bit too soon to begin worrying. Start worrying at more like three months.

I very rarely pick up trackables anymore, for fear of upsetting a trackable's owner. When pestered about not dropping off a trackable within X days, I've had to resist the evil temptation of dropping it off in a 5/5 puzzle cache.

Today I found my first cache since late April. It said it was big enough to hold small trackables, but I found a magnetic keyholder -- way too small for a geocoin.

Has the geocacher who retrieved your coin found any caches since the date of the retrieval? If so, how many were larger than a micro?

June 25, 2012

Three weeks is a bit too soon to begin worrying. Start worrying at more like three months.

I very rarely pick up trackables anymore, for fear of upsetting a trackable's owner. When pestered about not dropping off a trackable within X days, I've had to resist the evil temptation of dropping it off in a 5/5 puzzle cache.

Today I found my first cache since late April. It said it was big enough to hold small trackables, but I found a magnetic keyholder -- way too small for a geocoin.

Has the geocacher who retrieved your coin found any caches since the date of the retrieval? If so, how many were larger than a micro?

Oh yes, they have found lots of caches since they picke it up, and most were small or medium. I checled the description of the smalls out of curiousity because most of them were near my home, and most of the smalls were big enough for trackables and had trackables in inventory either t the moment or in the past. The reason im worried at three weeks is because I have had no contact with the person, so I have no idea if it is safe or where they plan to move it etc.

June 25, 2012

Three weeks is a bit too soon to begin worrying. Start worrying at more like three months.

I very rarely pick up trackables anymore, for fear of upsetting a trackable's owner. When pestered about not dropping off a trackable within X days, I've had to resist the evil temptation of dropping it off in a 5/5 puzzle cache.

Today I found my first cache since late April. It said it was big enough to hold small trackables, but I found a magnetic keyholder -- way too small for a geocoin.

Has the geocacher who retrieved your coin found any caches since the date of the retrieval? If so, how many were larger than a micro?

Oh also, a 5/5 puzzle cache is better for me than not moving at all. At least it's moved some!

1.1k · June 25, 2012

They may have found lots of caches since they picked up your trackable but are those caches in good areas where it won't be stolen? I'll hold onto a TB or coin instead of dropping it off if the cache is in an area that can easily be muggled or trackables tend to disappear from. I'll hold onto it longer to keep it safe.

June 25, 2012

They may have found lots of caches since they picked up your trackable but are those caches in good areas where it won't be stolen? I'll hold onto a TB or coin instead of dropping it off if the cache is in an area that can easily be muggled or trackables tend to disappear from. I'll hold onto it longer to keep it safe.

Most of them, yes. A lot of them were off in the woods or in an area muggles would have no reason to wander off into. I really just don't understand why they don't post a single "visited" log or reply to my emails?

Edited June 25, 2012 by Carson2704

June 25, 2012

They may have found lots of caches since they picked up your trackable but are those caches in good areas where it won't be stolen? I'll hold onto a TB or coin instead of dropping it off if the cache is in an area that can easily be muggled or trackables tend to disappear from. I'll hold onto it longer to keep it safe.

Most of them, yes. A lot of them were off in the woods or in an area muggles would have no reason to wander off into. I really just don't understand why they don't post a single "visited" log or reply to my emails?

Some people do not like to post visited logs because they fear it will piss off the owner when they receive so many emails.

11.6k · June 25, 2012

I have a tb and the person who took it ga been holding on to it for three weeks. I have emailed them, but no reply. No emails telling me how it's doing, nothing. The only log they have posted was the pick up log which stated "cool coin... Will keep it moving." which they are not. They are being non responsive. I ask them to please move it along...no reply. Try again...no reply. What should I do?

Are you getting other Geocaching email as usual? It could simply be a mail filter or setting, causing a problem one direction or the other.

Trackables travel in surreal ways, you won't be able to micro-manage your coin. I've written only once to a TB holder, and it didn't help. You've already written a couple of times, now you must wait and see. One thing I've done is, after 6 months or so, change the Trackable mission to "This Trackable hasn't contacted me in a while, if anyone sees him, please make a log". I make it non-specific as if I have no idea where the TB is (which actually is the case). And I put the text in the large red upper-case lettering. After one year, you may release a new Trackable using the same number. I made a couple of very nice Trackable copies recently that will now remain with me -- no more grief or guessing, they aren't in the wilds anymore. Release a Trackable ONLY if you can handle uncertain travels.

One ray of hope is that it looks to me that the person holding your coin moves Trackables just fine (he's not hoarding them). So you really should let it ride for now. And, good luck!

Here's how I manage my Trackables. Most keep popping up after I'm certain they're gone forever (then they disappear again -- sounds like fun, don't it? :rolleyes: ):

-TB that I marked "Missing" after one year of being held with no logs, I've edited the text and TB name, so there's no doubt of its status in any list.

-Coin I've now made into a "Proxy", to be kept in my collection only.

