My trackable is not dropped, cacher does not respond

[+Geostar111]

The person who last took my trackable does not respond on my messages for almost two months now. What else can I do?

[Keystone]

I moved this thread from the General geocaching topics forum.

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, Geostar111 said:

The person who last took my trackable does not respond on my messages for almost two months now. What else can I do?

 

Many Geocachers don't make other people's Trackables a priority.  Nor respond when they are not Geocaching.  Sometimes it requires a lot of patience.  When you place a Trackable to travel, it's in the wind.  It's logged at the whim of the finder.  It's out of your hands, and unlikely to ever return.  Enjoy! 

 

Also, both party's Message system and email must be working flawlessly for Geocaching communication to function.  Not everyone has their various settings set up quite right.

 

But you may consider adding text about your expectations to your TB page, and/or to your TB logs.

 

And after about a year without news, I've changed info on some of my TBs.  I added a Note first, mentioning the problem.  I added info at the top of the TB description.  And once it's confirmed missing, I've even appended the TB name so it's obvious in any Trackable list.  You can see how this all works here:

https://coord.info/TB4154B

 

Edited May 24 by kunarion

[+Bear and Ragged]

Have they been out caching since collecting your TB?

 

Sometimes "Life" gets in the way, and they may not have caching as a priority at the moment.

Edited May 25 by Bear and Ragged
speelings...

[+cerberus1]

The cacher(s) has been a member since 2009 with almost 4,000 finds.  The last day caching was the day your Trackable was picked up.

 - They said they were taking it to Germany (with no timeframe) ...

 (I believe...) they use a phone now because their last log into the site was 8/23.

Stuff happens, and something simple or serious might take a while.  That "two weeks' notice" thing isn't always a sure thing.  

Did you try messages and email?  We only really respond to email.  Doesn't look like all is lost yet.  Give it some time...  

[+steve-geo]

Your post caught my attention, and I was curious about which travel bug it would be.  Since you only released two travel bugs it was easy to figure out you were referring to Dia de los Muertos Tag - Dutch Sugar Skull on Tour (TBANGP0).  I agree with cerberus1, it seems it is in transit to Germany.

 

Out of curiosity I also checked out your one geocache hide, Uitzicht Beundersbraak (GCANYCZ).

 

I love how Google Translate can give multiple translations depending on how much context is provided. 

I had Google translate the entire geocache description and there was an english word that I had not encountered before, "Gugs". 

 

Google created this word from the sentence:

Kijk tijdens het cachen uit voor Dreuzels/Muggels, want er willen na jou vast nog meer mensen cachen en het zou zonde zijn als de cache geript of vernield wordt. 

 

Which translated into:

"Watch out for Muggles/Gugs while caching, because there will probably be more people wanting to cache after you and it would be a shame if the cache were ripped or destroyed."

 

In researching Gugs I discovered H.P. Lovecraft's 'The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath' where Gugs seem to be a furious creature.

I will definitely need to read up on Beyond the Wall of Sleep collection!  It seems he created lots of strange creatures.

 

Oddly when I had Google translate just the first part of the sentence "Kijk tijdens het cachen uit voor Dreuzels/Muggels," it comes back with "Watch out for Muggles/Mosquitoes while caching,".  Hey that might also make sense with your geocache being near the lake/meer that might attract mosquitoes/muggen.

 

Then when I had Google translate "Dreuzels" it comes back with "Muggles". Which is probably what you intended!  But hey, I wouldn't want to meet a Gug while geocaching either. 

 

[+Deepdiggingmole]

It happens unfortunately

Sometimes the TB reappears in a cache and its on its merry way again
I had a TB disappear 18 years ago - it wasn't a small one either - I know where it ended up or rather who it ended up with - but have not been able to get in touch with them for a long time.

I am hoping one day they have a clear out - find the TB and manage to find a way to get it back in circulation - well ! I can hope anyway :-) 

[+Harry Dolphin]

5 hours ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

It happens unfortunately

Sometimes the TB reappears in a cache and its on its merry way again
I had a TB disappear 18 years ago - it wasn't a small one either - I know where it ended up or rather who it ended up with - but have not been able to get in touch with them for a long time.

