I Give Up

[+druimmuir]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

[+whh0]

If a couple cannot get there £35,000 caravan back as it would go against the human rights of the travellers living in it, even though they are probably the ones that stole it, I think the chances of seeing your trackable again are slim.

 

Sometimes these things travel for years and sometimes they disappear from the first cache they are put in.......

 

The forums are full of people sad at the demise of their bugs and the advise is always the same, when you release any trackable assume you will never see it again and if you feel you can't accept that then keep them, use them as a way to track your geocaching journey.

[+MRB3N]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

 

Wow! I can see how the 12 year old situation could be very aggravating. His parents should be ashamed of him and themselves.

 

I do not think there is any way he can be forced to hand it back. He is no better than a "Muggle" basically.

 

Y'know, one of them mindless idiots that see a Cache full of trackables and swaps and take it?

 

Them idiots that see it clearly says "Official Geocache" or "Official Gamepiece" and "Please Do Not Disturb" on it?

 

Your trackable has gone and you may as well consider it missing as if the Cache was Muggled.

 

The aggravating factor is that this shameful excuse for a human being bothered to write a log stating he's muggling your item.

[+u1bd2005]

My TB dissappeared a while back, I haven't set off another since, but I defo will be at some point in the future, the fun in releasing them is seeing how far they go and where they journey too before they're muggled, stolen or lost.

 

As soon as you release it into a cache, its basically lost from then on.

Edited September 30, 2013 by u1bd2005

[+Moozer]

Any possibility of looking at his logged finds for another account that logs the same caches on the same day? Good possibility it would be his parents...

[+Droo]

I think you're being too hard on ... events. 2 of your coins are currently only out of the tracking system, that is they are not where they are logged in as being. This is quite common with all the newbs around and the ability to cache by smartphone. It seems people are a lot less invested in the game than they used to be. What once cost several hundreds of dollars for a GPS receiver to get started is now a simple app away. So newbs come and go without learning the ins and outs of how the game is played so they make up their own rules. And just as quickly they drop out forgetting the trackables they picked up along the way. It's not uncommon for travelers relegated to that "unknown location" to find their way back.

 

I totally understand your frustration with the (alleged) 12 year old (username - CJCaching) but I doubt he is what he claims to be. There are a lot of rotten people everywhere and the interwebz is one place they can leave their mark. Please don't be too discouraged by just one rotten apple of the kind one can generally avoid in real life but who easily find a way to get in your face online.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Droo

[+Doctor A]

So sorry to hear about this- it is highly frustrating! The very reason I've just taken to only collecting coins and never sending them out...

[+drneal]

you might wish to change the "name" of the coin to stolen...just in case it gets shown to friends for discovery

 

ILYK

[+kunarion]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it

I rarely get a reply using the PM system, and most of my messages aren't about Trackable problems. So maybe their was a glitch while sending or replying.

 

I buy an occasional Geocoin I like, but won't place those in caches "to travel". I revive my dead Trackables, much nicer than the originals, and I keep them. Tracking Numbers are reusable.

 

Lots of people would appreciate some closure when their Trackable is stolen. My suggestion on my Trackable pages is that when someone knows what caused the loss of it, at least post a log about what happened. Don't leave me hanging. I paid for my nice coin, worked on the page, planned the release so it would stay in play, followed it a while, then someone kept it. The least I'll accept is a log that they took it.

 

These Trackables are by definition, Trackable. The taker doesn't own it, it's registered to you. It may end up back in the game, even get taken again. But there are many cases where one person in the family has a strange genetic disposition toward honesty (or a friend does), and they return the coin to the game. It's unlikely it will be sent back to you, but even that can happen.

Edited September 30, 2013 by kunarion

[+SirDonB]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

 

I dont know about reporting and getting your coin back, but rather than take the "I give up" stance, why not do as I am about to do... I bought my first 3 coins and rather than sending out the actual coin, I have scanned, printed, laminated the coin, and will be sending out a proxy instead. This way there is less of a chance the coin will be pilfered, and people will still get to see the coin (in a way).

 

If the proxy turns up missing, so what, just grab it back, make another, and release again. this way you spend pennies to replace rather than dollars.

[+Little Hiawatha]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

I know the feeling. I'm about to give up myself. The thing is I've released not one geocoin but a number of them and so far not even one has been moved to another cache. I don't really care so much about the loss of the coin. It's just that I don't like feeling that I'm being played for a fool. All I want is for a single coin to be moved just once, that's all I ask for, and it will restore my faith in people.

[+SirDonB]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

I know the feeling. I'm about to give up myself. The thing is I've released not one geocoin but a number of them and so far not even one has been moved to another cache. I don't really care so much about the loss of the coin. It's just that I don't like feeling that I'm being played for a fool. All I want is for a single coin to be moved just once, that's all I ask for, and it will restore my faith in people.

 

If you were closer, I would help, we are on opposite sides of the coin.

[+tadpole379]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

I know the feeling. I'm about to give up myself. The thing is I've released not one geocoin but a number of them and so far not even one has been moved to another cache. I don't really care so much about the loss of the coin. It's just that I don't like feeling that I'm being played for a fool. All I want is for a single coin to be moved just once, that's all I ask for, and it will restore my faith in people.

 

If you were closer, I would help, we are on opposite sides of the coin.

 

I know which coin you are talking about that the 12 year old has. I picked it up a cache and dropped it off at Groundspeak HQ where I figured it would be safe. He grabbed it from me before I could drop it into the headquarters cache. I sent him emails asking him first to dip the coin so it would get credit for being in the cache, then explaining how to log a trackable and some trackable etiquette. He did write me back, but the response was something like "why don't you just log it yourself" which I couldn't do without the tracking number because he grabbed it from me. He has someone else's coin too that he picked up at the same time from HQ.

