Print Your Own Trackable ID

[+robhasty]

Good morning, I am trying to find out if it's possible to print your own trackable tag. I found a cache recently and it had a small laminated paper with an ID on it. I just cannot find out how to obtain the trackable ID so I can print my own tag with it.

 

Thanks for any help,

Rob Hasty

Edited March 27, 2015 by robhasty

[+doc73]

Yo can purchase the Tavelbug which comes with an ID # / trackable #. Once you have it you can do as you wish with it.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

You "pay" for the number, it just happens to come to you on a tag. One that is recognizable as a TB.

There are a goodly number of folks that won't pick-up/move or otherwise touch a paper-copy (proxy).

 

Having the ability to have your trackable logged and tracked on geocaching.com isn't free. Rightly so.

[+doc73]

there is also people who wont even tough the actual TB. Me, I'm not snobbish like that, I move it along if I can or leave it if I cannot. I do not care whether it is the real deal or not. I have two TB (well three but one not deployed) and numerous coins. I deployed both my TB and they went missing. Re-deployed the one TB and it went missing from it launch site within a day. I won'make that mistake again... Not in this day.

[+kunarion]

I just cannot find out how to obtain the trackable ID so I can print my own tag with it.

As mentioned, most “Tracking Numbers” are from actual TBs or Geocoins. Buy a coin, and you may use the number in various ways. An inexpensive way to get a tracking number is by buying travel bugs in a bulk discount (8 TBs for less per TB than if you bought only one), or an unpopular Geocoin on closeout.

 

If durability is not a concern and you want to just “print tags”, you can make up your own “tracking ID”. I'd suggest not using a 6-digit code of numbers and letters, since that's the common format of Groundspeak Tracking Numbers, and therefore will cause confusion. I used the format "K001, K002" on my "cache zippers" (more of a serialized sig item than an official Trackable) so the numbers wouldn't be confused with Tracking Numbers on this web site. Some people merely have their email address on a card, and ask to be contacted. There are also free tracking web sites (do a search). When I designed and printed my own serialized items, I did so with the intention of listing them on a free signature item web site. Turns out that site had ceased accepting new submissions, years ago.

 

It is supposedly well understood by all that Official Geocaching Trackables are to be moved cache-to-cache and never taken/kept , while "trackables" from outside the game are OK to take/keep. So it may be more difficult for a “home-made tracked item”, using your own serial number system, to remain in play. But you can print more.

Edited March 27, 2015 by kunarion

[+Touchstone]

Link for reference:

 

Minting Geocoins and Trackables

 

You can either come up with your own scheme of numbering and host it on your own website, as suggested above, or buy the codes directly from Groundspeak with an option to purchase a unique icon you could associate with the trackable you have in mind.

 

Good luck!