How long should someone hold onto a Travel Bug

[+wassy42]

Hi Folks, I have a problem, one of my TB's has been picked up from a cache and has been in the hands of the same Geocacher for over a month now, I have check their activity and they have been to other suitable caches where they could have moved it along, but they still have it and it's not moving or even visiting. When should I be thinking of contacting the person involved and asking the question? Any help, ideas of how to approach this with the person or any TB etiquette I need to know?

Happy Caching

wassy42

[+whh0]

There isn't an exact answer to that one. My tb has been in the hands of someone since January but they do not have a validated e mail so I cannot contact them...... Someone had my daughters bug for 6 months before they moved it on, we contacted them after 5 months and they had forgotten they had it!

 

Does you tb have a particular goal? Maybe the caches they have visited doesn't meet the criteria or they have forgotten to take it out with them (we have done this before)

 

Personally, I wouldn't think of contacting them for at least 3 or 4 months.

[+NanCycle]

Just chill. Get more TBs out in the world and you won't obsess over each one so much. (Worked for me.)

[+sarahmcmur]

Someone had one of mine for over a month, so I just dropped them a friendly email, thanking them for picking it up and if they would have a chance to move it along soon. It was dropped in another cache within a few days. What's the harm in asking?

[+Panther&Pine]

I generally check on my bugs every six months or so, I look to see if the cache has been found, has anyone mentioned bugs being there or noted they are all gone, then if someone has had them for 3 or more months I send one email and call it good.

[+kunarion]

When should I be thinking of contacting the person involved and asking the question?

If you have information to post, do so on the TB's page. Something like, "If you take this TB, place it into a cache as soon as possible. If you can't find another cache, place it back into the container where you found it." There should never have been a "in two weeks" deadline by Geocaching.com (their suggested guideline). Take a TB, place it into a cache, or do not take it in the first place. What's with the "two weeks"! People seem to think it means "take and keep TBs".

 

If it's been a long time, a log like "I haven't heard fom [this TB name] in a while. If you see him, ask him to write", may encourage the holder to take some positive action. It at least lets people know there's a problem. Most Trackable Owners don't bother with light reminders, then wait for a year or so and go straight for the jugular (and then they wonder why the holder won't reply . Go figure).

 

Use text from Instant Karma for inspiration.

 

It should be the holder who contacts the Owner, not the other way around. Why would you take something trackable that obviously doesn't belong to you, and then wait for the Owner to complain! People who do that need to get help, and need to be monitored closely in person, they have serious issues. They shouldn't be allowed to "take" things ever.

 

Everyone please go check your Inventory right now, and if there are Trackables listed that are not owned by you, type a log in the Trackable's page with an update, regardless of how long you've held it. Don't make the Owners guess what you're up to. Do not rely on "PM" email to send such an important message.

Edited May 23, 2014 by kunarion

[+Panther&Pine]

Oh, my email to owners is as follows.

 

Hello, I see my TBxxxx has been riding around with you for a while. If you are no longer caching let me know and I can get postage to you to send him on his way back towards me. If you can't find him, that's okay to, life happens just let me know. If you are still caching could you find a safe place for him in a geocache and let him go?

 

Thanks for giving my TB a great ride around.

[+kunarion]

Oh, my email to owners is as follows.

 

Hello, I see my TBxxxx has been riding around with you for a while. If you are no longer caching let me know and I can get postage to you to send him on his way back towards me. If you can't find him, that's okay to, life happens just let me know. If you are still caching could you find a safe place for him in a geocache and let him go?

 

Thanks for giving my TB a great ride around.

Sounds good (if it doesn't involve several more emails). Any success with that? Are you constantly having to send postage as each cacher takes and keeps the TB? Take, long delay, mail it back to you, next guy, take, delay, mail it back to you...

 

Just wondering. I can't knock it if it works.

Edited May 23, 2014 by kunarion

[+Panther&Pine]

Oh, my email to owners is as follows.

 

Hello, I see my TBxxxx has been riding around with you for a while. If you are no longer caching let me know and I can get postage to you to send him on his way back towards me. If you can't find him, that's okay to, life happens just let me know. If you are still caching could you find a safe place for him in a geocache and let him go?

 

Thanks for giving my TB a great ride around.

Sounds good (if it doesn't involve several more emails). Any success with that? Are you constantly having to send postage as each cacher takes and keeps the TB? Take, long delay, mail it back to you, next guy, take, delay, mail it back to you...

 

Just wondering. I can't knock it if it works.

