How do you rectify a trackable's location?

[+Carpincha]

I found a travel bug today, in a cache that had nothing in its inventory. When I looked the trackable up I found it was fairly new, and the only two logs were the owner dropping it in a nearby cache, and someone discovering it through the photo the owner posted (¬¬).

Either the owner picked the wrong cache when logging it, or someone moved it without a log (I think it's the latter, the owner hasn't logged a find on the second cache, but someone else has been to both since the drop). At this point I'm not picking it up (although I might before long, I'm meaning to go quite close to its intended destination), but I wanted to at least log it at the proper location. I logged as discovered, but it didn't let me tag the cache. Should I log as if I picked it up at the original cache (that I had found about 5 minutes earlier) and then dropped it where I found it, even if I didn't actually move it, or is there another way?

Edited February 6 by Carpincha
Clarity

[+niraD]

19 minutes ago, Carpincha said:

Either the owner picked the wrong cache when logging it, or someone moved it without a log (I think it's the latter, the owner hasn't logged a find on the second cache, but someone else has been to both since the drop). At this point I'm not picking it up (although I might before long, I'm meaning to go quite close to its intended destination), but I wanted to at least log it at the proper location. I logged as discovered, but it didn't let me tag the cache. Should I log as if I picked it up at the original cache (that I had found about 5 minutes earlier) and then dropped it where I found it, even if I didn't actually move it, or is there another way?

Posting logs to pick up and drop a trackable is the only way to move it from one cache's inventory to the other.

 

You could also contact the geocacher who might have moved it. Especially if this geocacher is new, an explanation of how to properly log trackables might be helpful.

[+schmittfamily]

When we discover a trackable in a cache not in inventory we do the following:

1. We grab it.

2. Visit the trackable to the cache where we found it to get the location correct with a picture of the trackable

 

For an example, look at TB5CX1X - it's the last page of the logs.   

https://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=4590944&page=21

 

[+cerberus1]

It used to be we contacted people and tried to "correct" logs up to when we picked up a Trackable.  

I'll Grab it, mentioning where, but correcting everyone else's stuff isn't happening anymore.  Drop it in the next sorta safe cache n done.

[+Carpincha]

Thank you all.

 

I did message the only person I saw who had logged (online) both caches in between the travel bug being first dropped and the day I saw it. It wasn't them, they first saw it already on the second cache and did nothing because they didn't even know what a travel bug was.

 

It's possible the person who moved it just didn't log their finds online, but I'm not going back just to check the paper logs, so I grabbed and dropped it, noting in the comment what actually happened.

[+thebruce0]

I contact the last holder and give it a short amount of time. I know there are times I have dropped a TB, aiming to log it along with my logs, but someone by chance swings by and finds it the same, grabbing from me, or the other cache it was in, thinking it was forgotten or something. I want to give it miles, so I have to message them and let them know I'm grabbing it back so I can properly drop it by log into that cache, on the correct dates, then they can properly pick it up from that cache. Then I message the owner to let them know what's going on. It's a big hassle.

 

But there are 2 takeaways:

1. Log trackable activity as soon as possible (I try to now to log TBs separately and immediately if I'm out on a trip and may not get to logging caches for a day or two or more).

2. Don't assume a TB is missing or forgotten; make a habit of contacting the last holder to see if they just forgot, and find out what they plan to do. Nothing? Then grab it.

3. If you grab it without indicating where you grabbed it from (like a cache, if it was still listed in someone's possession), consider being courteous and giving it the travel mileage by dropping it in the cache you found it in, then retrieving it. You can delete any extraneous logs.

 

That at least is how I tend to handle TB corrections and etiquette these days.

[+Carpincha]

The last holder was the owner when they released it.

It had been at least three days. The person I first thought had moved it had logged both caches two days prior and they say the TB was already on the second cache when they got there. I did the logs the day after talking to them.

 

The first thing I did, still at GZ, was to discover the TB with a note for the owner telling them what happened.

 

In the grab and drop logs I did indicate the cache where its owner dropped it and the one where I found it, both of which I had found that day, so it has the kilometrage it would have had.