Track, keep or log

[+NH2GA]

Hello this may be in the FAQ but I have a couple questions. 

 

1. Geocoins, is there an easy way to know if you can keep them?  Found a couple and went ahead and picked up logged and dropped off in another cache but it would be nice to collect.  I just did not see the point in a trackable that you don't track. 

2. Geocaching trading cards.  I picked one up because I thought it was pretty cool then noticed a tracking number so i placed it in the next good cache I found.  Again do you leave them and just discover them, treat it as a travel bug or collect them?

3. For caches with multiple travel bugs, do most people discover them all and grab one? 

 

Sorry for the basic questions, I really don't want to hold on to something I should move on or miss out on logging something. 

 

My mindset has been, if it has a tracking number move it along.  I did just buy a patch to log along the way. 

 

Thank you for the future answers.

[+TmdAndGG]

Great questions! Here are my (hopefully great) answers:

1.When you activate a geocoin(or any trackable), there is a spot where you can mark your trackable as collectable. Usually when someone marks it as collectable, they keep it in their possession. However, every once in a while you will find a trackable out in the wild marked as collectable, and then you can keep it if you'd like. You can find if it's collectable or not on the trackable's page.

2. This is an interesting concept. When someone orders a set a cards (let's say maybe 500), they all come with the same exact tracking code. This is basically the only exception in which you can keep the trackable without it saying collectable. However, when you find a card in a cache, you only log it as "discovered", not retrieved, and then you can take it if you'd like.

3. That's what we do! 

Hope this helps!

You can find more information here.

Edited May 20, 2020 by TmdAndGG

[+coachstahly]

1.  Unless the coin is unactivated (meaning you can't log it as discovered or retrieved or grabbed), the answer is no most times.  Sometimes the owner of the coin will post on the page that it can be kept but generally speaking, that's a rarity rather than a common happening.

 

2.  Not overly familiar with cards that are trackable but if it's a TB, my assumption is that you keep it moving.  I've seen cards without trackable numbers that you can keep (swag).

 

3. It depends.  There's NO rule stating that you can only take one or take one/leave one.  You are allowed to take as many as you'd like, despite whatever someone might say.  If I can help a TB along on its journey to a specific destination, I'll take it.  Sometimes I can't look at the goal until I get home and log my finds and TBs, which means that occasionally I take one that I probably shouldn't have.  I typically will take one or two and leave one or two, unless I don't think the cache is going to get visited regularly enough for someone else to come along and pick it up.  I will say that I have never taken EVERY TB in a cache that has multiple TBs/coins in it.

 

You'll get a variety of answers moving forward and you'll need to formulate your own feelings about how to proceed for each situation you encounter.

[+Isonzo Karst]

17 minutes ago, NH2GA said:

Geocoins, is there an easy way to know if you can keep them?

 

Yes, if you go to the coins page under the Owner, Released, Origin, Last Spotted

 

This is collectible. <--- that means you can keep it.

 

This is not collectible.  <--- move it along.  this is far more common.

[+cerberus1]

1 hour ago, NH2GA said:

Hello this may be in the FAQ but I have a couple questions. 

 

1. Geocoins, is there an easy way to know if you can keep them?  Found a couple and went ahead and picked up logged and dropped off in another cache but it would be nice to collect.  I just did not see the point in a trackable that you don't track. 

2. Geocaching trading cards.  I picked one up because I thought it was pretty cool then noticed a tracking number so i placed it in the next good cache I found.  Again do you leave them and just discover them, treat it as a travel bug or collect them?

3. For caches with multiple travel bugs, do most people discover them all and grab one? 

 

My mindset has been, if it has a tracking number move it along.  I did just buy a patch to log along the way. 

 

Every trackable in the system was someone's property. 

We see people making this mistake ever since "collectible" was introduced.  It was meant for people like the other 2/3rds who has a large amount of coins in her collection.  At one time we had to scroll over hundreds of coins owned just to log a find.

