What happens if the owner no longer cares?

[belangora]

I picked up a TB that the previous cacher kept about 3 years longer than the recommended 2 weeks. :eek: (Whatever happened in the meantime is anyone's guess, and I won't attempt to explain it. ) Now, the bug wants to travel to Berlin, Germany, but the owner hasn't been seen on geocaching.com in the past two years and has very few finds. So, what happens if the bug reaches its goal, but the owner is no longer there or no longer cares?  

I'm in Denmark now, and am about to travel to the US and Canada, and I'm trying to decide whether to leave the TB here in Denmark (in which case it might reach its goal sooner) or to take it along and let it see some action as it must have gotten rusty for all that wait in the hands of the previous cacher. What would you guys do? Trying to get some collective wisdom on this one.  

Oh, btw, I did message the owner a week ago to ask about his/her preference, but received no response. 

[+speakers-corner]

Hi belangora,

The TB is out there to travel. You could take it to the States and Canada to get some mileage, then bring it back with you so that it can continue on its way.

[+EmzyJanezy]

The TB owner probably assumed it was gone forever and stopped logging in to watch it.  Awww.  They will get a nice surprise when they do eventually log in again and see its started travelling again.  Also I like to watch some TBs what have been in my hands to see if they ever reach their goals so even if the owner no longer cares there may be some who do.  I'd agree with speakers-corner, to take it with you to get it moving again and to show the owner its become active and then bring it back to put it into a geocache to send it on its way.

[+noncentric]

Might be nice to also include a photo of the trackable at one of thd locations that you Visit it to during your travels.

[+TriciaG]

I'd leave it in Denmark, as the goal is to get to Berlin. It'll probably never get there if you bring it to North America.

 

Unless you're coming back to Denmark, then take it to North America, then bring it back with you to Denmark.

[belangora]

5 hours ago, speakers-corner said:

Hi belangora,

The TB is out there to travel. You could take it to the States and Canada to get some mileage, then bring it back with you so that it can continue on its way.

 

4 hours ago, EmzyJanezy said:

The TB owner probably assumed it was gone forever and stopped logging in to watch it.  Awww.  They will get a nice surprise when they do eventually log in again and see its started travelling again.  Also I like to watch some TBs what have been in my hands to see if they ever reach their goals so even if the owner no longer cares there may be some who do.  I'd agree with speakers-corner, to take it with you to get it moving again and to show the owner its become active and then bring it back to put it into a geocache to send it on its way.

 

2 minutes ago, TriciaG said:

I'd leave it in Denmark, as the goal is to get to Berlin. It'll probably never get there if you bring it to North America.

 

Unless you're coming back to Denmark, then take it to North America, then bring it back with you to Denmark.

Thank you, guys! We are coming back to Denmark later in the summer, so that sounds like a great idea to add some mileage to the TB's journey and then leave it closer to its goal. 

[+EmzyJanezy]

Oh right I was presuming the OP was returning to Denmark!  If not then yes, defo set it free in a cache in Denmark.

[belangora]

3 hours ago, noncentric said:

Might be nice to also include a photo of the trackable at one of thd locations that you Visit it to during your travels.

Brilliant! I'll do that, and maybe the owner will return to geocaching and will be in for a nice surprise!  Thank you.

[belangora]

1 minute ago, EmzyJanezy said:

Oh right I was presuming the OP was returning to Denmark!  If not then yes, defo set it free in a cache in Denmark.

You were absolutely right in that assumption.

[+dprovan]

First, please don't assume the owner doesn't care. You don't really know whether he cares now, and you definitely have no idea whether he's going to become more active in the future and care more then.

 

Having said that, while it's nice to help a TB towards its goal, I don't think you have to follow it rigidly if something that might be more interesting comes up. I set goals on my TBs just to give people ideas, but it someone took my TB on a trip to another continent, I love seeing the diversion and enjoy watching it fight it's way back.

 

I don't know the details of this TB, but offhand I'd probably take it to the US and drop it there so it can have even more fun heading towards its goal from the other side of the world. But I'd also consider the idea of giving it a good ride through the states and taking it back to Denmark in a couple months, so don't think I'm dismissing that idea, but I'd be more inclined to set it free to make the trip back on its own. I guess it seems too easy for the same person to keep it and take it back to Europe.

 

(One other thing: if you're worried about it making it back to Europe, I don't think you need to be. In my experience, all TBs end up in Germany eventually.)

[+cerberus1]

8 hours ago, belangora said:

I picked up a TB that the previous cacher kept about 3 years longer than the recommended 2 weeks. :eek: (Whatever happened in the meantime is anyone's guess, and I won't attempt to explain it. ) Now, the bug wants to travel to Berlin, Germany, but the owner hasn't been seen on geocaching.com in the past two years and has very few finds. So, what happens if the bug reaches its goal, but the owner is no longer there or no longer cares?  