I've had two returned to the wild and one mailed back, which out of six emails sent out isn't bad.

[+wassy42]

Hi Guys, some good response and I thank you all, This particular TB does have a goal and that's why I am concerned it has been held for so long, also given the person is active and has gone to several caches which this TB would have benefited from. Each TB we let into the world means something to us, otherwise why would we do it? We want to see them reach the goals we set. I think I'll be contacting the Geocacher very soon on a friendly basis. If it's lost, then so be it, it's the not knowing that is the difficult part and if it has gone, then good to know that and I can move on and let another go for the same goal, might do that anyway for the craic. All in the name of fun, but at the end of the day we put them out there to complete the task in which we assigned them.

[+Sagefox]

Oh, my email to owners is as follows.

 

Hello, I see my TBxxxx has been riding around with you for a while. If you are no longer caching let me know and I can get postage to you to send him on his way back towards me. If you can't find him, that's okay to, life happens just let me know. If you are still caching could you find a safe place for him in a geocache and let him go?

 

Thanks for giving my TB a great ride around.

 

I like this. I am going to tweak it a bit and use it for our stalled bugs. I, too, check every few months, or so, and write to folks when they have had the trackable for a long time (two, three months, say).

[+ramblingduck]

There are times when a cache may appear suitable for TB's on the website, but from ground zero just isn't somewhere you want to leave a TB. I had every intention of dropping a few TBs into a cache just yesterday. It was a regular size cache alongside a busy highway so I thought it would be a great TB rest area. Turns out the container was a smaller size tupperware with large cracks in it. TBs and other swag could fall right out of the container while you lifted it from a rather awkward hiding spot. It was also a rather muggleable spot as there were RVs parked less than 50 feet away in plain sight of the cache. Well I didn't leave any TBs there. The other caches I visited yesterday were well off the beaten path and I didn't want to leave the TBs in a spot that was receiving visits once every 2 years on average. I do log visits while I carry a TB just to show it is still moving and try to write a note every 10 or so caches so its not just an endless string of blank visit logs. Some cachers dislike the visit note and won't log the TB until they actually drop it. While I would like to see TBs move along within a month it is rather common for them to hang out with a single cacher for several months. I am even guilty of this and I do try and move TBs along as quickly as possible.

[+TriciaG]

I like to look at where the TB's I've helped travel are now. There's one that someone picked up last October and that has pages and pages of visit logs - no comments, just "visited" a gazillion caches. It's probably a setting on his app - auto-visit all caches he finds. It's annoying to page through all that! When I have a TB for longer than I really should, I now tend to log only one or maybe two caches on each caching day. That way it logs some miles and shows as active, but the log doesn't fill up with caches every 200 meters. I'll also write a note once in a while to show I still know I have it and to communicate any plans I have. (We recently took a 600-km road trip, so I held on to a few TBs longer than I normally would in order to bring them with me.)

[cezanne]

Hi Folks, I have a problem, one of my TB's has been picked up from a cache and has been in the hands of the same Geocacher for over a month now, I have check their activity and they have been to other suitable caches where they could have moved it along, but they still have it and it's not moving or even visiting. When should I be thinking of contacting the person involved and asking the question? Any help, ideas of how to approach this with the person or any TB etiquette I need to know?

 

Many trackable owners do not like visited logs. It has happened several times that I did not manage to drop a trackable off within a month. On the one hand, micros and very small caches get more frequent and among the caches with containers that are large enough there are quite a number that are hidden at unsafe places or which do not get enough visits. The majority of cachers in my area does not take trackables along any longer.

Moreover, in general I do not leave more than 2, at most 3 trackables in a single cache. So it can take a while until I get rid of all trackables I have in my inventory.

 

Personally, I do not write reminder mails for trackables until 3 months have expired. If someone mails me already after 2 weeks, I will of course reply, but to be honest, will feel annoyed at the same time and I certainly will not move the trackable any faster than I would have done anyway.

 

 

Cezanne

[+TrinIzzyCar]

I picked one up out of a cache a while back a month ago maybe longer I wanted to move it on A caching trip I was planning until my truck broke I just keep forgetting to drop it in my cache. Thanks for reminding me I will drop it tmrw.

[+AckerAce]

Unfortunately, our experience is that most travel bugs are just kept and the cachers who have possession of them don't respond to friendly emails. I've sent a lot of friendly emails and never hear from people. It's truly disheartening. I wish there was an authority that would help us with this problem. :-(

 

I hope you have a different experience: good luck!!