I am hoping one day they have a clear out - find the TB and manage to find a way to get it back in circulation - well ! I can hope anyway :-) 

 

I sent out aFurby with a TB attached to visit my sister in Maine.  Itmade it there, and she retrieved it.  She attached the tag to a pink lawn flamingo (well, cammoflaged painted green).  That made it to an event in New Hampshire.  And has been missing for eighteen years.  I doubt that I'll ever see it again.

[+mevr_C]

On 5/25/2024 at 1:32 AM, kunarion said:

And after about a year without news, I've changed info on some of my TBs.  I added a Note first, mentioning the problem.  I added info at the top of the TB description.  And once it's confirmed missing, I've even appended the TB name so it's obvious in any Trackable list.  You can see how this all works here:

https://coord.info/TB4154B

 

 

On 5/25/2024 at 1:32 AM, kunarion said:

You can see how this all works here:

https://coord.info/TB4154B

This is a good idea, it’s worth a try. A geocacher sets her whole inventory on ‘took-it-to’ while caching. She has my travel tag for almost 2 years now and don’t react on my mails. Let’s see what happens. 

I don’t like it when geocachers set their whole inventory on took-it-to without logs or pictures. (What’s the fun for the owner? I don’t like this habit and I delete those logs.)

[+Team D.A.R.K.]

Don't worry about it too much. I've released quite a few over the years and sometimes they just "pause" for extended periods. I've had people discover them in their van when selling it, etc, etc. Sometimes it is years.

Look at Matt (https://coord.info/TB6NK68) we took him to Australia in 2017 and then released him and he does fine for a while. Then in 2018 he visited a cache (https://www.geocaching.com/live/log/TLZX1021) and then promptly vanished from everything. There are no logs between 9/7/2018 and 3/25/2021 (about 930 days!). Then he has a single event and nothing until 5/8/2023 (774 days). He was dropped at a Travel Hotel on 6/15/2024 and just picked up!!

 

Amanda (https://coord.info/TB6NH5W) has similar history. We took that one to Australia. Then on 7/7/2018 there is a log "Gonna be busy soon so dropping here!" and nothing until 5/23/2020 (686 days)! On 12/14/2021 she was placed in a cache and nothing until 6/6/2022 (so, not quite 1/2 a year). 

 

Others will get a friend and stay with that person for years. https://coord.info/TB7AA3D is a 15 year nano geocoin and has been all over the place in nearly 10 years (and even to some Mega events)!!! 

 

It's a bit of a numbers game. If you release quite a few, some will certainly endure. 

[+Hynz]

4 hours ago, Team D.A.R.K. said:

Others will get a friend and stay with that person for years. https://coord.info/TB7AA3D is a 15 year nano geocoin and has been all over the place in nearly 10 years (and even to some Mega events)!!! 

I admire your confidence that this coin is alive and physically travelling.....

And even when the coin is indeed travelling together with the current holder of the coin I will never understand how a TB-owner can be satisfied with that behavior.

[+Team D.A.R.K.]

There are quite a few travel bugs out there that have stayed with one person for a while, I don't think that's a bad deal. Sometimes there just isn't a great place to drop them, or they're doing caches in the woods. I know we have some friends that went out near Lake of the Woods in Oregon to rescue a few trackables we had placed over a year before and no one touched them.

Other times, I think they just like taking them on their own adventures. Sometimes I'll write and ask for photos, if I'm really curious, otherwise its just a game and they are having fun their own way. On this particular trackable, I don't even have a goal for him, so I think it's fine that he has stayed with one person for a while. 

I remember getting a message from one family that their child was really liking a trackable and the little boy would make sure it was with them for every geocaching adventure. We ended up transferring the trackable to them. No idea what ever happened, but that boy is probably 20 or so by now. Not everyone plays the game of life the same way. 

 

(Edited to fix typo)

Edited June 25 by Team D.A.R.K.