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Where to drop my trackables?


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So I'm about to set three "little monster" trackables off on a little race.  They belong to me and my two daughters and we want to see how far they go and whose goes the furthest.

However, I'm concerned they'll just get stolen.  I highly suspect a lot of geocachers in my City are parents who think "oh that will be a fun thing to do this weekend", go out geocaching, collect swag for their little darlings, and then never go geocaching again.

Any tips on where is best to drop?  Should I wait until I'm out somewhere nice and rural that only seasoned geocachers will discover?

I KNOW my trackables are going to end up lost, I just don't want to lose them at the first cache!

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Oh yeah, there's a very good chance the TBs will get stolen/go missing. I'm guessing that 90% of mine fit in this category. My daughter's TB won a race almost 10 years ago and is still moving along in Europe. But that is a rarity. It's not even uncommon for TBs to get stolen before they even get one mile!  It's frustrating. I no longer send out expensive TBs.

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If it looks like TBs tend to go missing from the cache, don't drop it there. Rural or urban won't really matter. Rural areas they're likely to sit in for a long period of time and that just gives a higher chance they'll end up missing due to cache problems. Urban have the muggle issue more often. I'd suggest putting it in a larger cache, maybe a TB hotel? There's a couple within a 30 minute drive of me, so I'm sure you'd be able to find one.

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9 minutes ago, mimaef said:

If it looks like TBs tend to go missing from the cache, don't drop it there. Rural or urban won't really matter. Rural areas they're likely to sit in for a long period of time and that just gives a higher chance they'll end up missing due to cache problems. Urban have the muggle issue more often. I'd suggest putting it in a larger cache, maybe a TB hotel? There's a couple within a 30 minute drive of me, so I'm sure you'd be able to find one.

TH Hotels are a great place to leave and pick up TBs and help them on their journey.

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I would avoid TB hotels (prisons). They are sometimes targeted by thieves or your TB could languish there for weeks or months before being moved on. I'm in a similar situation now that we have bought 4 trackables at a recent Mega. I would most likely select a PMO cache that's not a park & grab but not too far out of the city either. What I will do is place our TB in a zip lock bag with clear goal instructions. (We also do this with TBs we pick up that have no goal instruction with them). A lot to think about. Once they're out there you've no control.

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40 minutes ago, EmzyJanezy said:

So I'm about to set three "little monster" trackables off on a little race.  They belong to me and my two daughters and we want to see how far they go and whose goes the furthest.

However, I'm concerned they'll just get stolen.  I highly suspect a lot of geocachers in my City are parents who think "oh that will be a fun thing to do this weekend", go out geocaching, collect swag for their little darlings, and then never go geocaching again.

Any tips on where is best to drop?  Should I wait until I'm out somewhere nice and rural that only seasoned geocachers will discover?

I KNOW my trackables are going to end up lost, I just don't want to lose them at the first cache!

 

Looks like you've found a few caches that may be big enough to hold TBs.  Were some of them not completely empty of nice stuff?  Maybe a couple of the caches just seemed to be hidden in a way that passers-by aren't finding them.  Those would be candidates to start TBs.  Usually it's not a great idea to place TBs all into one container.  But since these are in a "race", maybe that will be your option.

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29 minutes ago, colleda said:

I would avoid TB hotels (prisons). They are sometimes targeted by thieves or your TB could languish there for weeks or months before being moved on. I'm in a similar situation now that we have bought 4 trackables at a recent Mega. I would most likely select a PMO cache that's not a park & grab but not too far out of the city either. 

That is a valid point. We have an amazing, secure TB hotel nearby, and another really bad one that requires you to ask for the ammo can from the employees.  TBs left in the second place are rarely seen again! 

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I'd sorta agree with colleda if there wasn't the mention of pmo. Premium membership not having anything to do with integrity...   I'd never consider a low-terrain "TB hotel" unless it's in the CO's yard.    ;)

We feel a bit further from civilization fares a bit better, and mileage seems safest for trackables here, but YMMV.  Definitely wouldn't think of a 1.5/1.5 anywhere anymore, but a 2-with-a-walk is still visited enough by "seasoned" cachers, yet kinda safe from the park n grabbers.   

