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102 Missing/Lost/Stolen Trackables


steel city babes

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Hello All,

 

I just went through all my trackables and marked them accordingly today, sent e-mails to cachers that may have had them for years.   Needless to say, I have set 166 geaocoins/TBs free and 102 are MIA (11 TBs and 91 geocoins)....probably more as their are some in the hands of cachers for years. 

 

I would love to get them on the move again.  

 

It seems the take on recreating is 50/50......well I am set on releasing them again so to speak.

 

What is the best way to go about? 

Does anyone know where I can get cheap tags engraved?  

Do you think cachers would like to see proxy if it is geocoin?

Does anyone know where you can get the dog tags that say please don't keep....I got them years ago but can't find a vendor? 

 

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21 hours ago, steel city babes said:

What is the best way to go about? 

Does anyone know where I can get cheap tags engraved?  

Do you think cachers would like to see proxy if it is geocoin?

Does anyone know where you can get the dog tags that say please don't keep....I got them years ago but can't find a vendor? 

 

 

I did a search on Amazon.com and found metal tags in several styles, with enough included engraving to have at least a tracking number, name, and "track at Geocaching.com".  Look at the variety of "Pet ID Tags", some less than $3 with free shipping.  I haven't ordered them.  The ones I had done previously were $5 with two lines of text, on ebay.

 

I revived most of mine, but haven't placed them.  Several of them are revived as much fancier versions, including one with a 14K solid gold charm!  Yeah, it's mine.  I'm keeping it. :P

 

But I recently bought a bunch of 6-inch cable keychains that screw together, and permanent thread locker for them.  Something that won't naturally fall apart in caches.  All I'd need are those cheap customized tags, and to drill a hole in the attachment toy, and I'd be all set.

 

The info tags were called something like "TB Buddies".  You can probably make a reasonably similar thing with the custom tags.  If you make something, post it!

 

 

Edited by kunarion
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Just mentioning this since you have a of tags to create, but it might be more economical to get a stamper kit and stamp some metal tags yourself.  I think the kits cost less than $20 USD and then you could get things like metal plant tags or steel stamping blanks.

It would take a bit of time, but stamping each tag would be a way to take out frustration about all your trackables that went missing.  ?

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6 hours ago, steel city babes said:

 I have set 166 geaocoins/TBs free and 102 are MIA (11 TBs and 91 geocoins)....probably more as their are some in the hands of cachers for years. 

I would love to get them on the move again.  

It seems the take on recreating is 50/50......well I am set on releasing them again so to speak.

What is the best way to go about? 

Does anyone know where I can get cheap tags engraved?  

Do you think cachers would like to see proxy if it is geocoin?

Does anyone know where you can get the dog tags that say please don't keep....I got them years ago but can't find a vendor? 

 

Are you saying you're gonna replace Travel Bugs with geocoins,  or simply some variant ?

The other 2/3rds saw her geocoins first to go.  They look like "treasure"...

 

Just saw 25 blank dog tags on ebay for 8 bucks and free shipping.

If me (though I don't intend to go through that...), like noncentric, I'd buy a kit, stamp 'em myself, and keep fingers crossed.

 

Edited by cerberus1
erasification...
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I just ordered some of the buddy tags from Geoswag.  If you buy at least ten, they're 99 cents each + shipping.

 

http://www.geoswag.com/swag/other/swag-travel-bug-buddy-al.html

 

I keep a list of my geocoins that are in my collection and also that I sent out traveling.  Out of the 436 I've sent out traveling, at least 389 of them have gone missing.  I used to send out emails to those cachers who've held them for a long period of time and once in a while, someone would respond with an apology and a promise to set them free.  But a very large majority never respond and I mark the geocoin as missing.  I've never sent out a replacement or proxy because if I find a proxy myself, I'm disappointed it's not the real thing.  But I respect everyone's own way of doing this hobby of ours.

 

Edited by Mauison
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5 hours ago, Mauison said:

I've never sent out a replacement or proxy because if I find a proxy myself, I'm disappointed it's not the real thing.

 

A Geocoin copy could be a different thing to many. It should be identified as a “Proxy” in some way on the coin page. But if you find a “Proxy Coin”, that's only because someone else... *ahem*... found the real coin before you did. :ph34r:

 

My car Trackable is just the car. It's not a "copy" nor "Proxy", but at times there's a magnet sign to discover. The actual Geocoin is available for view, but most often discovered by just the number.

 

Someone once suggested that, as opposed to a "Geocoin", a replacement trackable for “The Travel Bug” dogtag is not a “proxy”, it's the Travel Bug restored. So I've adopted that paradigm. I doubt anyone is disappointed by a copy Travel Bug, since these things are so common, all with the same icon. Maybe there's a special attachment, but they're almost never all that unique. If it is irreplaceable, might as well retire that one. Or use the code on a hat or something.

