FTF Trackable

[mommylawyer]

I'm somewhat new to Geocaching. I understand what to do with trackables, but I've come across an FTF trackable tag. How do FTFs work, in general? Do I send this tag on? (I've already logged it.). Just a newbie trying to learn the ropes. Thanks!

[+T.D.M.22]

FTF is First To Find-which is the first person to find a cache. Since you've already logged it, that means it has been activated and is owned by someone. You should always move activated trackables along. They do belong to someone, so they are not yours to keep. It would assume, someone left it as a prize for FTF(some leave coins, some leave other stuff, but you don't have to leave any prizes for FTF) and JackWabbit was the person who got it, so they released it. There are many, many, many different trackables and they ALL work the same.

[mommylawyer]

Thank you so much! I will move it along in the next couple of days!

[+terrkan78]

Just to expand a little on what T.D.M.22 said, it looks to me like the trackable you found is called a "First to Find Micro Geoaward" trackble (I haven't seen one called that before myself), and I'm guessing it was originally meant as a prize for the first person who found a particular cache. Now that it's been activated by someone, it's just a regular trackable moving around from cache to cache.

 

A lot of times (particularly in caches located in or near populated areas) there can be fierce (but friendly) competition to be the first to find ("FTF") on any given cache. And by that I mean that within five-ten minutes of the cache being published, it's likely that someone will be at the location searching already. You've got to be fast to be FTF...astonishingly fast. If you're a premium member, you can set "notifications" so you'll get an e-mail the instant a cache is published. It can be a fun race to see who gets it first, especially if you get to know the people you're racing against (sometimes you'll meet them at the cache location).

 

I used to drop everything and run when the e-mail came in and I saw that the cache was close enough to my home for me to have a chance at being FTF - I'd be out there in slippers and PJs, after dark, no flashlight, slipping around in mud and sticker bushes, worried that I was too late. There's got to be some psychological issue there somewhere.

 

Once is a great while I'll happen upon a cache out in the middle of nowhere (away from town) and I'll be the first to find some time after it's been published (days, weeks). But that's been very rare for me.

[+Phydouxe]

Here I go reviving an ancient thread...

So when leaving a FTF trackable coin in a new cache, would I activate and leave it, or would I put it in with all packaging and the FTF is the one who activates it, and thus it "belongs" to them as the reward for FTFing?

[+cerberus1]

16 minutes ago, Phydouxe said:

Here I go reviving an ancient thread...
So when leaving a FTF trackable coin in a new cache, would I activate and leave it, or would I put it in with all packaging and the FTF is the one who activates it, and thus it "belongs" to them as the reward for FTFing?

 

If you were to be FTF on a cache, and a trackable was already activated to someone else, would you call that a FTF prize ?  

The few times we left trackables as a FTF prize, we left them unactivated, so it belongs to them.  A prize.

You don't have to leave a FTF prize when placing a cache, most now want that FTF for stats.  

We leave unactivated trackables (coins mostly) as swag anymore...

[+Max and 99]

47 minutes ago, Phydouxe said:

Here I go reviving an ancient thread...

So when leaving a FTF trackable coin in a new cache, would I activate and leave it, or would I put it in with all packaging and the FTF is the one who activates it, and thus it "belongs" to them as the reward for FTFing?

It's a worthless gift to me if it's activated in your name. 

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, Phydouxe said:

Here I go reviving an ancient thread...

So when leaving a FTF trackable coin in a new cache, would I activate and leave it, or would I put it in with all packaging and the FTF is the one who activates it, and thus it "belongs" to them as the reward for FTFing?

As mentioned, it’s not much of a “prize” if already activated and owned by somebody.  Someone finding it as FTF might be confused about its availability as a “prize”.  It’s fun to have a prize, but not necessary.  
 

You may be surprised at what cachers take - and what they don’t.  
 

If it isn’t activated when placed, make a little personal note to yourself of the Tracking Code.  I’ve placed unactivated coins in various caches, and the coins tend to evaporate.  No trace.  I kind of like to see what became of it, if it’s ever activated.

[Ranger Fox]

I've come across this situation in several different ways:

• The trackable is not activated. 
  • The cache owner intends it as a prize.  I usually keep the coin or whatever as a prize.  I don't trade the item or give it away because it was as gift to me.
  • Sometimes, the owner intended for me to activate the trackable and send it on its way.  I'd hope the cache owner would let me know that, but that's not usually the case.
• The trackable is activated
  • The cache owner activated the trackable and wanted the FTF to move it to another cache, yet called it an FTF prize.  I've gotten into trouble because if it's termed as an "FTF prize", I don't usually look up the trackable to see if it's activated.  The cache owner would then contact me and sometimes "ask" me to move it to another cache, with varying degrees of politeness.
  • The cache owner later intended to adopt the trackable to me.  When that happens, at times I move it along and other times I just keep it.
  • A year later, the cache owner saw I had kept the activated trackable, so wanted to use the number and move the trackable.  It looked like the person had made a mistake, putting the wrong trackable in the cache?  The cache owner asked for the FTF prize back so s/he could circulate it in the wild.  I have no choice but to comply because I'm the top cacher in the area, have many different unactivated trackables, the person is a casual cacher, and I like being nice to people.

[+barefootjeff]

On 6/24/2021 at 12:27 AM, Ranger Fox said:

The cache owner activated the trackable and wanted the FTF to move it to another cache, yet called it an FTF prize.  I've gotten into trouble because if it's termed as an "FTF prize", I don't usually look up the trackable to see if it's activated.  The cache owner would then contact me and sometimes "ask" me to move it to another cache, with varying degrees of politeness.

 

There was a series of puzzle caches published near here a few years back that each included a FTF trackable. The CO didn't call it a prize, though, but instead wrote in the description: "We have available for the first finder the newly activated XXXXXXXX FTF TB to grab and decide how and where its journey shall begin." I ended up getting FTF on all but two of them (mostly four or five days after publication - FTF races happen at snail's pace here) and had a bit of extra fun finding places to drop those themed TBs off.

Edited June 26, 2021 by barefootjeff