[+Little Hiawatha]

Dear Druimmuir

 

I had a look at the travel history of your Geocoins and for the life of me I can’t figure out what you are complaining about. Your coins pass from hand to hand and from cache to cache. Isn’t that the point? You own a coin and complain that it’s stolen after it traveled a thousand miles. Well so what. My coins are stolen before logging even a single mile. I’ve never, not even once, had anyone take one of my coins from one cache to another. I'd be thrilled if my coins did as well as yours. Sorry mate but I don’t have much sympathy for your plight.

 

Little Hiawatha

[+nevadanick]

Dear Druimmuir

 

I had a look at the travel history of your Geocoins and for the life of me I can’t figure out what you are complaining about. Your coins pass from hand to hand and from cache to cache. Isn’t that the point? You own a coin and complain that it’s stolen after it traveled a thousand miles. Well so what. My coins are stolen before logging even a single mile. I’ve never, not even once, had anyone take one of my coins from one cache to another. I'd be thrilled if my coins did as well as yours. Sorry mate but I don’t have much sympathy for your plight.

 

Little Hiawatha

 

Instant gratification .... does not happen much in the geocaching world. I've looked over YOUR trackable coin listings and only a few have been actually placed in caches. The rest are either in your own possession or have been given to students in an astronomy class. Are you expecting students who are NOT geocachers to place them in a geocache ... when they are something given to them (for whatever reason) by their teacher. ??

 

The remaining few have been VERY recently placed, most in your own caches which (iirc) are non-premium member caches. Not sure I would place a coin in a well-traveled campus location and it doesn't seem you have done anything to promote the coins' goals or mission prior to releasing them.

 

Of the few you have released, give it a little while. Some cachers do not log trackables immediately, for various reasons. Check my trackables ... not many 'coins' but a lot of my trackables are still traveling and one coin has thousands of miles and has even been into and out of Mexico.

 

Getting coins to travel safe is an art. Sometimes they WILL disappear quickly. Coins in the US seem to have the shortest traveling lifespan.

 

My geocoin addict partner has over 150 trackables traveling the wild. I keep hers on my watchlist and there are days I see 5 to 10 logs, some re-appearing after weeks or even months of silent travel.

 

Try putting coins in PREMIUM MEMBER ONLY caches when releasing. Non-member caches especially in high traffic areas seem to get the worst of the caching world.

 

Three things will help your anxiety level ... (1) patience , (2) patience , and (3) PATIENCE.

[+Ogima]

And if you are really fed up and want to talk about it...

Come to my 2nd TB Memorial Stammtisch Event in The Netherlands. Especially created for everyone who lost Geocoins and/or Travel Bugs.

Currently there's no English translation on the page, but I'm more than happy to translate the text on request.

[+MRB3N]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

 

Wow! I can see how the 12 year old situation could be very aggravating. His parents should be ashamed of him and themselves.

 

I do not think there is any way he can be forced to hand it back. He is no better than a "Muggle" basically.

 

Y'know, one of them mindless idiots that see a Cache full of trackables and swaps and take it?

 

Them idiots that see it clearly says "Official Geocache" or "Official Gamepiece" and "Please Do Not Disturb" on it?

 

Your trackable has gone and you may as well consider it missing as if the Cache was Muggled.

 

The aggravating factor is that this shameful excuse for a human being bothered to write a log stating he's muggling your item.

 

Okay so I have done a little research on this person:

 

* Name: CJCaching.

* Age: 12 (Apparently).

* No. of Finds: 147.

* Trackables Logged: 14.

 

The first thing which amazes me is how parents would allow a 12 year old to go out and log 147 finds ALONE.

There are not going to be 147 Caches within the boundaries of a 12 year olds playing area (his street or neighbourhood etc).

 

So that tells me he is Caching with grownups. No matter if its his parents or not. He is with an appropiate adult.

Failing that, then he is a 12 year old kid who isnt being looked after correctly and thats a case for child services.

Or am I the only one who thinks 12 is very young to be out in the wilderness Caching with no appropriate adult?

 

So perhaps its worth looking at his logs (I havent delved that far) and seeing if he is logging these finds alongside an adult Cacher.

If so, then an email to that adult might give him the kick up the backside to place your TB back into a Cache.

 

I have emailed CJCaching myself and politely asked that he play by the rules, play fair and think about if things were the other way round.

I did also mention that constant bad feedback about his game playing can be reported to Groundspeak who can ban him from the game.

I thought this may hit a nerve as he obviously enjoys the game with 147 finds and he is doing this regulary and recently too (30th September).

 

He even has his own trackables! And he has released new ones as recently as 30th September!

So perhaps he could relate to one of his being stolen? Only time will tell, I have had no email reply yet.

He has logged a lot of trackables recently and moved them to new Caches so why he's picked on yours I really don't know.

 

Best of luck on this one and I think a show of support from other people here sending a polite email to this guy would be good.

No need to be aggressive, just re-enforce the rules and general etiquette set by Groundspeak and worry him a little with being banned.

 

Ps. This is the trackable in question: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=cf1f117d-bd4e-4a00-8700-e72cf3da3929

Edited October 1, 2013 by MRB3N

[+Ogima]

Seems to me he retrieves or grabs the majority of the coins with the text "mine now" or "mine" and drops them off a little while later. He just hasn't dropped off yours yet. My guess is that he will put it in another cache soon.

[+MRB3N]

Seems to me he retrieves or grabs the majority of the coins with the text "mine now" or "mine" and drops them off a little while later. He just hasn't dropped off yours yet. My guess is that he will put it in another cache soon.

 

Yes, but...

 

...2 weeks is the recommended time to hold a TB without any action.

If you require more time you are supposed to contact the TB Owner.

 

He has had that TB since July and its now October!

