Very disappointed

[+meviva]

Two weeks ago I placed my first trackable in a cache. This weekend I went to look if it was still there, it was gone. No one has logged it as retrieved. I am hoping someone will do so soon. Are there any tips for placing trackable so they have a chance? Is it better to place them in member only caches? I'm so bummed.

 

Thanks!

[+J Grouchy]

Two weeks ago I placed my first trackable in a cache. This weekend I went to look if it was still there, it was gone. No one has logged it as retrieved. I am hoping someone will do so soon. Are there any tips for placing trackable so they have a chance? Is it better to place them in member only caches? I'm so bummed.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Been there. Many have. In fact, I'm betting the vast majority of trackable owners have lost trackables to thieves. Give it time before doing anything. A lot of times people hold onto it before logging it, or drop it into a different cache without logging it - either out of ignorance or just not caring to put forth such tremendous effort...

 

I'd say give it up to 90 days before you mark it missing or try to track it down.

 

(Probably need to move this thread...)

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Travel Bug forum.

[+meviva]

Thanks Grouchy……. I will give it some time before I mark it as missing.

 

I was just thinking and wondering if this is allowed. Could I take a picture or scan both sides of my travel bug or geocoin and laminate it and then put it in a cache? That way I get to keep the TB or coin and the laminated copy could go on the mission. If the laminated copy goes missing then another could be made and sent out again. I'm new to this and have bought quite a few coins and bug/tags….I would like to release some but I really don't want to lose them.

 

Thanks again.

[+kunarion]

Could I take a picture or scan both sides of my travel bug or geocoin and laminate it and then put it in a cache? That way I get to keep the TB or coin and the laminated copy could go on the mission.

That can work. Usually, people wait a while, since if the original turns up, things may get complicated.

 

One of my coins which seemed to fade away, was placed in a cache last week. It had been out of circulation for over a year. Some of my other trackables had similar results, including a TB that I had marked missing and had made a revived version ready to place.

 

Travel Bugs are in the wind. You place one and watch what happens. That's not everyone's cup of tea, because you have almost no control over what will happen.

[Space*Cadet]

Thanks Grouchy……. I will give it some time before I mark it as missing.

 

I was just thinking and wondering if this is allowed. Could I take a picture or scan both sides of my travel bug or geocoin and laminate it and then put it in a cache? That way I get to keep the TB or coin and the laminated copy could go on the mission. If the laminated copy goes missing then another could be made and sent out again. I'm new to this and have bought quite a few coins and bug/tags….I would like to release some but I really don't want to lose them.

 

Thanks again.

I checked out the trackable's you own and the only one that I see that was placed in a cache and has not been "retrieved" yet looks to be your Cachekinz Ocean Series Shark "Going to Germany"? If this is the one you are referring to? I see where someone called "CLW" logged finding the cache your traveler was in "GC2FAK2 Dead Mans Curve" on 6/24 and in his log he states "Good luck to the Trackable". I don't know if he took it or left it, but I would start their by sending messages to him and all others that found the cache after him, and ask if they remember seeing your traveler, or possibly retrieving it and just have not logged doing so yet? This may help jog someone's memory. Good Luck! Hope it turns up!

Edited July 7, 2014 by Space*Cadet

[+Lieblweb]

It's the chance you take when you release trackables into the wild.

 

You take it 'one day at a time' and BE HAPPY for each and every move they make because they can disappear in a heartbeat.

 

I've got 9 trackables. Four of them are missing - all of them have been missing for more than 1 year (I can re-release them anytime). I've re-released 2 of them so far - of which, one of them has disappeared AGAIN. Ironically...the trackable name is "Don't Steal Me"

 

My one saving grace.....my very first trackable I ever bought....back in 2002, is still alive and traveling in Germany!!

 

I dunno....but, I think the trackables last longer overseas than they do here in the U.S.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Yeah. They seem to last longer in Europe. But can spend many months visiting caches.

I've released 41 trackables. Four have moved this year.

37 are missing. Including one that moved 47000 miles. Three were stolen out of the cache I put them in!

Sometimes, they do come back after a few years. But don't count on it. That's why I've stopped releasing trackables.

My personal geocoin has travelled 22000 miles!

[+meviva]

Space Cadet…yes it's the Shark going to Germany that I am referring to. I have been following the cache that I put him in and have seen a lot of people finding the cache but no one ever mentioned retrieving the shark, so that's when I decided to go look for myself. I've been reading a lot of the posts on here and I see I'm not the only one this has happened to. I'm going to give it some time because it looks like the missing do turn up sometimes. It's only been 2 weeks so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

Lieblweb…..I would be thrilled if it had made a move. It was my first trackable placed and it didn't go anywhere…..It's mission is to go to Germany to my cousin's town so that he can retrieve it…he is the one that introduced me to geocaching. When you say you re-released it, how did you do it? Just looking for an alternate way of doing this without losing the original coin or tag.

