What do you do with a trackable that has fulfilled its mission?

[+Carpincha]

I'm posting a few of what might be noob questions, but I just started geocaching about a week ago (even if I initially registered here a long time ago), so please be patient.

 

The question on the title, what do you do with a trackable if you find its mission is already over and it doesn't have specific instructions? Do you start moving it back to its owner? Do you get in touch with them to mail it? I suppose it's not ever acceptable to keep it. Do you just keep moving it along?

 

I've only found one trackable so far. I left it there because it was on my first find, and I didn't want to screw things for the trackable owner if I didn't go on caching, but when I went to log online I saw that it was on a race with another trackable to see which one got the furthest in one year, and that year had passed, so that got me curious if there is something you typically do at that point.

[+kunarion]

If you take it out of the cache, plan to make the proper logs and to Drop it in a cache promptly.  Yes, if you have doubts about the possibility of placing it, maybe just do a Discover log.  I know of a few big local caches that aren't routinely muggled, caches that are safe, where I can expect the item to be there when some cacher shows up to Retrieve it.  That's where I Drop it.

 

If the mission is over, you may continue moving it as if there's no mission.  It might be good to make a log (even a Note) asking if there's a new mission.  Many TOs were at first excited, anticipating all the cool travel, but became disillusioned by all the mishandling of the item, and eventually stopped paying much attention to it.  But Trackables should travel just fine regardless of the attentiveness of the Trackable Owners. 

 

Edited January 17 by kunarion

[+schmittfamily]

It's really up the the trackable owner to have a valid mission on the trackable page.

The owner can update the page at any time so a trackable saying it's in a race that has been expired for years is being ignored by it's owner.

[+cerberus1]

18 hours ago, Carpincha said:

The question on the title, what do you do with a trackable if you find its mission is already over and it doesn't have specific instructions? Do you start moving it back to its owner? Do you get in touch with them to mail it? I suppose it's not ever acceptable to keep it. Do you just keep moving it along?

I've only found one trackable so far. I left it there because it was on my first find, and I didn't want to screw things for the trackable owner if I didn't go on caching, but when I went to log online I saw that it was on a race with another trackable to see which one got the furthest in one year, and that year had passed, so that got me curious if there is something you typically do at that point.

Did you Discover the Trackable to see what others said?  That's a log, if you're nervous "what to do".

 - I leave Discover logs to tell people their Trackables still in play...

Most Trackables are simply meant to "move along, cache to cache", and folks are happy if they continue to do that.  

If they have a mission, they usually keep track, and if they have any other plans upon completion, they'll leave a note to the current/future holder.

Otherwise, move it along to another cache if you'd like.   

 

 

[+qqnonrev]

If you see it, discover it.  This way the owner knows it is still out there.  They may then update the goal of it.

If you pick it up, log it properly and move it to another cache (and log properly).  This again lets the owner know it still exists, and maybe update the goal.

 

I try to keep the goals on our trackables updated, but the emails saying it has been logged always gets me to look.

[+CAVinoGal]

23 hours ago, Carpincha said:

The question on the title, what do you do with a trackable if you find its mission is already over and it doesn't have specific instructions? Do you start moving it back to its owner? Do you get in touch with them to mail it? I suppose it's not ever acceptable to keep it. Do you just keep moving it along?

 

If the mission is over and there is no new mission, just keep moving it along.  You are correct that it is NOT acceptable to just keep it.  The TB belongs to the owner, active or not.  You can try to contact the owner, and see if there is a new mission, if they no longer care, or simply place it in another cache and move on.

 

My TB missions are usually open ended - visit wineries - travel the world, I love photos of places the TB has been - etc....   I did pick up a travel bug recently that has a mission, and the owner said when it has reached its goal, it will be given a new mission.  That TB was just released 6 months ago, so who knows when it will reach its goal and if the TB owner is still tracking it!

 

Trackables, for me, or a fun and interesting side game; I've released several, some have disappeared, some have traveled far, and I keep releasing a few each year.  I enjoy seeing photos of their travels when cachers do take the photos.  When I pick up travel bugs, I try to take photos and get them closer to their goal if there is one listed.  Many just want to travel, so I try to take them places they haven't been to before.  My son has a well run TB hotel on his front porch ( https://coord.info/GC87RAN ) so we use it frequently to drop and pick up travel bugs.

[+schmittfamily]

On 1/17/2024 at 5:12 PM, qqnonrev said:

...but the emails saying it has been logged always gets me to look.

 

I have been thinking a lot about this statement....

I did some digging around through our experience moving trackables.

Things like checking trackable owners last log in, direct messages from trackable owners, etc.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say less than half of trackable owners ever actually look in on their own trackables.

In 2023 we moved 13 trackables - 3 owners sent thank you notes and 4 haven't logged in the last year.

The other 6 are a shmoo of likely to unlikely to have looked at the logs based on log ins.   

This is fairly typical from our experience.   

 

 

[+Harry Dolphin]

I sent a trackable to visit my sister in Maine.  It was put in a cache in Maine!  Next cache finder picked it up and said "Fulfilled its goal" and moved it far away.  NO!!!  My sister didn't get to find the trackable!