That is unacceptable and I fully understand why the TB Owner is upset.

[+Ogima]

Yes, but...

 

...2 weeks is the recommended time to hold a TB without any action.

If you require more time you are supposed to contact the TB Owner.

 

He has had that TB since July and its now October!

That is unacceptable and I fully understand why the TB Owner is upset.[/size]

True, but there might be dozens of reasons why the coin isn't dropped yet or why the owner isn't contacted. I too understand why the owner is upset. I also think the cacher in question could used a better phrase than "mine now" when grabbing the coin. But since the other coins he had in his possession were dropped in caches again sooner or later, I see no reason why he wouldn't drop this coin as well.

I'm not convinced there is any harm done (yet). You said yourself that 2 weeks is the recommended time, not a fixed maximum. Personally, I am already happy if a coin of mine is moved at all. If that is within a week or two, all the better.

[+u1bd2005]

@mrb3n

 

at age 12 me and my friends used to be out down the river, or heading into town to goto swimming baths, bowling alley etc... im just outside a small town and there's 100s of caches within that area we used to venture too.

 

lets face it, plenty of kids go exploring, and its never usually that far to the local town etc... even for kids i'd say anywhere upto about 5 miles would be an easy radius to explore.

 

with just a 10 mile pq set up I have 911 results show up, and im in a small village, busier places will likely have many more.

[+MRB3N]

@mrb3n

 

at age 12 me and my friends used to be out down the river, or heading into town to goto swimming baths, bowling alley etc... im just outside a small town and there's 100s of caches within that area we used to venture too.

 

lets face it, plenty of kids go exploring, and its never usually that far to the local town etc... even for kids i'd say anywhere upto about 5 miles would be an easy radius to explore.

 

with just a 10 mile pq set up I have 911 results show up, and im in a small village, busier places will likely have many more.

 

Well sorry, but there is no way I would let my daughter (who is currently 11) bugger off within a 5 mile radius.

 

She is not allowed away from the street we live on and for good reason. Plenty of adults or teens (16+) are taken by weirdos.

 

So although I am not having a personal dig at your parents, I stick by what I said previously, that is bad parenting.

 

No 12 year old child should be able to wander within a 5 mile radius of their house, that is just crazy.

 

I'm sure you'll tell me you're 50 years old so things were different back then etc, but we are talking about now.

 

Fact is, it wasn't safer years ago. There have always been pervs and weirdos and there was no such thing as a mobile phone for safety.

 

Anyway, that is a completely different topic and a small part that you have chosen to pick out of my previous post.

 

Either way, my point is still very valid and no child of 12 should be out roaming, Geocaching etc without an appropriate adult (16 or 18+).

 

NOW BACK TO TOPIC...

Edited October 1, 2013 by MRB3N

[+u1bd2005]

@mrb3n

 

at age 12 me and my friends used to be out down the river, or heading into town to goto swimming baths, bowling alley etc... im just outside a small town and there's 100s of caches within that area we used to venture too.

 

lets face it, plenty of kids go exploring, and its never usually that far to the local town etc... even for kids i'd say anywhere upto about 5 miles would be an easy radius to explore.

 

with just a 10 mile pq set up I have 911 results show up, and im in a small village, busier places will likely have many more.

 

Well sorry, but there is no way I would let my daughter (who is currently 11) bugger off within a 5 mile radius.

 

She is not allowed away from the street we live on and for good reason. Plenty of adults or teens (16+) are taken by weirdos.

 

So although I am not having a personal dig at your parents, I stick by what I said previously, that is bad parenting.

 

No 12 year old child should be able to wander within a 5 mile radius of their house, that is just crazy.

 

I'm sure you'll tell me you're 50 years old so things were different back then etc, but we are talking about now.

 

Fact is, it wasn't safer years ago. There have always been pervs and weirdos and there was no such thing as a mobile phone for safety.

 

Anyway, that is a completely different topic and a small part that you have chosen to pick out of my previous post.

 

Either way, my point is still very valid and no child of 12 should be out roaming, Geocaching etc without an appropriate adult (16 or 18+).

 

NOW BACK TO TOPIC...

 

Actually, I'm 23, so it's not all that long ago, and I totally agree that there are many dangers out there, and kids should be more tightly controlled if possible, but it's also not right to keep them sectioned to a distance of a few hundred meters of your window.

 

There should be ways of contact with them such as a phone etc... and they should follow guidelines of when to be home and parents should know where they are going. Most kids have a mobile phone these days, its parents who keep their children at home or nearby home all day that result in children sitting in playing console games all day.

 

I always had strict times I had to be home by, and my parents always wanted to know where I was going, in all honesty, my dad's still like that and I'm 23, if I was late home when I was younger I'd usually get grounded for a week or even two sometimes.

 

Though I totally agree with your point of the dangers out there, this can hardly place blame on their parents. All they're doing is protecting their kids, it's the police and governments that need to do more to increase parents confidence in letting their kids venture more than a few hundred yards.

 

Right, anyway, as you said, back to topic.

 

I personally don't think he's 12 year old anyway, I think its just someone who created the account to steal coins easier.

[+nevadanick]

Going back on topic .... as I mentioned earlier ... be patient !!!

 

I did further checking, which the OP here SHOULD have done before making all the accusations.

 

The cacher in question has hides of his own. Six, 2 of which are already archived. Reading the logs, he needs some guidance in hiding caches too. (I have over 200 hidden).

 

Most important, his caching record clearly shows he has been in the process of moving from Washington State to Texas WITH HIS FAMILY since mid July. His 6 hides in Washington were dedicated to memories of the area and his youth. At a cache he visited just a few days ago in Texas he dropped off a trackable he 'grabbed' in (iirc) early July, which he also noted on retrieval that it's "mine now".