 

Thanks

Edited July 8, 2014 by meviva

[+J Grouchy]

I had one of mine seemingly languishing in a cache for a while...then a few weeks or months later someone logged it as finding it in a completely different cache. Some folks just don't understand the concept of logging and tracking it for some reason. It's frustrating and I stopped spending my own money on trackables...though I have received a few as gifts.

[+Team Dredd]

Thanks Grouchy……. I will give it some time before I mark it as missing.

 

I was just thinking and wondering if this is allowed. Could I take a picture or scan both sides of my travel bug or geocoin and laminate it and then put it in a cache? That way I get to keep the TB or coin and the laminated copy could go on the mission. If the laminated copy goes missing then another could be made and sent out again. I'm new to this and have bought quite a few coins and bug/tags….I would like to release some but I really don't want to lose them.

 

Thanks again.

 

We have about 24 TB's out or in inventory ready to be released to the world, we really enjoy watching them move. I can tell you it does take a bit of "paying attention" and sometimes searching through logs to see who may have your TB. Usually most will answer your messages and let you know if they have or do not have your TB's. I do a high detail scan of the front and back of each TB in case we need to release a proxy some day. So far we only did one proxy because the cache one of our TB's had been put in was destroyed and replaced (according the the CO) right after the TB was placed in it, the laminated proxy is still moving.

 

We also have some very nice Geocoins that are out in laminated proxy. We have bought some nice commemorative coins and geo-achievement coins that we keep for show at events or for friends etc. We put laminated proxy coins out in their place so other cachers can log them too. We have had pretty good luck with our trackables so far but if one does eventually disappear for good it's OK because we can put a proxy out from the high detail scans we made. I see no problem with replacing an MIA trackable with a proxy if they go missing, but as stated above I would wait a good while. Not sure how long to wait because none of ours have just vanished without a trace yet. We have talked about this issue and are thinking if one is MIA for a year + we would probably replace it with a proxy if we could not figure out what happened to it. I can only imagine how confusing it would be if a TB was replaced with a proxy and then the original turned up and started moving too.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Team Dredd

[+hzoi]

Sorry to hear it, I know that can be frustrating.

 

We've lost many a trackable over the years, several dozen in fact. I was pretty upset the first couple times. Over time I have become less upset, but it's still disappointing.

 

Bottom line, once it leaves your hands, you lose all control. Once you accept that, it's easier to manage your expectations.

 

You can try following up with other folks who have logged finds on the cache since then and try to track it down - keep in mind it may be their first TB too and you might be writing to a child, so be nice.

 

I hope it turns up.

[+meviva]

Thanks hzoi……..I will give it time and see what happens before I start looking for it. I see that this is fairly common and they do turn up sometime. I have many coins/tags (with more on the way) that I have decided to collect and only release a laminated copy into the wild. That way it won't be as disappointing and can still have the fun.

[+baack40]

I love moving trackables. Since the Intro App and Free App has come out, I only place them in Premium Only Caches. Too many kids are downloading the free apps and going out and stealing them and some are even brazen enough to write in some of my log books that they "took the coin. Going to look for more to add to my collection." At least with Premium Caches there is an email address that you can write to ask if they saw it or if they picked it up and just forgot to log it. I have had luck with such emails and some replied oh yeah it was in the bottom of my geobag and had forgotten about it, thanks for the reminder. Really great coins I try to hand off to another cacher at a meeting or something and let them move it along if I can. That way lots of people at least get to discover them at the meeting. Also by handing them off at the meetings a lot of times it gets them going in the right direction if someone is taking a trip somewhere.

 

I personally have had no success with my owned trackables. Am hesitant in placing any more but thankful for the people that do send them out Always feel bad when one comes up missing and it belongs to a child or a classroom etc. What does this teach the kids? Well, maybe it teaches them not to take something that doesn't belong to them because they now know how it feels. Maybe a life's lesson I guess but sad that they were the victims of theft.

[+cerberus1]

I love moving trackables. Since the Intro App and Free App has come out, I only place them in Premium Only Caches. Too many kids are downloading the free apps and going out and stealing them and some are even brazen enough to write in some of my log books that they "took the coin. Going to look for more to add to my collection." At least with Premium Caches there is an email address that you can write to ask if they saw it or if they picked it up and just forgot to log it. I have had luck with such emails and some replied oh yeah it was in the bottom of my geobag and had forgotten about it, thanks for the reminder. Really great coins I try to hand off to another cacher at a meeting or something and let them move it along if I can. That way lots of people at least get to discover them at the meeting. Also by handing them off at the meetings a lot of times it gets them going in the right direction if someone is taking a trip somewhere.