Oh, btw, I did message the owner a week ago to ask about his/her preference, but received no response. 

 

How do you know they don't care? 

The trackable would still have the same "goal" if the cacher was deceased.   Go by it's goal if able ...

You're "seen" on geocaching.com only when you enter the website.  We know a few that make it a point not to. 

Very possible that after years of someone doing whatever they'd like with another person's property, whatever you decide to do with it is fine.

[belangora]

1 hour ago, dprovan said:

First, please don't assume the owner doesn't care. You don't really know whether he cares now, and you definitely have no idea whether he's going to become more active in the future and care more then.

 

Having said that, while it's nice to help a TB towards its goal, I don't think you have to follow it rigidly if something that might be more interesting comes up. I set goals on my TBs just to give people ideas, but it someone took my TB on a trip to another continent, I love seeing the diversion and enjoy watching it fight it's way back.

 

I don't know the details of this TB, but offhand I'd probably take it to the US and drop it there so it can have even more fun heading towards its goal from the other side of the world. But I'd also consider the idea of giving it a good ride through the states and taking it back to Denmark in a couple months, so don't think I'm dismissing that idea, but I'd be more inclined to set it free to make the trip back on its own. I guess it seems too easy for the same person to keep it and take it back to Europe.

 

(One other thing: if you're worried about it making it back to Europe, I don't think you need to be. In my experience, all TBs end up in Germany eventually.)

Thank you, @dprovan! It's great to hear experienced cachers' opinion, especially since I don't have the feedback I sought from the TB owner. 

[belangora]

40 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

 

How do you know they don't care? 

The trackable would still have the same "goal" if the cacher was deceased.   Go by it's goal if able ...

You're "seen" on geocaching.com only when you enter the website.  We know a few that make it a point not to. 

Very possible that after years of someone doing whatever they'd like with another person's property, whatever you decide to do with it is fine.

I don't know whether they care or not. I can only make -- what I think is -- a reasonable assumption based on the fact that the owner hasn't seemed active in a long time and hasn't replied to me (at least not yet!). But my question was a hypothetical one. 

In truth, I was planning to take this TB within a few days from retrieving it to a highly popular cache in Copenhagen (and let somebody else take it further), but that cache got muggled just before my planned visit, and I didn't have the chance to look for another that would be the right size to take in a TB. So the choice is to either leave it in the same city it had been stuck all this time, or take it on a longer journey. I'm asking for a little guidance here from those who are more experienced with owning and moving TBs.  

If the owner doesn't visit geocaching.com, would he/she be able to track the progress of the TB? 

[+cerberus1]

13 minutes ago, belangora said:

If the owner doesn't visit geocaching.com, would he/she be able to track the progress of the TB? 

 

Simply using their phone for everything keeps one from ever being listed as "visiting" geocaching.com.   

[+EmzyJanezy]

I had a look - cos I'm a bit nosey like that 

 

It seems the person who kept it for a long time had planned to take it to Berlin (its goal destination) "in September" when they picked it up in January 2015.  My guess is they picked it up with this intention to get it to its final destination six months later and then either a) forgot about it or b ) took it there and didn't log it.  Then maybe they felt like either the job was done or the TB got lost.  Maybe they even messaged the TB owner to update them on what had happened, hence the TB owner stopped logging in.  Then I see the holder of the TB placed it into a cache in May this year, so maybe they found it and thought "oh bugger, I forgot all about this" and set it on its way again.

 

There is no reason for me to say all this, its just interesting!

[belangora]

11 minutes ago, EmzyJanezy said:

I had a look - cos I'm a bit nosey like that 

 

It seems the person who kept it for a long time had planned to take it to Berlin (its goal destination) "in September" when they picked it up in January 2015.  My guess is they picked it up with this intention to get it to its final destination six months later and then either a) forgot about it or b ) took it there and didn't log it.  Then maybe they felt like either the job was done or the TB got lost.  Maybe they even messaged the TB owner to update them on what had happened, hence the TB owner stopped logging in.  Then I see the holder of the TB placed it into a cache in May this year, so maybe they found it and thought "oh bugger, I forgot all about this" and set it on its way again.

 

There is no reason for me to say all this, its just interesting!

And I thought I’d keep all the names and details secret! ? It is an unlucky  little TB. It should get to Berlin sooner or later. I just hope the owner is there to see it! 

Edited June 22, 2018 by belangora

[+EmzyJanezy]

I didn't put any names.  However, anybody could take a look and find out the details if they wanted to.

 

And I didn't give the details to be cruel to anybody - I just find the details interesting to see the history etc.

 

Anyway, it stands more chance of getting to Berlin now that its in the hands of a geocacher who wants to do something with it as opposed to being lost to a geocacher who hoarded it for years.  Or lost it.  Or whatever they did with it.