 

He doesn't seem to cache with any other member of the family or friends, so maybe it is just his interest in something besides a video game. He is also NOT a premium member which means he does not have access (in most cases) to premium caches for TB/geocoin placement.

 

I sure hope the e-mails sent to his account don't leave him scratching his head wondering ... "what did I do?" Sure, he could learn how to log correctly, but he does seem to be moving trackables and dropping them. Consider how involved YOUR last out-of-state move was, especially for a kid whose family doesn't seem to cache. Hope to doesn't cause him to say "screw this caching thing !!"

 

PLEASE !!! Give him a break folks !!! Do YOUR homework before making someone out to be a thief ... demanding punishment ...

 

BTW - he mentions in his hides that they will be maintained by 'cousins'. They don't seem to be doing what he asked them to do, and maybe it was his cousins he was caching with. Just sayin' .....

Edited October 1, 2013 by nevadanick

[+SirDonB]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

I know the feeling. I'm about to give up myself. The thing is I've released not one geocoin but a number of them and so far not even one has been moved to another cache. I don't really care so much about the loss of the coin. It's just that I don't like feeling that I'm being played for a fool. All I want is for a single coin to be moved just once, that's all I ask for, and it will restore my faith in people.

 

If you were closer, I would help, we are on opposite sides of the coin.

 

I know which coin you are talking about that the 12 year old has. I picked it up a cache and dropped it off at Groundspeak HQ where I figured it would be safe. He grabbed it from me before I could drop it into the headquarters cache. I sent him emails asking him first to dip the coin so it would get credit for being in the cache, then explaining how to log a trackable and some trackable etiquette. He did write me back, but the response was something like "why don't you just log it yourself" which I couldn't do without the tracking number because he grabbed it from me. He has someone else's coin too that he picked up at the same time from HQ.

 

For clarity, I was referring to the coins that Little Hiawatha owns and was talking about. This would not be something I would get into unless it was befriending a young geocacher and giving them guidance.

 

How about we all start up a "Young Geocacher's Adoption Program" in our local areas. The idea would be the more experianced geocachers would "adopt" a new cacher to show them the ropes and proper logging of caches and trackables, etc. It would be like the big brother/sister mentor programs out there.

[+MRB3N]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

Is there anyway the 12 year old can be reported and made to hand the trackable back ?

I know the feeling. I'm about to give up myself. The thing is I've released not one geocoin but a number of them and so far not even one has been moved to another cache. I don't really care so much about the loss of the coin. It's just that I don't like feeling that I'm being played for a fool. All I want is for a single coin to be moved just once, that's all I ask for, and it will restore my faith in people.

 

If you were closer, I would help, we are on opposite sides of the coin.

 

I know which coin you are talking about that the 12 year old has. I picked it up a cache and dropped it off at Groundspeak HQ where I figured it would be safe. He grabbed it from me before I could drop it into the headquarters cache. I sent him emails asking him first to dip the coin so it would get credit for being in the cache, then explaining how to log a trackable and some trackable etiquette. He did write me back, but the response was something like "why don't you just log it yourself" which I couldn't do without the tracking number because he grabbed it from me. He has someone else's coin too that he picked up at the same time from HQ.

 

For clarity, I was referring to the coins that Little Hiawatha owns and was talking about. This would not be something I would get into unless it was befriending a young geocacher and giving them guidance.

 

How about we all start up a "Young Geocacher's Adoption Program" in our local areas. The idea would be the more experianced geocachers would "adopt" a new cacher to show them the ropes and proper logging of caches and trackables, etc. It would be like the big brother/sister mentor programs out there.

 

We already have that in the UK.

 

See on the UK section of the Geocaching Forums.

 

You can look for a buddy in your area.

[+Seashore609]

And if you are really fed up and want to talk about it...

Come to my 2nd TB Memorial Stammtisch Event in The Netherlands. Especially created for everyone who lost Geocoins and/or Travel Bugs.

Currently there's no English translation on the page, but I'm more than happy to translate the text on request.

[+Seashore609]

It is perfectly okay with Geocaching.com to put out a "copy" of any travelers that have been LOST. I too have had a lot of lots trackers and it is very discouraging. I had an instance where I tracked down the person who picked up my traveler but didn't log it. It was a mother with young children and she told me that her 8 year old son really like the Gecko so he had it. When I explained how these were handled she said he must of lost it. After we went back and forth for a while she told me to not ever contact me again or she would report me for harassment. I decided that it was not worth it to pursue any longer and got a key chain from Zazzle which I will send out as a COPY. I have done this to over a dozen of my travelers and no one has commented negatively about this. I did ask the powers that be if it was okay and they assured me it was but I should wait for at least a year. Seems a long time but it goes fast. GOOD LUCK

[+MRB3N]

It is perfectly okay with Geocaching.com to put out a "copy" of any travelers that have been LOST. I too have had a lot of lots trackers and it is very discouraging. I had an instance where I tracked down the person who picked up my traveler but didn't log it. It was a mother with young children and she told me that her 8 year old son really like the Gecko so he had it. When I explained how these were handled she said he must of lost it. After we went back and forth for a while she told me to not ever contact me again or she would report me for harassment. I decided that it was not worth it to pursue any longer and got a key chain from Zazzle which I will send out as a COPY. I have done this to over a dozen of my travelers and no one has commented negatively about this. I did ask the powers that be if it was okay and they assured me it was but I should wait for at least a year. Seems a long time but it goes fast. GOOD LUCK

 

There must be an official amount of time before you can launch a copy?

In my opinion, your suggestion of a year is far too long.

 

If you spend your hard earned money on trackables, you should not have to wait a year to enjoy that item again.

 

Any time after 2 weeks and with no response to emails etc should be suffice.

 

If its stolen then its stolen, it doesn't need a year to confirm it.

