Protocol for replacing TBs that have gone missing?

[+FollowMeHawkMom]

I have several TBs that have been missing for over a year. It recently occurred to me that I had sent them on their way as a laminated photocopy of the original (several are lackey tags) and still have the original. Is it acceptable to send them out again?

[+niraD]

8 hours ago, FollowMeHawkMom said:

I have several TBs that have been missing for over a year. It recently occurred to me that I had sent them on their way as a laminated photocopy of the original (several are lackey tags) and still have the original. Is it acceptable to send them out again?

You can absolutely send them out again. Trackables occasionally show up after being lost for years, but in most cases, if a trackable has been marked missing for months, then you can assume that it's gone. A replacement would be great.

 

One of my caches was muggled, and a trackable that had been in it was lost. The owner mailed me a replacement trackable (similar item, and a laminated copy of the TB tag) and I added it to the cache when I replaced the container. That kind of thing is fine.

[+cerberus1]

On 1/16/2024 at 1:57 AM, FollowMeHawkMom said:

I have several TBs that have been missing for over a year. It recently occurred to me that I had sent them on their way as a laminated photocopy of the original (several are lackey tags) and still have the original. Is it acceptable to send them out again?

 Sure you can, but that "laminated copy" may be the reason they're long gone...

Crumpled, moldy pieces of laminated carp gets pitched every day in caches that accumulate paper stuff. 

Most laminated "stuff" we found wasn't even water resistant. A poker chip, wooden nickel, or cheapy dog tag would serve you better...

 

[+qqnonrev]

I wait a few years and then use a copy tag (sometimes come with trackable), or a DupleBug or something like it (blank tag to write the number on), or anything I can write the number on (wood coins, etc).  Then I re-release it. 

 

Plus there is always the chance it will reappear.  That is why I wait several years.  One of ours reappeared after three years missing if I remember.

But it is your number, so play it as you like.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I found a TB in a cache that hadn't been found in two years.  The CO had replaced it.  The new TB was in Europe, so he aked me to mail it to him, so there weren''t two copies moving about.  He even repaid me for the postage!

[+kunarion]

Just now, Harry Dolphin said:

I found a TB in a cache that hadn't been found in two years.  The CO had replaced it.  The new TB was in Europe, so he aked me to mail it to him, so there weren''t two copies moving about.  He even repaid me for the postage!

 

If I place one of my revived TBs, I'll definitely add a lot of info about which version is which.  In case the original turns up.

[+Joe_L]

On 1/17/2024 at 6:10 PM, qqnonrev said:

I wait a few years and then use a copy tag (sometimes come with trackable), or a DupleBug or something like it (blank tag to write the number on), or anything I can write the number on (wood coins, etc).  Then I re-release it. 

 

Plus there is always the chance it will reappear.  That is why I wait several years.  One of ours reappeared after three years missing if I remember.

But it is your number, so play it as you like.

I had a similar experience.  In 2018, I retrieved a proxy TB that had been placed in the cache more than two years before.  By that time, the TBO had already released proxy 2.0, so the TBO told me to just hold onto the proxy that I found.  In 2023, the TBO concluded that proxy 2.0 was missing and asked me to release the old proxy that I still had into the wild.  (Side note: a cacher who found this TB in 2015 or 2016 later found the proxy TB that I re-released in 2023.)

[+FollowMeHawkMom]

Thanks everyone, this was very helpful info.