When is it time for a Geocoin to go home?

[+VictoriaBerlin]

Dear fellow Geocachers,

 

I'm quite new to Geocaching and I was given a Geocoin as a present which I just sent on its way with a clear return mission, a one-way trip so to say.

Excited as I am  I've spent the last nights looking at other trackable logs to see how their travels went. But I was surprised by the fact that they never seem to return for years even if this was an explicit request by the owner! Of course, in most cases the goal was to see the world before coming home, but at a certain point it's time to start the homeward journey, right? When is the right time for this and how do you prevent someone sending a trackable which is "homeward bound" off in another direction again?

For example, there was a girl who said she would like her trackable back before her 11th birthday last year but that just didn't happen and no one even mentioned it in the logs! I found that very disrespectful. Or trackables that were almost home were then sent off in another direction again. Grrr ...

Am I missing something or being too possessive? For me a large part of the fun seems to be actually "welcoming" the Trackable in your hands after its travels ...

 If I stated an explicit mission and return address, can I count on the support of other Geocachers to keep my wish in mind?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Victoria

[+kunarion]

13 hours ago, VictoriaBerlin said:

Dear fellow Geocachers,

 

I'm quite new to Geocaching and I was given a Geocoin as a present which I just sent on its way with a clear return mission, a one-way trip so to say.

Excited as I am  I've spent the last nights looking at other trackable logs to see how their travels went. But I was surprised by the fact that they never seem to return for years even if this was an explicit request by the owner! Of course, in most cases the goal was to see the world before coming home, but at a certain point it's time to start the homeward journey, right? When is the right time for this and how do you prevent someone sending a trackable which is "homeward bound" off in another direction again?

For example, there was a girl who said she would like her trackable back before her 11th birthday last year but that just didn't happen and no one even mentioned it in the logs! I found that very disrespectful. Or trackables that were almost home were then sent off in another direction again. Grrr ...

Am I missing something or being too possessive? For me a large part of the fun seems to be actually "welcoming" the Trackable in your hands after its travels ...

 If I stated an explicit mission and return address, can I count on the support of other Geocachers to keep my wish in mind?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Victoria

 

You may message the current holder.  It's unusual to have these items do a lot more than move cache to cache, but the missions are flexible, you can request most anything.  It isn't common to ever receive a Trackable item back into one's hands.  It's unusual to get any particular story with the log, other than what is automatically entered for "Retrieved", "Took It To", or "Dropped".  And yeah, it's definitely unusual for the item to follow a return schedule.  Be sure the actual mission is clearly defined.  The mission would probably need to be included with the physical item.

 

As with others, I don't necessarily have a constant connection to the Internet while caching. I might place it in another suitable cache without knowing the mission.  I once found a TB, took it from the cache (a cache that was disabled, about to be archived due to placement issues), then looked it up and it "only wants to go east, never west".  I was already as far east as I had planned to go.  And if it was a requirement to only get closer to returning to the owner, same problem.  I thought it would be cool for the owner to see it moved, but... surprise!... the extra requirement that I did not know about til I got online, was an unexpected burden.  Remember that it's plenty hard to find a safe cache with enough internal space for a Trackable.  But if there are strict requirements, I might put it back where I found it. 

 

I got one of mine back.  It went from a cache to Germany, ended up in the same starting cache, and I went and got it.  If you want yours back, prepare to intercept yours if it ever gets anywhere near you.

 

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by kunarion
I was late for the midnight train going anywhere.

[+IceColdUK]

I think the best you can hope for is that (i) it’s not stolen and (ii) it keeps moving from cache to cache.

 

If the mission is stated clearly on the trackable itself you have a better chance of someone helping it along.

 

10 hours ago, VictoriaBerlin said:

For example, there was a girl who said she would like her trackable back before her 11th birthday last year but that just didn't happen and no one even mentioned it in the logs! I found that very disrespectful. Or trackables that were almost home were then sent off in another direction again. Grrr ...

 

I picked up a couple of TBs on a trip to Pennsylvania last year - no connectivity to check missions, and tbh, it was a rarely found cache, so I probably wouldn’t have bothered even if I had.  Logging later, I discovered neither wanted to leave the US.  I only found a few more caches on my trip and none were big enough for trackables, so they came back with me to the UK.  I messaged the owners to apologise, but what else could I do?  I certainly didn’t intend any disrespect.

[+Harry Dolphin]

50 minutes ago, IceColdUK said:

I think the best you can hope for is that (i) it’s not stolen and (ii) it keeps moving from cache to cache.

 

If the mission is stated clearly on the trackable itself you have a better chance of someone helping it along.

