TB lost percentage ? any knowledge

[Lensterhawks838]

Hi guys i was just wondering what percentage of TBs don't last a year. <_<

[+Condorito]

i dont think that a percentage, even if there is one, would be accurate. most TBs that go missing aren't marked as such, and become Ghost TBs.

 

For example, as hzoi said on this thread:

 

Just to throw some statistics into how useful this function would be, and how much I look forward to it being added to the site:

 

In the past two weeks alone, I went on a road trip and found cache after cache that was empty of trackables despite inventories that promised two or more trackables. I left notes on 79 trackables that were no longer in the caches where they were listed.

 

Of those, the majority had been missing for a year or more. Most for two or three years. I think the worst offender had been missing for about nine years.

 

I have left over 500 similar notes over the past six years and change that we've been caching.

 

It would be swell to see this badly needed function added soon.

 

that thread has some good insights and is trying to fix the problem of missing TBs not marked as such...

[+terrkan78]

I don't know about overall percentage averages, but I can tell you my own percentages. I released 17 geocoins plus one Geico travel tag from 2009-2011:

 

8 lasted a year or less (44.4%)

 

5 lasted between 1-2 yrs (27.7%)

 

3 lasted 2-3 yrs (16.6%) (although two of these sort of skew the results - one has been stuck in a remote cache for a year now and another has been stuck in a remote cache since the day I released it there over 2 yrs ago)

 

2 lasted just over 3 yrs (11.1%)

 

The only two that are still alive are the two stuck in remote caches.

 

Geocoins seem go missing sooner than travel bugs. If you're worried about losing trackables of your own, make sure you check out the suggestions in Snoogans' TB Longevity Clinic. I didn't follow very many of these suggestions with my geocoins.

[+hzoi]

Hey, look at that! I was cited as being helpful and informative! First for everything.

 

edit: OK, I was just cited. But it's something.

 

I can give you some numbers from our TB collection to boot. I'm not going to get into the weeds on how quickly they got missing, just on how many went missing overall and then a quick mileage count.

 

Of the 222 trackables we own, we've released 151. Currently 106 of those (70.2%) are missing. (Could be more, it's been a few months since I went through the list.)

 

19 of our missing trackables accrued less than 200 miles before they went missing, so that's 12.5% of our released trackables that disappeared pretty quickly.

 

edit: make that 108 missing...sigh.

Edited May 2, 2013 by hzoi

[+Velogirl1]

Hey there,

 

I just came across this thread looking for information regarding lost TBs. I'm sorry to learn that this is not an uncommon issue. I released a coin to have it go missing out of the first cache I placed it in (0 big miles) and now have another TB "in the hands of" another cacher who seems to refuse to leave it in a cache. Has anyone heard of this happening? Why keep sending out TBs if anyone can come along, place it in their own hands?

[+The Blorenges]

I released a coin to have it go missing out of the first cache I placed it in (0 big miles)...

 

That is bad luck, I had a similar experience with one of my geocoins years ago - it never did reappear. Did you try contacting the cachers who found the cache following the drop-off of your geocoin?

 

If your TB is stuck "in the hands of" someone for a long while and they just won't put it into a cache all you can do is contact them by email (very politely of course) and explain that you'd like to see your TB put into a cache so that some other cacher can enjoy finding it. Are they just holding on to it, or are they taking it on visits to caches?

 

MrsB

[shadango]

 

Of the 222 trackables we own, we've released 151. Currently 106 of those (70.2%) are missing. (Could be more, it's been a few months since I went through the list.)

 

19 of our missing trackables accrued less than 200 miles before they went missing, so that's 12.5% of our released trackables that disappeared pretty quickly.

 

edit: make that 108 missing...sigh.

 

Geeez.

 

I was considering buying a new TB to replace the one we had released years ago which went missing......but if people are having that sort of track record these days, its hardly worth it.

 

Shameful that some folks are making their own game of TBs and stealing them!

[+The Blorenges]

 

I was considering buying a new TB to replace the one we had released years ago which went missing......but if people are having that sort of track record these days, its hardly worth it.

 

Shameful that some folks are making their own game of TBs and stealing them!

 

After such a long time you could just re-release a replacement TB using the tracking number from your "Tyler's critter" TB.

 

Incidentally, on that TB I noticed the "discovered it" log from Team Three Boys is dated for August '07. The discovery log option has only been around for about 3 years so there's something odd there...

 

MrsB