[+ItTakesAThief]

I'm not buying anymore geocoins or trackables, out of the small number I have every one of them has gone missing, one is with a 12 year old in America who's log says "mine now" 2 months ago despite 2 messages stating it's mine and please move it on he's ignored it, others have all gone missing in short spaces of time, i'm afraid they all have personal stories attached to them and have a small sentimental value and I am fed up of people losing them etc

 

I wouldnt give up yet, i know people who have held coins over a year before letting them go back to caches, not because they were keeping them, but they totally forgot they had them......

[+nevadanick]

It is perfectly okay with Geocaching.com to put out a "copy" of any travelers that have been LOST. I too have had a lot of lots trackers and it is very discouraging. I had an instance where I tracked down the person who picked up my traveler but didn't log it. It was a mother with young children and she told me that her 8 year old son really like the Gecko so he had it. When I explained how these were handled she said he must of lost it. After we went back and forth for a while she told me to not ever contact me again or she would report me for harassment. I decided that it was not worth it to pursue any longer and got a key chain from Zazzle which I will send out as a COPY. I have done this to over a dozen of my travelers and no one has commented negatively about this. I did ask the powers that be if it was okay and they assured me it was but I should wait for at least a year. Seems a long time but it goes fast. GOOD LUCK

 

There must be an official amount of time before you can launch a copy?

In my opinion, your suggestion of a year is far too long.

 

If you spend your hard earned money on trackables, you should not have to wait a year to enjoy that item again.

 

Any time after 2 weeks and with no response to emails etc should be suffice.

 

If its stolen then its stolen, it doesn't need a year to confirm it.

 

There is no 'official' timeframe. Trackables are an added feature to geocaching's primary function and intent. There are numerous threads in both the geocoin and travel bug forums. It would help to take the time to read and research them.

 

You've only been a member a few months. Geocaching is NOT a daily activity for many cachers. Sure, activity on a trackable within 2 weeks would be NICE ... but does not happen in many cases, for a huge variety of reasons.

 

If you waited just 2 weeks to release a copy, and did that every 2 weeks, it wouldn't take long for you to be receiving logs on multiple sightings and you'd likely NEVER know which one of the dozens of copies is the 'real deal'. Even TWO MONTHS is questionable. SIX months would be more practical, but the year guideline is not unreasonable. Many trackables return to circulation after months of being idle.

 

As to the money you've spent ... tags are ~$5 and coins ~$10. IF you send out coins worth more than $10 you can almost assure yourself that it will not make it very far. Some do, most high value coins do not. Watching your trackables move should be fun. Don't saddle yourself with anxiety. The one rule that dominates trackables should be ... don't release anything into the wild that you aren't prepared to lose.

 

See my post #24 above. Here's just ONE case. A trackable owner basically accuses 'theft'. Turns out, after research, that the cacher's family moved from Washington to Texas. A trackable has been out of circulation for several months. The (young) cacher is now caching again and dropping the bugs that he took with him during the move. Sure, he could have dropped a note to the owner/s but he didn't ... and the TB's are now moving again. By your standard you would already have one or more replacements out there traveling, not ever knowing which is which.

 

Check out some other threads, many in the Travel Bug forum where many cachers will tell others that they do, and CAN, strip trackables from EVERY cache in their area before they start a trip.

 

After doing trackables for several years now, my SO and I have almost 200 trackables in circulation. I only have 15, she has over 170. We've replaced a few with proxy coins, but not until at least 6 months have lapsed. Several were gone almost a year. Trackable loggers also recommend/ask that proxy/copy travelers be identified as such. After 2 weeks, how will you expect finders of the 'real deal' to know they have the original and not the copy ??

 

Three UNOFFICIAL rules of trackables:

1. Patience

2. Patience

3. Patience

 

Happy caching !!!

[+nevadanick]

Perfect timing for a follow-up to my last post above. My SO received a geocoin log note today that a geocoin that went missing in September of 2012 (over a year ago) went back into circulation today.

 

Check it out >> http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?tracker=TB4T2TQ

 

It was 'grabbed' by a longtime cacher (22,000+ finds/4,700 trackables moved) in Sept 2012 and wound up in an event in September 2012 without being properly dropped. It 'disappeared' from the event and my SO finally marked it missing in April 2013. Today it got placed in a cache by a different longtime cacher (10,000+ finds/1,800 trackables moved) .... and he seems to be the one who picked it up at the 9/2012 event and never logged it out.

 

Even cachers who have been at it for YEARS with THOUSANDS of logged trackables make mistakes and miss details.

 

At least ... 13 months later ... it finally comes back to life.

 

SOoooo ... "2 weeks" ??? definitely NOT enough time to wait.

 

Just sayin' ........

[+kunarion]

At least ... 13 months later ... it finally comes back to life.

 

SOoooo ... "2 weeks" ??? definitely NOT enough time to wait.

 

Just sayin' ........

When my coins come back from the dead, it has usually been a couple of months after my personal "One Year" waiting period.

[+DragonsWest]

At least ... 13 months later ... it finally comes back to life.

 

SOoooo ... "2 weeks" ??? definitely NOT enough time to wait.

 

Just sayin' ........

When my coins come back from the dead, it has usually been a couple of months after my personal "One Year" waiting period.

 

After your personal "One Year" waiting period is up, what happens, your personal "Two Year" waiting period begins?

 

The reality is the world is full of thieves, some petty, some very big. They can rationalize things into their personal property with the slightest effort.

 

By the way, I have sent a copy of your post to the Copyright office and have applied for a copyright on it. I think it's very funny and should make me lots of money when I start my Broadway show "Geocoins"

[+Shop99er]

I noticed that the OP didn't wait the two weeks he thinks is the official maximum a traveler can be held. Oh no, he posted on the tb page telling the kid to release the precious 5 days after he picked it up.