 

 

I picked up a couple of TBs on a trip to Pennsylvania last year - no connectivity to check missions, and tbh, it was a rarely found cache, so I probably wouldn’t have bothered even if I had.  Logging later, I discovered neither wanted to leave the US.  I only found a few more caches on my trip and none were big enough for trackables, so they came back with me to the UK.  I messaged the owners to apologise, but what else could I do?  I certainly didn’t intend any disrespect.

 

I picked up a TB that wanted to visit Maine Lighthouses.  Went to visit my sister in Maine, and we found a nice cache near a lighthouse!  The next cacher picked it up and too it to Montreal.  It's been wandering about Quebec ever since.  Oh, well.  At least it got to see one Maine Lighthouse.

[+kunarion]

4 hours ago, IceColdUK said:

I think the best you can hope for is that (i) it’s not stolen and (ii) it keeps moving from cache to cache.

 

If the mission is stated clearly on the trackable itself you have a better chance of someone helping it along.

 

 

I picked up a couple of TBs on a trip to Pennsylvania last year - no connectivity to check missions, and tbh, it was a rarely found cache, so I probably wouldn’t have bothered even if I had.  Logging later, I discovered neither wanted to leave the US.  I only found a few more caches on my trip and none were big enough for trackables, so they came back with me to the UK.  I messaged the owners to apologise, but what else could I do?  I certainly didn’t intend any disrespect.

 

Yeah.  That also happens when someone arrives from overseas and comes to an Event with a bag of Trackables.  Some are now far from their goal.

 

I've seen the Missions cause problems for Trackables. One of mine had a goal of going to Japan, a taker made a log that he's going to Japan in 6 months. Before the trip, he fell off the planet, still holding my Trackable, and I never heard from it again. I don't require takers to make a non-stop flight to fulfill the goal. Cache to cache is fine, especially if a Geocide is about to occur.  But the cache to cache route to "Japan" will be much less than ideal.

 

I have amended the mission on some of mine when they've excessively deviated.  Sometimes, I'm thrilled to discover that the items are in fact still in play.  Sure, you could say that I've lowered my expectations to match reality. 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by kunarion
My dog unplugged my alarm clock.

[+cerberus1]

16 hours ago, VictoriaBerlin said:

I'm quite new to Geocaching and I was given a Geocoin as a present which I just sent on its way with a clear return mission, a one-way trip so to say.

Excited as I am  I've spent the last nights looking at other trackable logs to see how their travels went.

But I was surprised by the fact that they never seem to return for years even if this was an explicit request by the owner!

Of course, in most cases the goal was to see the world before coming home, but at a certain point it's time to start the homeward journey, right?

When is the right time for this and how do you prevent someone sending a trackable which is "homeward bound" off in another direction again?

For example, there was a girl who said she would like her trackable back before her 11th birthday last year but that just didn't happen and no one even mentioned it in the logs! I found that very disrespectful. Or trackables that were almost home were then sent off in another direction again. Grrr ...

Am I missing something or being too possessive?

For me a large part of the fun seems to be actually "welcoming" the Trackable in your hands after its travels ...

 If I stated an explicit mission and return address, can I count on the support of other Geocachers to keep my wish in mind?

 

I believe most would just be happy that they're still traveling, and not gone bye-bye  like so many these days.    

Many we know try to help a trackable along with it's mission, if it's mission is actually clear, and when it's possible.  

There is no "right time" if it's not stated on the trackable's page.   Thinking about others property so much isn't healthy though either.

We feel a few hoarders were created when they started to think about how others were handling another's property, and took it upon themselves to make things right.

 - Spending so much time trying to get them squared away, that some trackables sat for months-to-years until they find that perfect cache, or the trip they're gonna take maybe next Spring. 

You can have your mission as explicit as you wish,  just realize that this is an international hobby with trackables a side-game,  and humans are involved. 

Years from now you'll just be happy the thing's still traveling too...

[+lee737]

I look at trackables/released coins as just a donation I'm making into the game, for everyones enjoyment. If you really want to have it in your hand again one day, don't release it.....

[+VictoriaBerlin]

Thanks everyone for the insightful answers including the personal experiences! Of course I'm aware that this is "just a game" and that humans are (slightly) more important than Geocoin missions I do like to take Virtual worlds seriously and not knowing how the Geocache world works, I thought the "code of honor" within the game would be more geared towards helping the owner with the individual mission. I'm not trying to be Gollum-like here, it's just about the wonder of people working together to make something happen across many countries, I think that aspect makes the whole thing much more fun!

But that's life, a series of losses and disappointments ... I guess I will reluctantly have to consider adapting my expectations to reality as well ...