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How long is too long to hold a Travel Bug before placing it into another cache.


larkspeed

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I'm really curious on this one I often wonder how long is too long to carry one around.

 

I sometimes like to recheck the logs of a Travel Bug I have moved on it's way especially if the bug made a particular impression on me.

 

I was recently looking at the logs of one such bug that I moved from Canada to Europe and has been bouncing all over Europe for the past 4 years, since I knew it was going to be about 3 weeks before I returned home I actually contacted the owner of the bug to ask them if they wanted me to put it back into the wild quickly and let it stay local or hold it for 3 weeks until I returned home because I didn't want them to wonder what was happening with it..

 

When looking at the later logs of that bug I noticed that one person in Europe had held onto the bug and been logging it as "taken to" for nearly 2 months before dropping into a cache and sending it on it's way again.

 

Is that not considered too long to hold onto a trackable without placing it?

Edited by larkspeed
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20 minutes ago, larkspeed said:

When looking at the later logs of that bug I noticed that one person in Europe had held onto the bug and been logging it as "taken to" for nearly 2 months before dropping into a cache and sending it on it's way again.

 

Is that not considered too long to hold onto a trackable without placing it?

Most would probably think so - I don't watch ours very closely now, but did a 'stocktake' earlier this week, I only sent polite reminders to people who have had the TB for over 6 months, generally newer cachers who haven't found a cache since the day they retrieved our TB.... I'm not holding much hope of seeing those moving again! I try and get TBs back out there within 2-4 weeks, and only log at most one visit for each for each trip (once/week usually) to avoid clogging up the TBs log with visits too much.

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6 hours ago, larkspeed said:

When looking at the later logs of that bug I noticed that one person in Europe had held onto the bug and been logging it as "taken to" for nearly 2 months before dropping into a cache and sending it on it's way again.

 

Is that not considered too long to hold onto a trackable without placing it?

 

It's common to see TBs carried around forevermore by one cacher, with no story, no photos, just robotic "took it to" over and over.  And it's common, here in the Forums, to see a stubborn defense of this practice.  I won't do that, basically sending my own caching progress to a stranger to read, while at the same time making him greatly concerned that I'm a weirdo.  That would be super obnoxious!  I log it and leave it in the cache (including a human-type log about the item and a nice photo of it to "prove it's still alive" that empty took-it-to absolutely does not prove at all).  Or I Retrieve it with the exact cache in mind where I will place it, which I do right away, that same day if possible.  What's the deal with "Keep it for X weeks, then place it into a cache?"  Disrespect is built-in by Groundspeak, with the "X weeks" thing.  Why would anyone do that?  Why does everyone do that?

 

The guy in your OP may have contacted the TB Owner and suggested the plan.  I hardly ever see that, but actual communication about carrying the TB around where the Owner approves, is fine.  It doesn't even need to be a secret plan -- make a public note, like "It is super obnoxious to hang onto someone's TB, so I've asked the TO who said it's fine to hang onto this for two months of empty uninteresting cache Visit logs for mileage."  … provided the actual drop occurs after the 2-month kidnapping.

 

But that must become an exception.  I have gotten logs like something that on my TBs, and I have no recourse.  So I provide consent for the "travelling to Europe next August!", the cool-sounding plan that never happens.  The plan is never updated, and months turn to years.  I consent because as with any kidnapping... I have nothing to bargain with.  Note that this is entirely different than me creating a fun plan for my own TB.  It's somebody else "having fun with it" without involving me.

 

 

Edited by kunarion
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12 hours ago, larkspeed said:

I'm really curious on this one I often wonder how long is too long to carry one around.

I would say ... it depends!  I generally try to move them along in a timely manner.  BUT, if I know I will be traveling to someplace the TB has not visited before, I'll hang onto it to drop in a new county or state.  If it'll be more than a couple of weeks, I'll contact the TO and ask if that's OK.  Generally they agree to the plan, and I DO stick to the plan and take them to new locations and place them in caches there.

 

I'm carrying 4 TB's with me right now (I try not to collect more than 6 or so at a time) that I plan to take to Southern Calif/Palm Springs in a couple of weeks and I'll add more if I come across them before our trip. I do try to follow  missions.  Many I come across simply have a goal to "travel", or "see the world", so I'll look at the map of where they've been.  If I can get them to new places, I'll pick them up and move them.  If I will only move it to places it's already been, I'll leave it for someone else.

Edited by CAVinoGal
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9 hours ago, larkspeed said:

I'm really curious on this one I often wonder how long is too long to hold onto a trackable without placing it?

 

I'm with the "it depends " group.   The realities of life mean that  not everyone can go  caching every day or even every week. Some have said that,  in that case, you shouldn't even pick up trackables, but then very few trackables would ever move at all. 

 

Then there are the realities of caching which mean that you might find dozens of caches without one being large enough to hold the trackable.  

 

True,  you can return to a larger cache just to drop the trackable,  but not everyone has one of those conveniently located and it isn't realistic to expect someone to drive 10 miles out of the way, or hike a mile to drop a trackable. 

 

I'd just say to drop it as soon as you can,  within the circumstances of your realities. 