 

I can readily imagine what the e-mails must have sounded like.

 

I also saw that on 10/1, a player not directly involved in any of this, decided to threaten the boy with Groundspeak attention over this whole thing because they would notice it in the forums, and face a reprimand from the Lilly Pad.

 

Groundspeak isn't likely to get involved, they don't have that sort of spare time. If you can't think of any other way to spend your time that make veiled threats that you are in no position to make, to a kid in Texas, from the safety of the UK, over a matter that does not concern you, find something else to do. Somewhere else.

[+Little Hiawatha]

Geocoins and trackers are BULL s***! I've activated more than a hundred and so far only one of them has been moved to another cache.

[+kunarion]

Geocoins and trackers are BULL s***! I've activated more than a hundred and so far only one of them has been moved to another cache.

I haven't sent out a hundred, but I'm noticing the effect you describe. My travelers were doing rather well for three years, maybe 80% still moving, or at least seeming to be alive. Now I rarely see logs at all. The vast majority of mine died in the past 12 months, and I revived them to me. The originals vanished into another dimension. 2012-2013 was terrible for my travelers. I can't explain it. Maybe there are new cachers, but that's not the complete picture. It's almost like every cacher in the world suddenly became totally irresponsible.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Geocoins and trackers are BULL s***! I've activated more than a hundred and so far only one of them has been moved to another cache.

Interesting... of your 102, 33 are still held by you and (it seems) you gave away 42. So, just what are those percentages again?

[+nevadanick]

Geocoins and trackers are BULL s***! I've activated more than a hundred and so far only one of them has been moved to another cache.

Interesting... of your 102, 33 are still held by you and (it seems) you gave away 42. So, just what are those percentages again?

 

Little Hia has to be doing one (or more) things seriously in question. I could start with a few ...

 

1. Expecting near instant movement of anything placed.

2. Placing trackables, especially shiny/pretty COINS, in high muggle traffic 'member' caches.

3. Derogatory comments placed in logs for the drop-offs. Creates a bad situation before there may actually be one.

4. Is there anything done to aid in travels of the item? A mission card? A zip-loc baggie? A note in a flip-case to 'keep me moving' ?

5. As Gitchee-Gummee noted, the vast majority of Little Hia's trackables were given to NON-cachers or are held in their own collection.

6. Spendng more than 4 months as a geocacher member to brand an entire facet of geocaching as 'BULL.....' doesn't help.

 

Seems most were placed VERY recently in near-urban areas. GS has not been kind to the geocaching hobby when they highly promote

APP's for cell/smartphone use. The recent increase in muggle-cachers -- those who try a dozen or so and keep the trinkets and

prizes they have found enroute - has had, imo, a profound negative effect on the geocaching hobby.

 

Regardless, don't release anything into the wild you are not willing to lose.

 

MY geocoin addict partner has over 150 coins/trackables in circulation and I also keep her

items on my watchlist and there is hardly ANY day that goes by without at least ONE travel

log update. Many days we receive 5+ log updates.

 

-----------------------------------

 

Here's my stats on just a few. 14 coins/trackables, 97,000+ miles traveled, only a few MIA.

This DOES NOT include my own vehicle travel bug with almost 18,000 miles

 

"We're Hooked" Dog Tag 10/06/2013 nevadanick roverschmi… 9301 mi

 

Bus Route Travel Bug 07/19/2013 nevadanick Sage View … 1733 mi

 

EatStayPlay Geocoin 10/20/2013 nevadanick WaStatePks… 7939 mi

 

ELF nevadanick 07/13/2013 nevadanick Waazdagz F… 3183 mi

 

Fire Dept Enroute Travel Bug 06/01/2012 nevadanick Unknown 848 mi - MIA

 

Giganto 09/16/2012 nevadanick Unknown 720 mi - MIA

 

Low Dose Travel Tag 07/20/2013 nevadanick fam.akesso… 6942 mi

 

nevadanick's VW 07/09/2013 nevadanick Majorcas B… 15330 mi

 

Pill Bottle Dog Tag 11/21/2012 nevadanick Unknown 2860 mi - MIA

 

Pill Bottle Max Travel Tag 09/04/2012 nevadanick Rivers Edg… 2932 mi - MIA

 

Pirate Tag - Steerin' Stella 09/30/2013 nevadanick the_irving 4937 mi

 

Rescue Tow Dog Tag 11/10/2012 nevadanick Do You Lik… 5276 mi - MIA

 

Retired Bus Travel Dog Tag 12/15/2012 nevadanick Eastham Pa… 6244 mi - MIA

 

Snowbug 10/19/2013 nevadanick nevadanick 17901 mi

 

Travel Racer Antique - (proxied) 08/11/2013 nevadanick Kaptain Ki… 21903 mi

----------------------------------------------

 

Give it a fair chance, please. Your frustration level will decrease significantly.

 

Little Hia has 'found' 65 caches and only moved/discovered 10 trackables. If you are going to comment

about the improper handling of trackables, take time to fully understand them yourself. The coin you

found in a Palo Alto cache unlogged, you placed into your own cache. Why not 'grab' it, then drop

it in the Palo Alto cache, then retrieve it so it gets it's proper mileage traveled ?? THEN you

can drop it in your own cache. Now it has lost some of it's traveled miles.

 

It's hard to take complaints seriously when your own logging is inaccurate ...

 

Suggestion >> when dropping COINS, try to find PREMIUM MEMBER ONLY caches to place them in. Little Hia has

6 owned caches, only 1 is a 'premium member' cache. Another one that is a regular size container and has at least

2 VERY nice coins that Little Hia has placed in it, is NOT a premium member cache. That alone is cause to

suspect those coins to disappear into a dark hole. Few new 'members' with no REAL ties to the caching

community would have any remorse about keeping those coins as 'found treasures' in this 'treasure hunt' game,

then disappear into the night as quickly as they arrived on the scene with their handy little cell-toy APP.