I just put two trackables in a "TB motel" that was high terrain.  They were in a "bonus" cache, the ending of codes from multiple traditionals not visited often either.  One of our 5T caches has had a trackable in it for over two years, odd that the TO "swapped" it for another there a long time too.  I might finally move it out this Season.  High terrain is fine, and they seem safe, but they'll sit a long time between moves...

Good luck.  Don't expect miracles, and have fun.    :)

 

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I have a different sort of problem

My kid couldn't resist picking up a trackable which is a bowling ball

Literally

Like doesn't even fit inside an ammo can

May try to swap it at a mega coming up in June....

Back onto topic, we recently sent out our first TB's, as well. No action yet. People have advised me to put them near the airport if I want them to go far. I also like to think that putting them in a difficult cache might increase the chances of a "serious/seasoned geocacher" finding them and doing the right thing with them.

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My advice - look at a potential TB Hotel and it's history.  If TB's are regularly dropped and retrieved from that location, then I'd feel confident in leaving one there.  We've discovered a few local to us where that is the case.  After they leave the first location though, you have no control over where they go, where they are dropped, and who picks them up.

I also have one hide that is large enough for TB's, and often start ones of my own there.

Edited by CAVinoGal
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6 hours ago, CAVinoGal said:

My advice - look at a potential TB Hotel and it's history.  If TB's are regularly dropped and retrieved from that location, then I'd feel confident in leaving one there.  We've discovered a few local to us where that is the case.  After they leave the first location though, you have no control over where they go, where they are dropped, and who picks them up.

I also have one hide that is large enough for TB's, and often start ones of my own there.

There are some really good TB hotels and some that are basically just a container large enough to hold a few TBs.  We're fortunate to have a really good one in our town.  It is just inside the first door of our Chamber of Commerce building that is staffed during the day, but still accessible 24x7.  

20151205_124125.jpg

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Actually I have another question!

When dropping off TBs, are you allowed to drop them into caches previously found, or can you only drop them in newly found caches?  Equally, can you go back to a previously found cache if the site says there's a TB in it, to see if you can help it on its way, or is that not acceptable?

Edited by EmzyJanezy
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21 hours ago, EmzyJanezy said:

Actually I have another question!

When dropping off TBs, are you allowed to drop them into caches preciously found, or can you only drop them in newly found caches?  Equally, can you go back to a previously found cache if the site says there's a TB in it, to see if you can help it on its way, or is that not acceptable?

Yes, you can revisit caches to drop/retrieve trackables to/from them.

If you log via the website, then you can log a "Write Note" to move the trackables.  When I've done this, I put log text that just says "tb's".  Then, I go back to that cache log and delete it to avoid cluttering the cache page. The cache log will be removed from the cache page, but the TB movements will remain on the TB pages.

I've been using the official app more often now to log TB's. There was a date issue with the app, where logging a trackable would result in the TB log being one day ahead, but it seems that issue has been resolved. Logging TB's with the app doesn't create a log on the cache page, just creates logs on TB pages.

 

Edited by noncentric
typos
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16 hours ago, EmzyJanezy said:

Actually I have another question!

When dropping off TBs, are you allowed to drop them into caches preciously found, or can you only drop them in newly found caches?  Equally, can you go back to a previously found cache if the site says there's a TB in it, to see if you can help it on its way, or is that not acceptable?

Yes, you can definitely revisit caches to drop in a TB. If you've previously found the cache you might just post a note for the online log indicating that you've dropped in some TBs.  There used to be a foreign coin exchange cache about a mile from me.  I visited that cache several times to drop in some coins after traveling abroad.  The owner of the travel bug hotel I showed above has asked me to stop in and grab some TBs before I travel on a couple of occasions or asked that if I pick up a TB while traveling to drop it into the hotel.  

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