 

And yes, hopefully the owner is well and will get a nice surprise when they next log in.  I can imagine having to take a break from geocaching and then years in the future thinking "oh, I wonder whatever happened to that TB" and logging in to find all sorts of excitement.

 

I may overthink things just a tad 

Edited June 22, 2018 by EmzyJanezy
Typos

[belangora]

8 minutes ago, EmzyJanezy said:

I didn't put any names.  However, anybody could take a look and find out the details if they wanted to.

You didn’t!

It is an interesting case.

Thank you so much for responding and giving me some ideas as to what would be the best course to get this little guy back in the game b

[+cerberus1]

1 minute ago, EmzyJanezy said:

And yes, hopefully the owner is well and will get a nice surprise when they next log in.  I can imagine having to take a break from geocaching and then years in the future thinking "oh, I wonder whatever happened to that TB" and logging in to find all sorts of excitement.

 

Yep.   We see that about 50/50 with just giving up/don't care. 

 

Sometimes new folks and their excitement in this new-found hobby forget this hobby's been around a while.  

I take breaks (when only low D/T caches around mostly), and my longest "slump" was because of surgeries. 

Our friend finally finished chemo, and the last thing they thought of the past year-n-a-half was what's going on with their travel bug. 

 - We took care of their hides while they were out.  Folks do have lives besides this hobby. 

 

[belangora]

Greetings from Ottawa  Just wanted to update everyone on what happened to the little guy who was MIA in Denmark for 3 years: 

 

I took him with us across the Atlantic. My reasoning was: he'd spent enough time (years of inactivity) in my city in Denmark, so I didn't want to leave him just there. Instead, I took him to "Patience and Fortitude" TB hotel in NYPL, which is said to be one of the biggest and safest caches in Manhattan. If no one had picked him up by the time of my return from Canada, I would have gone back and brought him back to Europe. But now apparently another cacher is taking him on a journey across the US.

 

And that's all good, because... the owner finally replied to me! And he doesn't mind that his Legoman sees the world a bit before going to Germany! (Phew )

 

Thank you, everyone who contributed to this discussion. I learned a lot from your comments and suggestions.

[+noncentric]

On 6/22/2018 at 11:40 AM, cerberus1 said:

Simply using their phone for everything keeps one from ever being listed as "visiting" geocaching.com.   

To be more specific though, it's if they use the app on their phone that keeps them from "visiting".  If they are logged in and visit the  website  in their phone's browser, then that  will  register as a "visit".

[+Goldenwattle]

I have found a few TBs that had been missing for several years. I don't think all the owners were now active. They were never logged into the caches I found the TBs in, so I am guessing whoever had the TB doesn't want to admit it, but at least FINALLY the TB was freed. One TB was last heard of in the Netherlands and then I found it in NZ. That TB owner was still active and messaged me in amazement when their TB turned up again. It had been their first TB release and after several years missing they had never expected to hear from it again. They were thrilled it had turned up. I also found a TB in the USA that had been missing for several years (now inactive owner I think, but I moved the TB on) and several also missing for years in local caches here in Canberra.

 

I think TBs are more likely to go missing if the attachment is cute, so sadly now I add boring attachments.

 

I have been able to take a few TBs to their final destination and/or fulfil the challenge the TB had been sent out to do. One TB wanted to visit every state in Australia and then return home to a particular TB hotel in a town in Victoria. I took the TB to every state, took photographs of it at every state border sign and then dropped it off at the desired TB hotel, which was on the TB owners front porch (also the best TB hotel I have ever seen with wallpapered individual rooms for the TBs). I almost left after signing the log and selecting a room for the TB and locking up (the code was given with the cache instructions), but decided to knock. When I explained I had dropped off their TB I was hugged excitedly and invited in for afternoon tea. The owner had enjoyed watching the TB's adventures and all the photographs I added (not only border signs). Then the owner insisted they take me caching for their local caches, which basically involved them handing me the caches to sign, so I didn't need to search. They also wanted to put me up for the night and were disappointed I was already booked into a motel.

Another occasion I picked up a TB in a cache near Heathrow in London that wanted to come to a cache in Sydney. I don't live in Sydney, but took the TB as at least I could bring it to Australia. Then when I was home I checked a map where in Sydney and saw it was close to where someone I knew lived. Time for a visit I decided and then I dropped off this TB at its destination.

I usually keep TBs longer than two weeks, but I have never had an owner complain about this. In fact I regularly get thank you messages thanking me for the photographs I add of where the TB is visiting and that they are enjoying where I take the TB. I have several TBs with me now and I have a couple more trips planned this year and will take those along with me. More countries and more photographs for the TBs.

Edited July 10, 2018 by Goldenwattle
Spelling correction