Edited June 25, 2012 by kunarion

June 25, 2012

I do have some back ups for it and I HAVE been receiving tons of "Prime Reviewer Published" emails and "blablabka found/didn't find blablabla. Also, I have had continual contact with another member through geocaching.com and nothing screws up with those emails.

7.3k · June 25, 2012

They may have found lots of caches since they picked up your trackable but are those caches in good areas where it won't be stolen? I'll hold onto a TB or coin instead of dropping it off if the cache is in an area that can easily be muggled or trackables tend to disappear from. I'll hold onto it longer to keep it safe.

Most of them, yes. A lot of them were off in the woods or in an area muggles would have no reason to wander off into. I really just don't understand why they don't post a single "visited" log or reply to my emails?

Some people do not like to post visited logs because they fear it will piss off the owner when they receive so many emails.

"Visited" logs do not generate emails to the trackable owner.

Trust me, I know. I had no idea my coin was "visiting" so many caches until I checked the coin's page.

B.

June 25, 2012

They may have found lots of caches since they picked up your trackable but are those caches in good areas where it won't be stolen? I'll hold onto a TB or coin instead of dropping it off if the cache is in an area that can easily be muggled or trackables tend to disappear from. I'll hold onto it longer to keep it safe.

Most of them, yes. A lot of them were off in the woods or in an area muggles would have no reason to wander off into. I really just don't understand why they don't post a single "visited" log or reply to my emails?

Some people do not like to post visited logs because they fear it will piss off the owner when they receive so many emails.

I only asked for a single visited log to know its okay and get some miles on it. I didn't ask for pages and pages of every single cache he found, just one every now and then.

June 25, 2012

It turns out the person has lost the trackable. They replyed to an email I just sent and they are offering to buy me a new one. Problem resolved!

11.2k · June 25, 2012

Mine was stolen three months ago, by a brand-new cacher that I happen to know personally. The TB was in a race and had ZERO miles on it. It's very frustrating.

June 28, 2012

I have a tb and the person who took it ga been holding on to it for three weeks. I have emailed them, but no reply. No emails telling me how it's doing, nothing. The only log they have posted was the pick up log which stated "cool coin... Will keep it moving." which they are not. They are being non responsive. I ask them to please move it along...no reply. Try again...no reply. What should I do?

Three weeks is nothing. Relax.

I've had very good luck sending polite email to folks who appear to have my TBs in their possession and 'all' of them who responded were very nice and dropped the bugs promptly. A few folks have even mailed the tag back to me when they've found the cache destroyed and only the tag left sitting there as trash.

What I do is email something along the lines of "hi - it appears you've had my XXXXX TB in your possession for YYYY weeks. Would it be possible for you to either drop it in a local cache or alternately drop it in the mail to me in the near future ?".

I did have one guy who was obstinate/nasty in response. What I did in that case was change the name of the TB to "THIS BUG STOLEN BY <their_name_here>" which of course showed up on their profile page every time they logged in. Pretty funny - it was quietly dropped in a cache within a week :-)

Edited June 28, 2012 by vds

22k · June 28, 2012

Mine was stolen three months ago, by a brand-new cacher that I happen to know personally. The TB was in a race and had ZERO miles on it. It's very frustrating.

So did you mention this to them?

June 30, 2012

Out of the 9 coins and TBs I've sent out over the course of the last 12 months, only two are currently in a cache. The rest are in the hands of someone. Two of them have been held by cachers for around four months, and both of these cachers have found caches since picking up my travelers. Sending emails does not help. The other ones have for the most part been held for more than the suggested two weeks. Where does it say that you must take a traveler when you find it? Did I miss out on a memo or something?

The long and short of it is that I wont be sending out any more travel bugs or geocoins. Many people are simply too lazy/kleptomaniac, lack the attention span to help them on their way, or there's some kind of social faux-pas involved after losing them. I don't know. In any case, I do not have the money to keep filling people's drawers with junk.

Oh, well. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Guess it's time to start a collection of nice geoicoins and gluing/screwing the dog tags to the cache container so geocachers only can discover them.

11.6k · June 30, 2012

Where does it say that you must take a traveler when you find it? Did I miss out on a memo or something?

You've noticed the problem where Geocachers feel the need to take all the time. So nice Trackables vanish, but so does everything else in the container. People heard that there are "no rules" in Geocaching, and maybe they decided that means that anything goes. It seems likely they treat their own family and friends that way, too. One's true character is displayed by the actions done when nobody's watching.

Most of my Trackables are languishing similarly to yours. I don't email people about them, don't fuss over them, don't really manage them. I just enjoy the occasional notification, sometimes it's a pleasant surprise. After one year of zero activity, they get marked missing (other clues may cause this sooner), and I prepare a re-release. For now, the copies are expensive and cool expressions of the old toy, and there's no way they will ever be placed into the wilds.