 

I personally have had no success with my owned trackables. Am hesitant in placing any more but thankful for the people that do send them out Always feel bad when one comes up missing and it belongs to a child or a classroom etc. What does this teach the kids? Well, maybe it teaches them not to take something that doesn't belong to them because they now know how it feels. Maybe a life's lesson I guess but sad that they were the victims of theft.

Really surprised that people still believe this.

You can have the full app and be a premium member without ever logging into this site, supplying an email address.

Further, a basic member can log a "premium" cache without ever going on the audit, or supplying an email address.

[+timodawson]

Placed my first travel bug (TB5KWDD) in my first cache (GC587CD) ten days ago. Bug is gone, emailed everyone that has posted they found the cache as so far everyone is saying they never saw it. Still waiting on a couple people but it is super frustrating. I know it's only been a few days but it would have been nice to see it move at least once. Marked as missing so no one thinks it's in my cache when it isn't.

[+Bear and Ragged]

Placed my first travel bug (TB5KWDD) in my first cache (GC587CD) ten days ago. Bug is gone, emailed everyone that has posted they found the cache as so far everyone is saying they never saw it. Still waiting on a couple people but it is super frustrating. I know it's only been a few days but it would have been nice to see it move at least once. Marked as missing so no one thinks it's in my cache when it isn't.

 

10 days is a short time period.

If someone is on a 2 week holiday, and without access to the internet so they can log, it could be 14+ days before they start logging caches and TB's.

 

There is still hope!

[+cerberus1]

Placed my first travel bug (TB5KWDD) in my first cache (GC587CD) ten days ago. Bug is gone, emailed everyone that has posted they found the cache as so far everyone is saying they never saw it. Still waiting on a couple people but it is super frustrating. I know it's only been a few days but it would have been nice to see it move at least once. Marked as missing so no one thinks it's in my cache when it isn't.

Maybe it's in someone's pocket, in-between the seat and console...

- Hopefully not banging around in the dryer before they notice.

Everyone likes to blame the new kids, but I've met many with years in and thousands of finds in such a hurry to get to the next (that numbers thing ya know...) they forget.

[+timodawson]

Placed my first travel bug (TB5KWDD) in my first cache (GC587CD) ten days ago. Bug is gone, emailed everyone that has posted they found the cache as so far everyone is saying they never saw it. Still waiting on a couple people but it is super frustrating. I know it's only been a few days but it would have been nice to see it move at least once. Marked as missing so no one thinks it's in my cache when it isn't.

 

10 days is a short time period.

If someone is on a 2 week holiday, and without access to the internet so they can log, it could be 14+ days before they start logging caches and TB's.

 

There is still hope!

I hope it does show up but who doesn't have access to the internet for 10 days in this day and age? I'm in the Portland Metro Area also known as the "Silicon Forest", the internet is everywhere.

[+Scratch Ankle]

Try Boundary Waters Canoe Area -- no cell phone coverage and you can barely can pick up a radio station. And you don't carry things you don't have a use for. So for 12 days we had no access to anything except ourselves. Saw one airplane go over head. Great way to spend a vacation. The internet ain't everywhere -- maybe it seems to be in Portland Metro Area but the world isn't Portland Metro.

 

You are way too concerned this soon about one not being logged. Relax. And if you haven't figured it out from the other posts it may never show up. It isn't worth the annoyance if it never does. If it disappears it disappears. I figured this out before ever placing mine. It now appears to be missing (several months now). It isn't bothering me. I knew this going in. What did cause me some minor annoyance was the fact that a tag was attached explaining the goal of going to Arizona. I placed it in western New York. The first several finders took it northeast when it needed to be going southwest albeit not great distances in the wrong direction. Someone finally took it to Michigan. Great. Someone picked it up and took it to Texas. Terrific. Guy picked it up and promised to move it on. He took it back to Michigan. ?????????? And that's where it disappeared.

 

Am I overly annoyed by this? No. I've read plenty of logs of trackables with goals and they don't seem to move to places to meet the goal they just get moved. And the logs will show that several disappeared. So you release one knowing this and celebrate when things work out and accept it with good graces when they don't. It ain't the way it's supposed to be but it is the way it is. And if you can't accept that, trackables probably aren't for you.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

...the internet is everywhere.

Got a chuckle out of me, too.

