Trackables Last Longer in Europe than in the US

[+shellbadger]

This post discusses the history of 23 5- to 10-year-old trackables that have made only 40-44 drops. This is the same collection discussed in the previous post, but examined in a different manner. Here, data were supplemented and tabulated to show the travels of each trackable. The table includes the release locations and dates, and last locations and dates (as of Dec 2021). Also provided is the ID number, the age of each trackable at last the last logged date and a brief summary of the countries traveled. The country names are abbreviated to the universal three-letter designations as shown in the smaller table below. In the release and last location columns, more specific regions within a country are also provided.

 

Of the 23 trackables achieving 40-44 drops, 14 (<1%) releases were of more than 2100 to mostly roadside containers in my core caching area in northwest Texas. There were nine releases in Europe.  Those in France are two (50%) of four I dropped in caches on the Normandy beaches. Those in Belgium are seven (23%) of 30 released at a Mega in Bruges, by a Belgian fan of Buddy Holly. That person’s releases of my trackables were in exchange for Buddy memorabilia sent from Buddy’s hometown.  Far, far fewer US releases have reached as many as 40 drops.

 

Similarly, if we examine the last locations of these same 23 trackables, we see that two (nos. 1, 16) were in the US while the remainder were in Europe. Neither of the two last located in the US, had their travel history wholly in the US (consult the rightmost column of the table). Some readers might object that the trackable (no. 1) having been across the border in Canada is no different than being in the US. However, I have the unsubstantiated opinion that Canadian stewardship of trackables is more like that observed in Europe, than in the US. Wherever the reader stands on this point, unlike in Europe, it remains exceedingly rare for a trackable never leaving the US, to be moved by as many as 40 different cachers. I would remind the reader that I have other trackables having made out to 75 drops, and more, and all of them are in Europe.

 

One final point can be made.  The arrangement of countries in in the Chief Travel column is not in the sequence of visitation.  The first country listed is that of release.  Next listed is the one most commonly visited by that trackable and all the other trackables, and so on.  All but one of these trackables has been dropped in Germany (DEU) at one point, followed by the Netherlands (NLD) and Belgium (BEL).  This is why I and others have remarked that if a trackable survives long enough, no matter the origin, the trackable will pass through northern Europe, and more specifically, Germany.

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by shellbadger

[+dprovan]

19 hours ago, shellbadger said:

This is why I and others have remarked that if a trackable survives long enough, no matter the origin, the trackable will pass through northern Europe, and more specifically, Germany.

"Pass through"? In my experience, if a trackable survives long enough to reach Europe, it will stay there, not pass through. This strikes me as the conclusion your data supports, too.

[Darwin473]

That's cool, that given enough time all TB's would eventually reach Germany.

 

I think the first TB I found (or one of the first) and moved came from Germany, and I've found a few others. And I was very disappointed that they then promptly disappeared after I'd dropped them into a cache. Very poor form Australia, letting the team down.