 

I call the replacements “Revived”, and have info on the before and after, so people know what they find.

 

Edited by kunarion
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You realise a TB has been stolen and hoarded in a personal collection when other geocachers log it as seen at events. Yes, the thief is 'proudly' displaying their stolen hoard to other geocachers. What's even more frustration is when the thief doesn't log the TB they won't release.

Hard to get a hoarder to let anything go! Them: "It's safe; it's not lost." "Calm down, let's not go overboard."

Edited by Goldenwattle
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8 hours ago, hzoi said:

I'm doing a little experiment.  I have tried being nice and asking geocachers to get our travel bugs back in circulation, but sometimes people just ignore us.  For these, I am going to start renaming them as "Stolen by ___."

 

I've renamed our shared ones "Missing" (and the trackable's name) since we started losing trackables.     :)

The other 2/3rds hasn't bothered with her "missing" coins.

I wanted to say "stolen by ..." and thought better of it.

We figured that since no one really knows for sure, a complaint to HQ that they're being harassed, and we get smacked for it. 

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5 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

 

I've renamed our shared ones "Missing" (and the trackable's name) since we started losing trackables.     :)

The other 2/3rds hasn't bothered with her "missing" coins.

I wanted to say "stolen by ..." and thought better of it.

We figured that since no one really knows for sure, a complaint to HQ that they're being harassed, and we get smacked for it. 

 

I have mine renamed as "Stolen/Missing???" if they show back up I just take the lead off the coin name.  

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On 1/13/2019 at 4:24 PM, Mauison said:

I just ordered some of the buddy tags from Geoswag.  If you buy at least ten, they're 99 cents each + shipping.

 

http://www.geoswag.com/swag/other/swag-travel-bug-buddy-al.html

 

I keep a list of my geocoins that are in my collection and also that I sent out traveling.  Out of the 436 I've sent out traveling, at least 389 of them have gone missing.  I used to send out emails to those cachers who've held them for a long period of time and once in a while, someone would respond with an apology and a promise to set them free.  But a very large majority never respond and I mark the geocoin as missing.  I've never sent out a replacement or proxy because if I find a proxy myself, I'm disappointed it's not the real thing.  But I respect everyone's own way of doing this hobby of ours.

 

 

I am going to buy 40 buddy tags to get started. 

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On 1/13/2019 at 12:58 AM, cerberus1 said:

 

Are you saying you're gonna replace Travel Bugs with geocoins,  or simply some variant ?

 

 

I am thinking final product for my missing geocoins will have a buddy tag as well as a color copy picture of the geocoin missing and the mission attached.  My TBs will just be a duplibug or something like that with number printed on the tag and some similar trinket attached to look similar to the one missing.  I may even rename the as revived or restored as mentioned above.  

 

I just like to see that little trackable icon in caches hopefully people won't be too disappointed.  I mean I have 91 coins missing that is approximately $910 and I hate to see that it went up in flames. 

 

I always release the real geocoin or TB, not proxies but, now their gone and I want to put them back in play.  

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16 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

I wanted to say "stolen by ..." and thought better of it.

We figured that since no one really knows for sure, a complaint to HQ that they're being harassed, and we get smacked for it. 

 

I'll be happy to change it to "Lost by ___" for anyone who complains, or if the frog so directs.

 

Realistically, most of these accounts appear abandoned - no finds for ages.  I doubt it'll accomplish anything.

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52 minutes ago, hzoi said:

 

I'll be happy to change it to "Lost by ___" for anyone who complains, or if the frog so directs.

 

Realistically, most of these accounts appear abandoned - no finds for ages.  I doubt it'll accomplish anything.

 

Around six or eight months ago I added (STOLEN) to the title of several of my trackables mainly to track them in my trackables database and the frog has remained silent. I didn't mention any names but it's pretty obvious once you read the logs.

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20 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

 

I've renamed our shared ones "Missing" (and the trackable's name) since we started losing trackables.     :)

The other 2/3rds hasn't bothered with her "missing" coins.

I wanted to say "stolen by ..." and thought better of it.

We figured that since no one really knows for sure, a complaint to HQ that they're being harassed, and we get smacked for it. 

 

The person who logged the Retrieval may have placed it into a cache, yet not logged that.  Especially if they didn't make note of the tracking number, it seems to be one of the most common ways for TBs to get lost.  The next finder typically can't figure out how to unscramble the logs, and the default plan in that case appears to be, to keep it and wait for an epiphany.

 

I appended “[MISSING]” to one of mine, and added a special log, and info in bold red text.