 

Missing for 10 days is not missing. A month doesn't even constitute missing for a trackable. Most don't even start thinking about one missing until say, three months or more.

 

Ya know... there is a downside to marking a trackable as 'Missing' too quickly.

Not an insurmountable downside from your viewpoint, but it can cause angst for the person with your trackable in-hand.

 

Now that you have marked it as Missing, you have relieved it from the inventory of the person that does have it (they do not receive any notification of your maneuver of marking as missing, even happened).

Not in their inventory, they have no way to (properly) log it into a cache should they attempt to do so.

What generally happens at this point, that person attempts to log your trackable into a cache. Sure they place it, but they cannot log the placement. Confused and frustrated at not knowing why they cannot log it, they just walk away.

Your trackable now sits in a cache, not listed in the cache inventory.... and you aren't even aware of that, nor is anyone else.

Sure, it can and usually is picked up with a 'Grab' later on which places the trackable back into the game.

 

So... all is well, right?

Well... no, not really.

 

Your personal view (I call it a "one-way" view) of jumping-the-gun causes undue confusion and frustration for another player, when it really wasn't necessary to do that. Your one-way view saw the maneuver as being the correct action to take. You seem to forget that other folks in this recreation (game) may have other stuff to do rather than just geocaching. Again, 10 days is not hardly long enough to consider your trackable as missing.

 

Ah yes, your speedy action of marking it a 'Missing' just may even aid in the "true" disappearance of your trackable... forever.

Try that one on for size.

 

You might want to think outside of your own little "bubble"... the internet, cell phone coverage, the way others may play the game or move trackables isn't necessarily the same as within your little bubble.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+Team Dredd]

We have quite a few TB's out it is one part of caching I really enjoy, marking one missing after 10 days is sort of jumping the gun IMHO. Marking one missing will make it no longer show up in who ever has logged it into their inventory when they picked it up as stated above , IF THEY LOGGED IT when they picked it up. We have some that are still with us that we haven't released into the wild yet, waiting on the right cahce as we move along, but quite a few are out on their journey.

 

We keep pretty close tabs on the TB's we have released (as best we can anyway). Usually with ours, the ones that show no activity for a while are actually with a cacher. For some reason that we just don't understand sometimes a cacher, including experienced premium members grab TB's with the intent to move them but don't log them as retrieved. Then they will go about caching for months carrying the TB but never show it as visited. Then they will drop it in a cache like they should and even post in the cache log sometimes that they dropped a TB but never enter anything on the TB's page. I don't know why they do that but it is common and usually after a long while the TB will be found in some cache and logged by another cacher and the journey begins again.

 

We will send nice courtious messages to cachers who we believe have one of our TB's that wasn't logged for months to see if they have it. We usually get a nice response and sometimes the response is yes they have it and they will drop it off somewhere or another. We thank them courteously with out asking or requesting they do anything, and then just make a note of it so we know. Just recently this log showed up on our TB "TB5QTJS - Badge on Patrol":

 

07/06/2014 foon discovered it Visit Log

RavRobin, BenH57, and I found this TB in Chomp This! in California, not Dry Eyes in Tennessee. Wonder how it got moved? BenH57 took the TB, so maybe he'll do the research?

 

According to this post (thanks Foon if you read this) Someone moved it to a cache a thousand + miles away in California without ever logging it and it was found and retrieved by BenH57. Even though it wasn't logged it is still cool that it moved that far and we enjoyed seeing this post. It still has not been logged as found or retrieved and still shows in the Dryeyes cache in Tennessee. After 90 days or so we will send a courteous message to Ben to see if he still has it just for an update.

 

I guess my point to the original poster is I would suggest waiting a while before you mark a TB as missing. Also, if you are the type of personality that gets bugged out by your TB's going missing, you can always put out a PROXY, just be careful to make sure they are really missing before you go that route because if the original shows up you will have two TB's moving around with the same tracking number and it will become confusing. We have a proxy out for our TB "Shawn of the Dead" (a zombie TB). It was placed in a cache by the CO and then almost immediately after the CO archived it because the container was known to have been destroyed along with all it's contents. So far that is the only TB we have put a proxy out for; except some Geocoins that were laminated proxies to begin with but they have not had to be replaced.

 

On one last note, a CO can also mark a TB as missing from their cache if it is not in the cache it should be in. We refrain from doing this as well because of circumstances just like "Badge on Patrol". After 30 days of so if a TB still shows in one of our caches and it is not there we will post a note on the TB page and send a message to the owner that it is no longer in the cache, then we just let the TB owner handle it. My point here I guess would be I suggest not to be to quick to mark someone else's TB as missing either.

