+Bohemian1966 Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 (edited) So I am new to Geocaching and still wrapping my brain around the etiquette, terms and language. I have researched a few planned Caches and see there are potential trackable items that I can get closer to their mission targets in my upcoming travels. I know that the idea is to get trackable's on their way and keep them moving but I may not be traveling to that destination until next month or longer... Is there a general rule or etiquette for how long is too long that I can use when considering taking a trackable? ... and yes, I know an answer is... "Just do it as fast as you can...", I'm looking for solid opinions like "If it's gonna be longer than two months... leave it." because that was my first guess at the maximum time to hold on to it. Edited September 6, 2015 by Bohemian1966 Quote Link to comment
+whh0 Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 (edited) Everybody will have a different opinion and everybody will be right. Best thing to do is asked the trackable's owner what they would like (if they are still active) A cacher was coming to Europe but not for 2 months, they asked if it was OK to keep my daughter's TB till then, as its mission was to come back to the UK. It was fine - they then kept hold of it for 8 months and rather than drop it in Europe they took it back to the States - that was not fine! I think 2 weeks is the acceptable standard. Edited September 6, 2015 by whh0 Quote Link to comment
+HCompleto Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 What whh0 said is what I believe is the right thing to do. Usually, you'd be advised not to keep a TB for more than 2 weeks. However, if you play on keeping it for a specific reason (such as travelling to a country where the TB must be dropped, keeping it to share it on an event, etc) you should e-mail/leave a note/message the owner so that he's aware of where the TB is being held and why. This is recommended because, imagining you owned a TB, you wouldn't like to think it could have gotten stolen or it was just lost. If you have any doubts in any other areas regarding geocaching, you can e-mail me, I'm available most of the time for a fast answer Quote Link to comment
+Droo Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Yup, 2 weeks is what the guidelines say. Granted if you have the owner's permission to keep it longer then it's between you and the owner. Quote Link to comment
+irisisleuk Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 If the trackable has no specific mission, or a mission I can't do, I drop it within 2 weeks. If it has a mission I can help it with I keep it up to 6 weeks, depending on my plans when I can accomplish this mission. If I can help with a mission but I know it will take me longer than 6 weeks, but I also know I will be able to do it (for instance a vacation planned 2 months later) I contact the owner and ask if it is okay to keep it until then or if they want me to move it along to just another cache. Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 If it's gonna be longer than two months... leave it. Quote Link to comment
+Twentse Mug Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 As owner of more than 300 TB's my experience is that most of the delay in travellng is caused by all these discover logs when a TB is in a cache. Rather than one cacher holding a TB. Quote Link to comment
+Bohemian1966 Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 Thanks for the feedback everyone... I had not considered contacting the owner and I'm learning that GeoCaching and the community is a LOT more interactive than expected. Not necessarily a bad thing and I will definitely take that into consideration when planning my own Cache. Quote Link to comment
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