TBs

[Gunner4T5]

Hello thee

 I have been caching since about 2013, and I used to find a travel bug once in awhile.

I just don't seem to come across them anymore. In fact the last time I picked up a TB, and moved it along was 2015.

Are TBs still a thing?

[+Max and 99]

22 minutes ago, Gunner4T5 said:

Hello thee

 I have been caching since about 2013, and I used to find a travel bug once in awhile.

I just don't seem to come across them anymore. In fact the last time I picked up a TB, and moved it along was 2015.

Are TBs still a thing?

Yes they are.  Although there is never a guarantee of the accuracy, I filtered for geocaches that have trackables listed in their inventory, sort of near your hide. 

Edited June 3 by Max and 99

[+Smitherington]

The two places I find them are in TB hotels and at events. 
 

TB hotel may have them but they don’t always have them. I think some people don’t understand that the cacher is supposed to move them along from cache to cache.
 

if I have a trackable to move along I take it to an event and ask if someone wants to take it to another cache based on the goal of the trackable. 
 

I have personal trackables that I log in & out of every cache I find. I also let others discover my trackables. 

[+Hynz]

4 hours ago, Gunner4T5 said:

I just don't seem to come across them anymore.

In the last years you found only 12 physical and non-micro caches so I wouldn't be too much surprised.

But I agree that finding TBs in caches is getting rarer and rarer.

[+GeoElmo6000]

Travel bugs have all disappeared into the ether.  They've had their own version of the Rapture.

[+Viajero Perdido]

It's no longer easy to see what happened to a TB after you moved it somewhere, were guardian for a little while, maybe felt a little connection.  The details are now hidden behind endless pages of took-it-to, so I don't bother with TBs anymore.

 

Also, it's harder to find a cache big enough nowadays.  That's another deterrent to picking them up.

[Gunner4T5]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll guess I keep up the search. 

Edited June 3 by Gunner4T5

[+Clongo_Rongo]

12 hours ago, Smitherington said:

The two places I find them are in TB hotels and at events. 
 

TB hotel may have them but they don’t always have them. I think some people don’t understand that the cacher is supposed to move them along from cache to cache.
 

if I have a trackable to move along I take it to an event and ask if someone wants to take it to another cache based on the goal of the trackable. 
 

I have personal trackables that I log in & out of every cache I find. I also let others discover my trackables. 

 

i remember logging your car number plate at the event and for Indiana’s First, GC93 - think you got 9000 finds on this event 

 

Edited June 3 by Clongo_Rongo

[+CAVinoGal]

21 hours ago, Gunner4T5 said:

Are TBs still a thing?

 

For me, yes.  Granted, I may not be your typical geocacher, but I do enjoy the trackable side game.  I generally carry a dozen or so, with a list of their goals, and photo requests if they have them, and try to fulfill what I can, or at least move them closer to where they want to go.  I'll drop some, then pick up a few more, and seem to always have several in my inventory.  I find them in caches or at events, and try to drop them in safer places where they are likely to be moved.

 

Sometimes I think I'll just drop them all and be done, but I seem to keep collecting them!!

[+Smitherington]

20 hours ago, Clongo_Rongo said:

 

i remember logging your car number plate at the event and for Indiana’s First, GC93 - think you got 9000 finds on this event 

 

That is correct.  9000 on that day. 
 

That is another good point about trackables in that they are often on cars, name tags, and shirts at events. I frequently take photos of them to log when I get back home.  

[+justintim1999]

I still come across them from time to time, mostly in highly favored geocaches which makes sense.  

 

I guess the best way to fix that is to release a few of your own.   Come to think of it I still have a few tags in my bag.   Time to use them up. 

[+hzoi]

On 6/3/2025 at 2:11 PM, Viajero Perdido said:

It's no longer easy to see what happened to a TB after you moved it somewhere, were guardian for a little while, maybe felt a little connection.  The details are now hidden behind endless pages of took-it-to, so I don't bother with TBs anymore.

 

This is true if you're looking at the main  TB page, where only 10 logs are visible at a time.

 

If you look at the map, it lists only visits and drop offs, all in one page, so it's much easier to scroll. (And, of course, it has a map.)

 

Example

[+schmittfamily]

The issue with watching trackables is there are no pings for the truly interesting stuff.
The watchers get an email for retrieval, drops, notes, and grabs.   
Drop logs are really bad because they usually created with the find log so the drop log is empty.   
If someone writes a log on a visit or posts a picture, it gets buried unless you are diligent enough to look for it.   

My estimate is over half of the pictures we post to trackable pages are never seen by the trackable owner.   
We have been trying the approach of updating our trackable description with thank yous to users who post interesting logs to see if it encourages more interesting logs.   

[Keystone]

After discovering this thread, I retrieved it from the General Geocaching Topics Forum and dropped it in the Trackables Forum.