Travel bugs and cache owner responsibilities

[+JoesBar]

I am a big fan of TBs. I enjoy moving them along and watching where my TBs travel. I am tired of seeing TBs listed as being in caches, but when I look, I discover that the TB hasn't been in the cache for some time, often years.

Folks, if you are a cache owner, you have the ability to mark a TB missing if it is not in your cache. That's right, you have the power to set things right. It's difficult for me as a TB owner to mark my cute little traveler as MIA. Especially if it is hundreds or thousands of miles from my home. But you, as the owner of the cache can check the container and see if it is there, or not. If not, mark it as missing.

I've posted this in a local forum and the most common reason stated by cache owners is that they get nasty emails from TB owners when they mark it missing. Oh. Look, you didn't steal the TB. You are simply the cache owner and you are verifying the contents of your container. There is nothing wrong with that. I believe you are doing a service to the caching community.

Sadly, I have had to mark many TBs missing. If I read "found" logs on my caches stating a listed TB is not there I go and check. I don't 'run out,' but when I have time and I am in the area, I check. If I verify it is not there, I mark it missing and state, "Sorry, your TB was not in my cache when I checked it today. I hope it turns up." I have not received any nasty emails. And if I do, should I really be concerned that someone is going to come to my house and punch me in the nose? It would be a long shot.

So come on folks, let's clean up cache pages and show a correct inventory for TBs. It will be a help to all.

[+cerberus1]

We have a few caches that take hours to get to.

We're not running out for the trackable side-game.

When we do maintenance (it could be a while...) we'll check.

As CO, we won't mark a trackable missing unless we check.

We've had long-time cachers say that a coin wasn't in the cache, and upon maintenance, found it was with all the other bits N pieces of carp at the bottom of the ammo can and they (and others) simply missed it.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Cache owners have the ability, but not the responsibility, to mark missing as missing. So, do not blame cache owners who choose not to take on that responsibility. It is not required.

There's a local cache where the TB has been missing for twelve years! The TB owner has also been missing for twelve years. And the CO has been inactive for twelve years. (Great cache.)

Yes. It would be nice of more CO's would mark missing TBs as missing. But it not required. So stop blaming CO's who choose not to do so.

[+JoesBar]

We have a few caches that take hours to get to.

We're not running out for the trackable side-game.

When we do maintenance (it could be a while...) we'll check.

As CO, we won't mark a trackable missing unless we check.

We've had long-time cachers say that a coin wasn't in the cache, and upon maintenance, found it was with all the other bits N pieces of carp at the bottom of the ammo can and they (and others) simply missed it.

 

From my original post; If I read "found" logs on my caches stating a listed TB is not there I go and check. I don't 'run out,' but when I have time and I am in the area, I check. If I verify it is not there, I mark it missing and state, "Sorry, your TB was not in my cache when I checked it today. I hope it turns up."

 

It's your business why you hid caches that are hours of travel from you home, but I wonder how you do regular maintenance. And I believe that is another responsiblity that comes with being a CO.

[+JoesBar]

Cache owners have the ability, but not the responsibility, to mark missing as missing. So, do not blame cache owners who choose not to take on that responsibility. It is not required.

There's a local cache where the TB has been missing for twelve years! The TB owner has also been missing for twelve years. And the CO has been inactive for twelve years. (Great cache.)

Yes. It would be nice of more CO's would mark missing TBs as missing. But it not required. So stop blaming CO's who choose not to do so.

 

As I stated in my OP, COs have the ability. My post is intended to make COs take that responsibility. Cache maintenance is part of owning a cache. I believe verifying the TB inventory is part of that responsibility. I cannot think of reasons not to do so.

You even state that it would be nice if more COs verify the TBs listed. Yet you seem to indicate that you choose to not do this. I don't understand the contradiction.

You use an example of a cache that has not been maintained for twelve years. Why not post a "needs archived" log?

It appears that you see there are problems, but take no action to remedy those problems.

[+cerberus1]

We have a few caches that take hours to get to.

We're not running out for the trackable side-game.

When we do maintenance (it could be a while...) we'll check.

As CO, we won't mark a trackable missing unless we check.

We've had long-time cachers say that a coin wasn't in the cache, and upon maintenance, found it was with all the other bits N pieces of carp at the bottom of the ammo can and they (and others) simply missed it.

 

From my original post; If I read "found" logs on my caches stating a listed TB is not there I go and check. I don't 'run out,' but when I have time and I am in the area, I check. If I verify it is not there, I mark it missing and state, "Sorry, your TB was not in my cache when I checked it today. I hope it turns up."

 

It's your business why you hid caches that are hours of travel from you home, but I wonder how you do regular maintenance. And I believe that is another responsiblity that comes with being a CO.

Not hours of travel from home, hours to access.

- A couple miles paddle-to, A lengthy walk, a technical rope climb.

If some odd reason these caches got busy (doubtful), I don't believe many would head out just to satisfy another's curiosity of an item having nothing (really) to do with the container, or its maintenance.

Just last month I checked an ammo can that's sit since '11 with no one going after it.