 

BTW - another problem that few mention is about the families involved in caching. All too often 'Jr' or 'Missy'

find something they just MUST have ... and mom/dad have no ability to say NO to the child demanding possession

of the shiny trinket. But that's another story for another time and place.

 

Take a chill-pill. Place your items carefully and they WILL travel !! Happy caching....

[+druimmuir]

To those of you who empathised and gave me genuine replies thank you, to some of the others thanks for jumping to wrong conclusions, either way the coin has now been released, MRB39 thank you for your help with this.

 

Reading some of the replies has helped make my mind up that I won't be giving anything back to caching again and won't be placing any more coins, quite simply it's not worth the hassle and has tainted my enjoyment.

[+BassTroutMaster]

I too have lost patience and interest. I have spent time, money, and put in a tremendous effort to have enjoyable caches and travel bugs. I am releasing 6 more travel bugs soon, my last TB tags. If I lose over 50%, I will never send out another TB or geocoin again. My 2 new quality caches that are ready to be placed, won't be placed. I continual feed my 1st 2 caches with TBs.

[+Time_for_a_break]

Little Hiawatha,

 

I don’t know if you’re still reading this forum, but if you are this note might be helpful.

 

I have one of your beautiful coins that I picked up from your cache “Hidden in Plain Sight” on 9/10/13. It wasn’t listed in the cache’s inventory so I entered the tracking number to locate its page. I received a message that it had never been activated. I then sent you an email through your profile page sending you the tracking number in case you wanted to activate it to send it on its way. I never received a reply and the coin was never activated. I also noticed in your logs that you had placed a lot of coins in your caches and I wondered if you had meant them all to be random gifts to cachers. That seemed unusual.

 

Perhaps there was a problem with the way you tried to activate the coins and you forgot to review their pages afterwards. And either your email is incorrect in the database, it’s an old account that you don’t check, or you thought my email was spam. There might have been other conscientious cachers that tried to contact you in the same way about your coins.

 

Feel free to contact me through GC to get the tracking number again for this coin, activate it, and I’ll send it on its way for you. Or I can return it to one of your caches if you wish.

 

Time_for_a_break

Edited November 25, 2013 by Time_for_a_break

[+Little Hiawatha]

Little Hiawatha,

 

I don’t know if you’re still reading this forum, but if you are this note might be helpful.

 

I have one of your beautiful coins that I picked up from your cache “Hidden in Plain Sight” on 9/10/13. It wasn’t listed in the cache’s inventory so I entered the tracking number to locate its page. I received a message that it had never been activated. I then sent you an email through your profile page sending you the tracking number in case you wanted to activate it to send it on its way. I never received a reply and the coin was never activated. I also noticed in your logs that you had placed a lot of coins in your caches and I wondered if you had meant them all to be random gifts to cachers. That seemed unusual.

 

Perhaps there was a problem with the way you tried to activate the coins and you forgot to review their pages afterwards. And either your email is incorrect in the database, it’s an old account that you don’t check, or you thought my email was spam. There might have been other conscientious cachers that tried to contact you in the same way about your coins.

 

Feel free to contact me through GC to get the tracking number again for this coin, activate it, and I’ll send it on its way for you. Or I can return it to one of your caches if you wish.

 

Time_for_a_break

 

Dear Time for a break

 

I know the exact coin you are writing about. It's a nickel finish Year of the Water Snake geocoin. That was the only coin I ever left in a cache unactivated, the only coin I left as a gift. The reason I gave it away was that it was "surplus" from a project for my 6th grade astronomy class. I wanted every snake coin I had activated to belong to a student. Having a lose coin in the mix would have confused things.

 

In any case please enjoy the coin.

 

Little Hiawatha

[+Time_for_a_break]

Little Hiawatha,

 

I don’t know if you’re still reading this forum, but if you are this note might be helpful.

 

I have one of your beautiful coins that I picked up from your cache “Hidden in Plain Sight” on 9/10/13. It wasn’t listed in the cache’s inventory so I entered the tracking number to locate its page. I received a message that it had never been activated. I then sent you an email through your profile page sending you the tracking number in case you wanted to activate it to send it on its way. I never received a reply and the coin was never activated. I also noticed in your logs that you had placed a lot of coins in your caches and I wondered if you had meant them all to be random gifts to cachers. That seemed unusual.

 

Perhaps there was a problem with the way you tried to activate the coins and you forgot to review their pages afterwards. And either your email is incorrect in the database, it’s an old account that you don’t check, or you thought my email was spam. There might have been other conscientious cachers that tried to contact you in the same way about your coins.

 

Feel free to contact me through GC to get the tracking number again for this coin, activate it, and I’ll send it on its way for you. Or I can return it to one of your caches if you wish.

 

Time_for_a_break

 

Dear Time for a break

 

I know the exact coin you are writing about. It's a nickel finish Year of the Water Snake geocoin. That was the only coin I ever left in a cache unactivated, the only coin I left as a gift. The reason I gave it away was that it was "surplus" from a project for my 6th grade astronomy class. I wanted every snake coin I had activated to belong to a student. Having a lose coin in the mix would have confused things.

 

In any case please enjoy the coin.

 

Little Hiawatha

 

Little Hiawatha,

 

Thank you for the attractive coin! I understand why your students are keeping these instead of dropping them in caches. What a fun class project to combine biographies and caching.

 

I noticed that a couple of your coins were dropped last month into caches that have since then only had one visitor, so there’s a good chance they’re still there and will be moved on.

 

Best of luck to your travelers.

