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How many of our TB's are missing?

3Woofs

By 3Woofs
in Trackables

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NanCycle

+NanCycle

Posted
Posted

I own 36 trackables.

 

1 is my personal tracking item.

1 is a beautiful coin which has not been released.

 

So of 34 that have been released--

 

18 are currently in "Unknown" - of those, 4 were already on their 2nd incarnation.

 

8 are currently shown as being in caches and 8 in the hands of cachers. Of these 3 are on their 2nd incarnation, so 21/34 have gone missing so far, and I suspect that about half of the 16 out in the wild are probably lost also. (not just a WAG, but based on reading logs and caching histories)

 

One of these days I'm going to get my rear in gear and make replacements for all the missing ones.

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bequiet

+bequiet

Posted
Posted

Hello NanCycle,

 

My friends and I have the same problem too.

i own 11 trackables since good > 6 months.

 

3 of them are now missing <_<

one in Ireland, one in France and one in Rumania.

they are all started in South-Germany.

 

i hope that someone will find this TBs and i will get

an email where stands "was grabed from somewhere else" :rolleyes:

 

hope that some of your tbs will found by someone! ;)

 

best regards from Germany,

George

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gunnerb

+gunnerb

Posted
Posted

I sent out three over a year ago. One is still alive up in Minnesota and the other two have "disappeared" from the caches they were in. Very disappointing since none of the prior cachers claim to have seen them. The last individual who visited the cache before the TB went missing mentioned he took his small children with him to the cache. This particular TB was a purple octopus that was in a kids meal from Sonic. Hmmmmm. I guess I spent too many years in Intelligence and Law Enforcment to not wonder. I probably won't order any more TB dogtags, maybe just make up my own and make the traveler as ugly and uncollectable as possible so no one will want to keep it in their possession.

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EXMAN

+EXMAN

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

 

My thoughts are...

 

-cachers are SOOOOO disappointed in their trackables disappearing that they no longer want to participate in this part of the caching game.

-disappointed to the point that they decline an offer of a free replacements for their missing trackables.

 

For the past year i've been making FREE replacements for missing trackables,

but i've given up on my mission.

 

- first....the lack of excitment and participation by the caching community has been really discouraging. Just a wild guess here, but i'd bet that WELL over 10,000 cachers have heard of my offer, but less than 200 have chosen to take me up on it.

 

-second....the number of these replacement tags that have already vanished is just SAD.

I've made about 750 replacement tags, and about 25-30% are gone already.

 

It's been a fun ride at times though.

-i've received MANY thank you's and other words of praise.

-these replacement tags have probably been touched by 1000s of cachers, have been placed in or visited over 10,000 caches and have traveled over 100,000 miles.

 

Blue Deuce ...... i have some interested people for you.

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gunnerb

+gunnerb

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

 

My thoughts are...

 

-cachers are SOOOOO disappointed in their trackables disappearing that they no longer want to participate in this part of the caching game.

-disappointed to the point that they decline an offer of a free replacements for their missing trackables.

 

For the past year i've been making FREE replacements for missing trackables,

but i've given up on my mission.

 

- first....the lack of excitment and participation by the caching community has been really discouraging. Just a wild guess here, but i'd bet that WELL over 10,000 cachers have heard of my offer, but less than 200 have chosen to take me up on it.

 

-second....the number of these replacement tags that have already vanished is just SAD.

I've made about 750 replacement tags, and about 25-30% are gone already.

 

It's been a fun ride at times though.

-i've received MANY thank you's and other words of praise.

-these replacement tags have probably been touched by 1000s of cachers, have been placed in or visited over 10,000 caches and have traveled over 100,000 miles.

 

Blue Deuce ...... i have some interested people for you.

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gunnerb

+gunnerb

Posted
Posted

EXMAN,

I commend you on your mission to replace the missing TB's. I'm sure it takes a toll to keep producing and not hearing any thanks. I didn't know you were doing this but want to say thanks for all those for whom you did the job and didn't get back with you. I'm not sure what I'll use to send out in the future, but like my earlier post said, gotta make it ugly and certainly not worth anyone taking home. Just neat enough to move from one place to another. I have one in my possession now that I picked up yesterday that is a simple rubber keyring (motorcycle) glued to a thin plywood back. Ugly enough to not want it, but good enough to travel from England to other European countries and here to Texas. Thanks again for what you've done.

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kunarion

+kunarion

Posted
Posted

Missing a TB? Here is the first actual, full-on admission of wanting to keep a TB that I've seen on the forums. Now that someone new has said it here, I wonder how many other new cachers have thought and acted on a similar desire and not said a thing... <_<

There are more than just one. I've seen posts from people who take and keep Trackables marked “Collectible” (no appropriate logs or anything, they simply pocket it). And some that insisted that if a Trackable has “Collectible preference not set”, they will keep it just in case it's going to be changed to “Collectible”. There are plenty of posts where people insist they discard a “coin proxy” when they find one in a cache. There's a Geocacher selling other people's activated TBs on Ebay, and people buying them, everyone justifying their actions. The Forums are pretty chock-full of TB takers. As you mention, these are only the ones who proudly admit it.