 

Some cachers can't seem to tell if they're holding a TB. That is, they can't tell how their “Inventory” database works. A few cachers look at their own lists to see how various TBs they previously moved are traveling. In either case, the TB renamed “[MISSING]” stands out in most any list, and honest, engaged Geocachers just might get my TB back into play when they see that. Especially if they live near the loser the person who hasn't logged the drop.

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On 1/14/2019 at 11:14 AM, Goldenwattle said:

You realise a TB has been stolen and hoarded in a personal collection when other geocachers log it as seen at events. Yes, the thief is 'proudly' displaying their stolen hoard to other geocachers. What's even more frustration is when the thief doesn't log the TB they won't release.

 

Apalling. Track the thief down and report him.

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16 hours ago, steel city babes said:

 

I just like to see that little trackable icon in caches hopefully people won't be too disappointed.  I mean I have 91 coins missing that is approximately $910 and I hate to see that it went up in flames. 

 

It's why I don't release TB anymore because I know it's cash going down the drain. I am amazed you released that many before realizing most of them will never come back.

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On ‎1‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 5:14 AM, Goldenwattle said:

You realise a TB has been stolen and hoarded in a personal collection when other geocachers log it as seen at events. Yes, the thief is 'proudly' displaying their stolen hoard to other geocachers. What's even more frustration is when the thief doesn't log the TB they won't release.

Hard to get a hoarder to let anything go! Them: "It's safe; it's not lost." "Calm down, let's not go overboard."

 

The issue originates with the company that sells the tracking codes.

 

Valuable “Jeep” TBs were stolen from Geocaches over the years by a particular Geocacher who then prepared the TBs for sale by creatively falsifying logs. Then he went to Ebay as a guy who “found a bunch of I don't know what they are in a thrift store”, and put them up for auction. Other Geocachers with the same ethical deficiency as him, bought the rare items to “rescue the TBs from the non-geocacher”, and now hoard the TBs themselves.  Yeah, I guess to display to others as a trophy.  Note the common thread here:  "They're worthless, what's the big deal?" ...while these same people greatly covet these items that produce a tidy profit.

 

I contacted Geocaching.com to report fraud, and that the creatively edited logs need to be reinstated so at least everyone sees the scam, so the thief is not hidden. Geocaching.com insisted they “can't do anything” about it, and the sales occurred. Note that Geocaching.com unilaterally marks TBs “Missing”, so they could most definitely do everything about TB logs changed for the purposes of fraud. Go figure.

 

Edited by kunarion
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Interesting topic! I spent some time this morning going through my inventory......

 

We have released 282 coins throughout the years. Way to many I (now) realize. Anyone in the forums from back in the "Todies Wild Ride" geocoin release days?? 150 of those coins were released then.

 

At any rate of the 282 coins we have released....... 259 are missing, 23 are still traveling.

 

Our coin with the most miles, that I can verify as still traveling was released in Feb. 2010 and has 57,453 miles on it!

 

I used to email people that had a coin for a long period of time, it didn't really seem to help. I have added STOLEN to their name, doesn't seem to help.... We did recently have one recently resurface, seems it was one of many that had been turned over to Headquarters in Washington from a hoarder. 

 

Never give up. While the majority of them are probably long gone you never know when one will pop back into the game.

 

....... I don't release them anymore :(

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We learned very quickly that the TBs get absconded rather quickly by fellow GCs.  So, years ago we had a few nice ones - we kept the original and released a replica coin.  Basically we copied the front and back in color, added a coin inside for weight and laminated it together.  We then released the "replica" and guess what happened?  They still went missing.  

 

The good part about sending out the replicas is, I can make an new copy and send it out again.  I should do that to the few that we have and get them traveling again!

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On ‎1‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 12:30 PM, kunarion said:

Note the common thread here:  "They're worthless, what's the big deal?" ...while these same people greatly covet these items that produce a tidy profit.

Yeah...

May be just us, the other 2/3rds learned her lesson after a dozen or so of her coins went bye-bye (along with most trackables on our shared account)...

If we'd be talking around a hundred,  that last thing we'd do is put out more.  

 Rather than find them just stolen by some maggot driving along roadside hides, I'm leaving my unactivated signature coins in distant caches I really liked as swag, an incentive maybe for cachers who like to hike.  :)

 

 

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On 1/15/2019 at 8:31 AM, Rikitan said:

Apalling. Track the thief down and report him.

 ... and just "who" are you going to report the "thief" to?

 

I tried this. Contacted Groundspeak about a hoarder with 32 known trackables in their possession. Long story, however I received a reply from Groundspeak that they would contact them and provide them with "proper etiquette" . When I continued to contact the hoarder about the trackables, they complained. I was then contacted by Groundspeak to stop harassing them. 

 

Several years later, a bag of trackables were purchased at a flea market from someone who purchased an abandoned storage locker. It was finally placed in a cache and is currently still travelling. 

 

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