The site says "Selling or keeping a trackable which does not belong to you is frowned upon. Only do this after you receive explicit permission from the trackable owner." 

Well it shouldn't be "frowned upon".  In fact it's a darn rotten thing to do.

You can "track" any trackable by placing it on the watchlist (it's to the right of the trackable's page, under "Watch this trackable item".) 

 - There's also the trackables map on every trackable page.

 

We do however occasionally place unactivated signature coins in caches we liked as swag.   It says so on it's protective cover.

For anything else, everything you might need to know about Trackables.

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by cerberus1

[+TmdAndGG]

17 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

"Selling or keeping a trackable which does not belong to you is frowned upon. Only do this after you receive explicit permission from the trackable owner."

Well then what's the point in being able to set them as "collectible"? I'd assume that if you set your trackable as "collectable" and release it into the wild, you'd be agreeing with the fact that someone might keep it.

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by TmdAndGG

[+cerberus1]

15 minutes ago, TmdAndGG said:

Well then what's the point in being able to set them as "collectible"?

 

That's simple.    

Used to be we had to scroll over hundreds of trackables owned just to log a find.

It was bad enough that the other 2/3rds created another account just to clear our logging page of all those trackables in her collection.

Once "collectible" was introduced, those trackables marked as "collectible" no longer take up that space ( only showing in your "trackables owned" column).

ETA...  To be clear, that was using the "old" logging page (which I still use), and not the "new" logging, which probably has that arrow to do the same thing.   

 

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by cerberus1

[+TmdAndGG]

1 minute ago, cerberus1 said:

That's simple.    

Used to be we had to scroll over hundreds of trackables owned just to log a find.

It was bad enough that the other 2/3rds created another account just to clear our logging page of all those trackables in her collection.

Once "collectible" was introduced, those trackables marked as "collectible" no longer take up that space ( only showing in your "trackables owned" column).

OK, I get the point. I just feel like it should be called something else then...

[+cerberus1]

There's more than a couple of us who agree.   

[+kunarion]

18 minutes ago, TmdAndGG said:

Well then what's the point in being able to set them as "collectible"? I'd assume that if you set your trackable as "collectable" and release it into the wild, you'd be agreeing with the fact that someone might keep it.

 

“Collectible” enables the Trackable item to be placed into a “Collection”.  Often these items are marked Collectible because the owner doesn’t understand what the function is for.  It could even be that it is intended to go to a particular cacher’s Collection, not necessarily any random finder’s.

 

Anyway you should not just pocket the item, regardless.  Be sure the owner knows what your intention is.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by kunarion

[+IceColdUK]

1 hour ago, TmdAndGG said:

However, every once in a while you will find a trackable out in the wild marked as collectable, and then you can keep it if you'd like.

As often as not, I’d expect the trackable was marked ‘collectible’ in error.  I’d check with the TO before putting it in my display cabinet. ?

[+TmdAndGG]

1 minute ago, IceColdUK said:

As often as not, I’d expect the trackable was marked ‘collectible’ in error.  I’d check with the TO before putting it in my display cabinet. ?

 

2 minutes ago, kunarion said:

“Collectible” enables the Trackable item to be placed into a “Collection”.  Often these items are marked Collectible because the owner doesn’t understand what the function is for.  It could even be that it is intended to go to a particular cacher’s Collection, not necessarily any random finder’s.

 

Anyway you should not just pocket the item, regardless.  Be sure the owner knows what your intention is.

 

 

Got it

[+kunarion]

1 minute ago, IceColdUK said:

As often as not, I’d expect the trackable was marked ‘collectible’ in error.  I’d check with the TO before putting it in my display cabinet. ?

Collectible and the Collection allow honest Geocacher’s to make complete records of who is keeping which item and why.  At the whim of the Trackable’s Owner.  It would be returned to play upon request, and removed from the Collection.  

[+kunarion]

2 minutes ago, TmdAndGG said:

 

Got it

Collectible and the Collection is very flexible with various possibilities.  And they seem to create much confusion. 

Edited May 20, 2020 by kunarion