[+kunarion]

For some reason that we just don't understand sometimes a cacher, including experienced premium members grab TB's with the intent to move them but don't log them as retrieved. Then they will go about caching for months carrying the TB but never show it as visited. Then they will drop it in a cache like they should and even post in the cache log sometimes that they dropped a TB but never enter anything on the TB's page.

It may be a combination of poor handling of property, not understanding the logging process, and losing track of time. And embarrassment, preferring not to admit mishandling the Trackable.

 

I'll take a moment to remind everybody: Go take a look at your Trackable Inventory right now. If any are not owned by you, please go type some informative log notes on those Trackable pages. Never mind if you've only held it a month, let the Owner off the hook. And go place them into a decent cache and log them. Don't wait "two weeks". If "no caches are big enough", place the Trackable back into the cache you got it from. Once your Inventory is clean, consider taking a break from taking Trackables.

Edited July 15, 2014 by kunarion

[+Eartha]

Give it some time.

You can make a proxy,(Search these forums for proxy), or release the copy tag, if you have one. But I would wait at least six months before doing that. The longest record that I'm aware of, for a TB to reappear is eleven years. They do come back. Did you have it labeled with a goal tag? Sometimes people don't log them until they drop then off. It's vacation time in a lot of places, so give it time.

[+Crow-T-Robot]

...the internet is everywhere.

Got a chuckle out of me, too.

 

Missing for 10 days is not missing. A month doesn't even constitute missing for a trackable. Most don't even start thinking about one missing until say, three months or more.

 

Ya know... there is a downside to marking a trackable as 'Missing' too quickly.

Not an insurmountable downside from your viewpoint, but it can cause angst for the person with your trackable in-hand.

 

Now that you have marked it as Missing, you have relieved it from the inventory of the person that does have it (they do not receive any notification of your maneuver of marking as missing, even happened).

Not in their inventory, they have no way to (properly) log it into a cache should they attempt to do so.

What generally happens at this point, that person attempts to log your trackable into a cache. Sure they place it, but they cannot log the placement. Confused and frustrated at not knowing why they cannot log it, they just walk away.

Your trackable now sits in a cache, not listed in the cache inventory.... and you aren't even aware of that, nor is anyone else.

Sure, it can and usually is picked up with a 'Grab' later on which places the trackable back into the game.

 

So... all is well, right?

Well... no, not really.

 

Your personal view (I call it a "one-way" view) of jumping-the-gun causes undue confusion and frustration for another player, when it really wasn't necessary to do that. Your one-way view saw the maneuver as being the correct action to take. You seem to forget that other folks in this recreation (game) may have other stuff to do rather than just geocaching. Again, 10 days is not hardly long enough to consider your trackable as missing.

 

Ah yes, your speedy action of marking it a 'Missing' just may even aid in the "true" disappearance of your trackable... forever.

Try that one on for size.

 

You might want to think outside of your own little "bubble"... the internet, cell phone coverage, the way others may play the game or move trackables isn't necessarily the same as within your little bubble.

 

Um, if the TB still shows in the cache it was picked up from, it wouldn't show in the cachers inventory anyway. Marking it missing only removes it from the caches inventory, which is correct since it certainly isn't there anymore. If the person who retrieved it does eventually log it, they would just retrieve it from the Unknown Location instead of the cache it was found in. It's not a big deal to mark it missing from a cache if it's confirmed to no longer be in there.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Duh... correct you are CTR, with the high-lighted point.

 

Hopefully though, it will be found by somebody, somewhere before too long and re-enter the game.

[+Seaglass Pirates]

This wont work for an empty cache where your TB used to be. Not always possible for people to go and see the cache that their TB is in but you can enlist the help of a volunteer. We've used this service twice or three times now I think it is, and our stuff has been found and rescued from caches. We paid in thanks as its a free service and also we sent the person's concerned (those that went and checked), some tags that cannot be named only hinted at in darkened corners of the geoverse ... dun dun duuuuuuun. Thats 'Irony' btw.

 

TBrescue.com

[+Twinky Waffle]

If it keeps missing you may try to get some help here. I actually found this website today. http://www.tb-rescue.com/index.rescue.php

 

I hope it helps.

[+Team Dredd]

If it keeps missing you may try to get some help here. I actually found this website today. http://www.tb-rescue...ndex.rescue.php

 

I hope it helps.

 

Checked out tb-rescue.com a while ago. Cool site. I signed up to try an help some poor TB's if I can. Listed one of ours that has been stuck in a cache for over 4 months. Also signed on to try to rescue one down in Jacksonville this week.