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BlueDeuce

+BlueDeuce

Posted
Posted

BlueDeuce ...... i have some interested people for you.

 

Sure thing, but I've known only those who ask are so discouraged that they aren't even willing to re-release one on their own. Then they are even more discouraged when that one goes missing. I tell them, don't worry, enjoy it while it travels and learn how to keep them in play.

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acachebox

+acachebox

Posted
Posted (edited)

BlueDeuce ...... i have some interested people for you.

 

Sure thing, but I've known only those who ask are so discouraged that they aren't even willing to re-release one on their own. Then they are even more discouraged when that one goes missing. I tell them, don't worry, enjoy it while it travels and learn how to keep them in play.

 

I will not place a TB in a cache that has had one go missing from. If i find a cache that lists a TB and there is not one there I will not place one there.

 

I figure if they stole one and are in the area they will keep and I out for the next one placed there and go get it.

 

This limits where i can place TB since New Jersey is not generally a safe place for them.

Edited by acachebox
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BlueDeuce

+BlueDeuce

Posted
Posted

BlueDeuce ...... i have some interested people for you.

 

Sure thing, but I've known only those who ask are so discouraged that they aren't even willing to re-release one on their own. Then they are even more discouraged when that one goes missing. I tell them, don't worry, enjoy it while it travels and learn how to keep them in play.

 

I will not place a TB in a cache that has had one go missing from. If i find a cache that lists a TB and there is not one there I will not place one there.

 

I figure if they stole one and are in the area they will keep and I out for the next one placed there and go get it.

 

This limits where i can place TB since New Jersey is not generally a safe place for them.

 

Understood. I have no problem with my bug being placed in a cache that takes a bit of a walk to reach. And if it sits during winter, so be it.

 

Happy caching.

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E_ZIG_A

+E_ZIG_A

Posted
Posted

Well I have 40 Trackables out there, an even mix of coin and bug.

 

Of those six are marked as location Unknown and I have another significant handful that are still in the hands of other cachers, who haven't logged them for many many months (some since 2011) but I've sent out one polite reminder email and I've updated the cache page with some instructions on what to do with a trackable, but beyond that I have no control and I won't be getting my undies in a bunch over it. The game is all about chance and there is little point in worrying about something you have absolutely no control over. The only thing to do really is release a few more and watch with interest what happens to them! I get a lot of enjoyment seeing the adventures of my other travellers; I have sufficient out there who are in the care of great Geocachers, who are taking my team on some awesome journeys, so I think that is the key here: release enough so that you aren't frantically worried about THE ONE or TWO. :rolleyes:

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sparklefingers

+sparklefingers

Posted
Posted

I have 5 tbs and a coin. I placed my first two tbs in caches that are not visited often so... They're still in the first cache. No one has been to them since. Half tempted to go to both and pick them up to put in a cache visited more often.

The rest are still with me as I have been working on them.

So at the moment I haven't lost any. :)

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shellbadger

+shellbadger

Posted
Posted

This and similar threads is why I started keeping records on all my travel bugs. Some of my travelers had also gone missing and I wanted to know if these reports and my experiences were anomalies. In 2010 I released 237 TBs. At the beginning of this month (January 2013)all had been abroad for at least two years, some for almost three years. Their status at that time was as follows: a total of 101 (43%) TBs were missing, 100 (42%) were in the hands of cachers, 35 (15%) were in a cache and 1 TB has been retired. Details of the study may be seen at the website address below.

 

http://shellbadgertbs.weebly.com/index.html

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EXMAN

+EXMAN

Posted
Posted

This and similar threads is why I started keeping records on all my travel bugs. Some of my travelers had also gone missing and I wanted to know if these reports and my experiences were anomalies. In 2010 I released 237 TBs. At the beginning of this month (January 2013)all had been abroad for at least two years, some for almost three years. Their status at that time was as follows: a total of 101 (43%) TBs were missing, 100 (42%) were in the hands of cachers, 35 (15%) were in a cache and 1 TB has been retired. Details of the study may be seen at the website address below.

 

http://shellbadgertbs.weebly.com/index.html

 

 

BlueDeuce will make FREE replacements for all of your missing trackables.

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=306266&pid=5191053&st=0entry5191053

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EXMAN

+EXMAN

Posted
Posted

'MY' conclusion is that MANY TBs are deliberately taken and disposed of by disgruntled cachers.

'MY' guess as to why someone might be disgruntled?...........

 

- maybe they were accused of something they didn't do.

- maybe they were treated unfairly on a forum.... or banned from a forum.

- maybe they were permanently banned from geocaching.

 

Whatever the reason, i think we have some ticked off people out there that are taking their frustrations out on our TBs.

Reports of the actual caches being stolen or destroyed are on the rise also.

 

GEOCOIN THEFT IS A WHOLE SEPARATE TOPIC

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