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The Trackable guidelines say, "Only take a trackable if you are going geocaching in the next 2-3 weeks.", which doesn't help much for how long. 

 - It does also say, "Trackables are like hot potatoes, they don't want to stay in one person’s hands too long!", but again, not how long.

It doesn't mention "visiting" caches for months on end like this person's property is now your personal mileage tracker...

 

Holding another's property longer than a month I feel isn't right, but there are some reasons it may be okay.  The TO asks you to is one...

In the last three weeks it's rained every day but one here.  Whether I'm holding a trackable or not, I gotta bale grass (mowing not an option).   :)

We know some who've held on to other's property for years, and that's called hoarding.   I report 'em now when I notice...

Some become hoarders without realizing it.  Most saying they'll "hold onto this trackable until I can find a 'suitable' spot", then they pick up another...and another... until they have a dozen they can no longer handle, or lost track of.

 

 

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2 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

The Trackable guidelines say, "Only take a trackable if you are going geocaching in the next 2-3 weeks "

This may be a good guideline for the Seattle area where there's sure to be another cacher along soon to pick it up.  In many other parts of the world caches sit unfound for months at a stretch.

 

I'd rather have my trackables in the hands of a cacher for 6 weeks than in a cache for 6 months.

Edited by NanCycle
Edit to add: I have 59 active caches. 18 of them have not been found in the past 2 months.
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3 hours ago, NanCycle said:

This may be a good guideline for the Seattle area where there's sure to be another cacher along soon to pick it up.  In many other parts of the world caches sit unfound for months at a stretch.

I'd rather have my trackables in the hands of a cacher for 6 weeks than in a cache for 6 months.

 

Curious (besides what do I have to do with the guidelines... ;-),  what does unfound caches have to do with taking a trackable ?

That's fixed simply by a search for caches that are found regularly...

We have roadside  park n grabs in my area unfound six months.   Once locals are done, they sit.     :D

 

A while ago I hit a bonus cache that had two trackables in it for over a year when I got there.  Thought I'd "save" both since the cache isn't visited often.

Put 'em both in a "safe" busy cache and they're in unknown-land already.    So guess I don't understand what you're trying to say   :)

 

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On 6/19/2019 at 8:43 PM, cerberus1 said:

We know some who've held on to other's property for years, and that's called hoarding.   I report 'em now when I notice...

Reporting to whom? HQ? Did they ever actually do something with your report?

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On 6/20/2019 at 9:25 AM, cerberus1 said:

Put 'em both in a "safe" busy cache and they're in unknown-land already.    So guess I don't understand what you're trying to say   :)

 

I think the point might be that there are many places in the world where there are no busy caches. A few times I've dropped a TB in a cache only to have to go back a year later to retrieve it and move it somewhere else. Only one of my own hides could be in any way considered "busy" (it averages about one find a week but even that's been tapering off a lot recently); it's hidden near the motorway rest area so gets a lot of passing traffic. Nearly a third of my hides have had no finds this year, and many of the others have had just one. The same is true for most of the caches in my region, it's really only the brand new ones that are likely to get visited in near future. I would imagine it'd be a lot worse in many of the smaller towns that don't get much through traffic - any TBs dropped in those regions would be unlikely to do any more travelling for a good while.

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3 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

I think the point might be that there are many places in the world where there are no busy caches...

 

That feels (to me) like it's veering from the point... 

I took trackables because they were in a " rarely visited/lonely/long-unfound" cache, only to have it quickly swiped from a busy one.   

That helped no one...  

 

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I usually drop trackables ASAP however I have kept one for about a month because I was going to be able to take it to one of its goals in a few weeks after I picked it up and after its goal was reached I had a hard time finding a big enough cache to place it in. I admit I did a lot of "visits"  how ever I made sure to post many pictures of the TB.

Edited by Wet_Ground
to make it less comfusing.
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37 minutes ago, Wet_Ground said:

I usually drop trackables ASAP however I have kept one for about a month because I was going to be able to take it to one of its goals in a few weeks after I picked it up and after its goal was reached I had a hard time finding a big enough cache to place it in. I admit I did a lot of "visits"  how ever I made sure to post many pictures of the TB.

 

I almost never see a complaint about someone's TB being placed into a cache after a month of Visits with pictures.  The question is almost always about some kidnapped TB without real communication at all, and "took it to" logs that look like default computer-sent entries, a Taker not responding yet "doing the TB Owner a favor" by Visiting caches with it forever.  It would be best if Takers post updates as Note logs on the TBs they hold, so everyone can see that all affected parties are on the same page.  "I'm just carrying it around with me because I'm nuts", or whatever the reason :wacko:.  If one is doing someone a favor, don't omit the actual favor.

 

I would like some info from a Taker that they are not a raving lunatic, that they in fact plan to place it "in a month", and that they either do so, or send a new message about the new plan, but since that communication is never gonna happen, I would at least like to see TBs placed into a suitable cache (the cache where it was found is fine), before the TB causes a thread about it. B)

 

Edited by kunarion
Fixed a whole bunch of typoes
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Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

I myself don't like to hold onto more than a couple of TB at a time and only then until the next available cache I come across.

 

If I hold one for more than about 2 weeks I actually start to feel bad about it and will specifically find an active cache to drop them into.

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