June 30, 2012

I have a tb and the person who took it ga been holding on to it for three weeks. I have emailed them, but no reply. No emails telling me how it's doing, nothing. The only log they have posted was the pick up log which stated "cool coin... Will keep it moving." which they are not. They are being non responsive. I ask them to please move it along...no reply. Try again...no reply. What should I do?

Are you getting other Geocaching email as usual? It could simply be a mail filter or setting, causing a problem one direction or the other.

Trackables travel in surreal ways, you won't be able to micro-manage your coin. I've written only once to a TB holder, and it didn't help. You've already written a couple of times, now you must wait and see. One thing I've done is, after 6 months or so, change the Trackable mission to "This Trackable hasn't contacted me in a while, if anyone sees him, please make a log". I make it non-specific as if I have no idea where the TB is (which actually is the case). And I put the text in the large red upper-case lettering. After one year, you may release a new Trackable using the same number. I made a couple of very nice Trackable copies recently that will now remain with me -- no more grief or guessing, they aren't in the wilds anymore. Release a Trackable ONLY if you can handle uncertain travels.

One ray of hope is that it looks to me that the person holding your coin moves Trackables just fine (he's not hoarding them). So you really should let it ride for now. And, good luck!

Here's how I manage my Trackables. Most keep popping up after I'm certain they're gone forever (then they disappear again -- sounds like fun, don't it? ):

-TB that I marked "Missing" after one year of being held with no logs, I've edited the text and TB name, so there's no doubt of its status in any list.

-Coin I've now made into a "Proxy", to be kept in my collection only.

June 30, 2012

I found a TB in Utah while riding my ATV in Utah. The TB originated from California and was headed to Florida and me being from Kentucky thought I would take it back to KY and then hide in a tree stump at a rest area. I put the TB in my atv tool box and forgot all about it until the next year when I was getting ready to head back to Utah. I then placed the TB at the rest area and within two days it was in Florida. I sent the owner of the TB an email letting him know how sorry I was. Maybe something like this has happened to your TB.

Edited June 30, 2012 by SECURITYMAN

11.6k · June 30, 2012

I sent the owner of the TB an email letting him know how sorry I was.

Did you also do a good TB log about it? Sometimes PM email doesn't work (logs on the TB site are much more reliable and send an email, too).

Some of my "lost" TBs came back to life with just a log like "Grabbed from [some cacher]. Will move along." Each time, I've thought, "There has to be more to this story!" And it's probably interesting. I'd like actual logs for anything -- how it was lost, even destroyed or stolen, how it re-appeared. It's all part of the TB's story.

June 30, 2012

I just happened to find a cache, that had been archived since 2008, and inside was a geocoin, from Australia, that had been marked missing about the same time. It was never logged into the archived cache but it was nevertheless there. The owners were delighted that it had resurfaced after nearly 4 YEARS!!

You never know with these TB's. On my last 4 TB's I put cardboard hitchhikers from the Dollar Tree Store (4 for $1.00). Young kids love them and no one has taken any of them.

I wish people who take TB's would take the hitchhiker, if that is what the want, and drop the Travel Bug Dog Tag itself back in a cache.

Edited June 30, 2012 by hoteltwo

July 1, 2012

It is interesting reading this. We sent out a travel bug a couple of months ago. It was picked up by a cacher who contacted us saying he hadn't had a chance to drop it off but would do so shortly - which was good of them.

The bug was dropped into a new cache which we went and found today and although the bug was listed in the inventory it wasn't there nor was it listed as being picked up.

What we had done with this one is also attach a little laminated note saying what its mission was, how to log it and not to take it if you weren't going to log it but sadly it was more than likely taken by another cacher given the location of the cache it was hidden it.

It is sad when this happens as it was something the kids were tracking as their first travel bug and it also ruins the fun for all other cachers who enjoy finding them and helping them on their mission

Unfortunately the bug traveled a whole 10km

July 5, 2012

I just went to a cache and it said there were 9 bugs in it. There were none. I dropped off my first bug there and I hope that it makes it somewhere and not just in the hands of someone forgetful. I did go to a cache a little later in the day and found a bug. I'm in utah and am going to CT next week and plan to drop it there. I want the owner to get some miles on their coin!!

8.6k · July 5, 2012

I just went to a cache and it said there were 9 bugs in it. There were none. I dropped off my first bug there and I hope that it makes it somewhere and not just in the hands of someone forgetful. I did go to a cache a little later in the day and found a bug. I'm in utah and am going to CT next week and plan to drop it there. I want the owner to get some miles on their coin!!

Just out of interest, I had a look at your USA Flag Tag TB to see where you'd dropped it off. The Salt Lake City TB Hotel looks good - it's a long established TB Hotel. There's a log just after yours, from quite a new cacher, which says "Took travelbug to Germany". I wonder whether he picked up your TB but hasn't logged it out of the cache as yet... Oh well... hopefully you'll see some good mileage on it soon. Fingers crossed!

MrsB

What to do when people "collect" your tbs

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