Still dry, the freezer-bag baggies and contents still like new.

A quality container doesn't really need much for maintenance, unless it gets hit frequently.

Our lesser hides that are visited frequently are micros, so along with the folks who don't realize there's another side to the log , we don't also have to worry much about the many who have no clue how to move a trackable.

Edited August 24, 2015 by cerberus1

[+cerberus1]

We see a lot of trackables placed in high-terrain hides.

Not sure if the person has no common sense, or decided leaving someone elses trackable was "a special moment" for it...

They simply don't get accessed that often.

- If a CO was ever required to check his cache on the trackable side-game on those types of hides (having nothing to do with his cache), I'd bet they'd be fewer than they already are now.

[+JoesBar]

I thought that writing this post in the travel bug area would generate some discussion. Obviously no.

I will continue to maintain my caches to the level I set for myself.

I will still put TBs out in the world and hope they are picked up by thoughtful folks. But I've learned that is rare.

[+Auld Pharrrt]

I kinda agree with both of you in parts ... There are a few caches near my home which have "ghost" TB's logged as present, but in reality they went MIA a long time ago ... one was over 4½ years ago. This gave me a few different trains of thought ... At first I was frustrated by the missing TB's listed in an empty cache. Next I realised that there is ONE advantage to it ... if I'm putting out any of my TB's, I don't want to put them into a cache which has a history of TB's going MIA, so its nice to know which cache has a poor record. Then I discovered the fact that as TB owners, we can resurrect them by releasing a proxy if an original goes MIA ... by reading the forum, I know some cachers don't like proxies, but, on the other hand, some owners only release proxies. So I decided to contact the TBO's of some of the long term MIA's near my home and offer to adopt the TB if they no longer wanted it as I was working on a project to try and revive missing TB's ... understandably, most owners who replied said they wanted to keep the number but one owner happily transferred ownership to me (he has no further interest in caching or the 1 TB he had released.) Realising, that many people don't know about resurrecting a MIA TB my new plan is to offer to resurrect the MIA TB for free by making a simple proxy and sending it on it's way, preferably from the cache it went missing in.

 

I've yet to offer this suggestion as real life has kinda gotten in the way of my caching adventures lately, but I will get on it sometime soonish.

[+justintim1999]

If Groundspeak sells travel bug tags than it stands to reason they accept them as part of the game. Especially when you consider the fact that actual geocaches are the primary way travel bugs travel. I think that Groundspeak actually developed the travel bug concept and holds the trade mark.

 

I can understand that people consider travel bugs a "side game" but as far as I'm concerned it's part of geocaching and should be taken into consideration.

 

Should every cache owner be required to rush out and verify every travel bug with an issue, no. But marking a travel bug missing on a cache maintenance run doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

[+OrangeJeepofPA]

Okay, so now I know I can mark a TB as not in my cache but no one had said how.

So...how do I do it?

Thanks in advance.

[+TriciaG]

Okay, so now I know I can mark a TB as not in my cache but no one had said how.

So...how do I do it?

Thanks in advance.

Go to the TB's page. In the right hand column will be an option to mark the TB as missing.

[Pup Patrol]

Okay, so now I know I can mark a TB as not in my cache but no one had said how.

So...how do I do it?

Thanks in advance.

 

Help Center → Trackables → Fancier Features

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=152

 

2.5. Mark Missing - Trackable on page but not there physically.

 

Sometimes, a Trackable has been physically removed from a geocache, but the finder does not log it online. The Travel Bug or Geocoin icon on remains the geocache page, and geocachers can be frustrated when they arrive at the geocache to find it missing.

 

Don't despair if a Trackable goes missing. In many cases it has been moved to another geocache but the last person didn't know how to log it. The next geocacher who finds it will log the find.

 

If you are the owner of the Trackable, or the owner of the geocache where the Trackable is listed, you can mark the item as missing. This will remove it from the geocache inventory, and place the Trackable in an "unknown location." This will not effect the mileage of the Trackable. Later, if the Trackable is found, it can be grabbed and placed into the correct location. Mileage will be calculated from its previous location.

 

To do this, go to the Trackable's page, and choose from among the "Trackable Item Options."

 

If you are the Trackable owner, it will say "Recalculate distance." Click on this menu and select "Mark bug missing".

 

If you are the geocache owner, the menu will already be on the "Mark bug missing" option. Click "Go" and when the page refreshes, at the top it will ask "Are you sure you want to mark this Travel Bug missing?" Click "Yes" to complete the action.

 

When you mark a Trackable missing, a log to the Trackable's page will be auto-generated under your name, explaining the Mark Missing log.

 

If you are not the Trackable owner or geocache owner and notice that a Trackable is not in a geocache, you can use the Trackable's reference number to log a note to the Trackable listing telling the owner that the Trackable is not there. Or you can email the geocache owner or the Trackable owner and point them to this Knowledge Book page. As a courtesy, it is nice to email the Trackable owner first.

 

B.

[+OrangeJeepofPA]

Thank you Pup Patrol & TriciaG for answering my question and quickly too.