[+#Tenzin]

@ MRB3N

 

Since the Cacher didn't do realy anything wrong, except holding a Coin for 4,5 months.

(Now I get that that can be a bit annoying.)

Maybe you can deleate his name over here again.

Now it looks more like a name and shame Topic.

 

Basicly he didn't do anything wrong.

He does idd better take another message when picking up a TB/Coin, but that is still not stealing.

[+jballou]

Little Hiawatha,

 

I don’t know if you’re still reading this forum, but if you are this note might be helpful.

 

I have one of your beautiful coins that I picked up from your cache “Hidden in Plain Sight” on 9/10/13. It wasn’t listed in the cache’s inventory so I entered the tracking number to locate its page. I received a message that it had never been activated. I then sent you an email through your profile page sending you the tracking number in case you wanted to activate it to send it on its way. I never received a reply and the coin was never activated. I also noticed in your logs that you had placed a lot of coins in your caches and I wondered if you had meant them all to be random gifts to cachers. That seemed unusual.

 

Perhaps there was a problem with the way you tried to activate the coins and you forgot to review their pages afterwards. And either your email is incorrect in the database, it’s an old account that you don’t check, or you thought my email was spam. There might have been other conscientious cachers that tried to contact you in the same way about your coins.

 

Feel free to contact me through GC to get the tracking number again for this coin, activate it, and I’ll send it on its way for you. Or I can return it to one of your caches if you wish.

 

Time_for_a_break

 

Dear Time for a break

 

I know the exact coin you are writing about. It's a nickel finish Year of the Water Snake geocoin. That was the only coin I ever left in a cache unactivated, the only coin I left as a gift. The reason I gave it away was that it was "surplus" from a project for my 6th grade astronomy class. I wanted every snake coin I had activated to belong to a student. Having a lose coin in the mix would have confused things.

 

In any case please enjoy the coin.

 

Little Hiawatha

 

Hi,

 

I just picked up "Year of the Water Snake" and am glad I found this conversation in the forum.

 

Any objections to me putting the coin into action by registering it?

 

jballou

[+JoenGPS]

Little Hiawatha,

 

I don’t know if you’re still reading this forum, but if you are this note might be helpful.

 

I have one of your beautiful coins that I picked up from your cache “Hidden in Plain Sight” on 9/10/13. It wasn’t listed in the cache’s inventory so I entered the tracking number to locate its page. I received a message that it had never been activated. I then sent you an email through your profile page sending you the tracking number in case you wanted to activate it to send it on its way. I never received a reply and the coin was never activated. I also noticed in your logs that you had placed a lot of coins in your caches and I wondered if you had meant them all to be random gifts to cachers. That seemed unusual.

 

Perhaps there was a problem with the way you tried to activate the coins and you forgot to review their pages afterwards. And either your email is incorrect in the database, it’s an old account that you don’t check, or you thought my email was spam. There might have been other conscientious cachers that tried to contact you in the same way about your coins.

 

Feel free to contact me through GC to get the tracking number again for this coin, activate it, and I’ll send it on its way for you. Or I can return it to one of your caches if you wish.

 

Time_for_a_break

 

Dear Time for a break

 

I know the exact coin you are writing about. It's a nickel finish Year of the Water Snake geocoin. That was the only coin I ever left in a cache unactivated, the only coin I left as a gift. The reason I gave it away was that it was "surplus" from a project for my 6th grade astronomy class. I wanted every snake coin I had activated to belong to a student. Having a lose coin in the mix would have confused things.

 

In any case please enjoy the coin.

 

Little Hiawatha

 

Hi,

 

I just picked up "Year of the Water Snake" and am glad I found this conversation in the forum.

 

Any objections to me putting the coin into action by registering it?

 

jballou

 

If you found a trackable unactivated coin in a cache..... for whatever reason, it's yours. If it has no mission attached to it go for it. You may also use this once activated to track your travels or events you go to. The snake is pretty popular and we would bet it may not last very long as a traveler in caches and would go missing. Activate it , allow discoveries, and track your own adventures is our advice

Edited August 11, 2014 by JoenSue

[ChefHazmat]

Its been said countless times that if you have any sentimental value to a trackable you don't place it, because you're basically trusting something personal to strangers. Just like you don't give out your house key to some random person and not expect them to take something from your house.

[+ZSandmann]

As I've said for years now the trackable concept is dead. With the addition of the Introductory App that doesn't event make a user register an email or visit gc.com there is no way to communicate with new cachers that don't understand trackables and think they are swag or lose interest after a handful of finds. Geocoins are relagated to collectors items only and all TBs are doomed. It was fun while it lasted.

[+nevadanick]

I can't agree that it is 'dead' ... but traveling trackables are certainly curtailed now by the lack of concern by GS preferring APP profits to preserving the game they created.

 

My geocoin addict partner still sends trackables out into the wild, but mostly travel tags and copy/proxy tags. Still fun to watch them travel the world. She has some that have survived several years on the road and many that have traveled the world. Once in a while, a long lost traveler surfaces ... which is always a pleasure to see. Some of her early releases were 'coins' and some are still active.

 

But the actual 'releasing geocoins' has taken a nose dive. I have about 200 active hides and seldom see a true GEOCOIN pass through. Most are trackable tags in one form or another. Unfortunately, growth of participants in ANY hobby seems to take a toll on the pleasure derived. I would personally prefer to live in the time frame I enjoyed most ... 1970-1995 ... but if I could go back to that time zone, I wouldn't even be typing this. You give some, lose some, and take some. Hopefully it balances out in the end.

 

As a fun mission this summer, some of the forum members here participated in the Summer Road Trip Mission. That mission included sending out geocoins, not just trackables, to see how far and how long they will travel. Watch the Summer Road Trip thread for updates on the geocoin travel updates.