What if I lost some else's TB?

[+4agers]

I didn't... but I did have a moment of panic last weekend when I couldn't find a travel bug we picked up a few weeks earlier. First travel bug we got too, which would have made it even more embarrassing.

 

What is the etiquette for letting someone else know? A person could (and probably should) purchase a new TB, but that certainly won't replace it's travels or make the folks who own the TB feel any better.

 

Is the best solution to disable your ID, travel to your favorite cache and use it as a coffin?

[shrekTBA]

Woodsyfeller picked up my TB on Jan 1, 03 and contacted me once and have never seen or heard from him or the TB since. It would have been so much nicer to have him say he lost it or whatever else instead of just sitting on it and doing and saying nothing. It would be the right thing to do to let someone know, I know I wouldn't have been upset to hear the demise of it instead of continued silence when I try to contact him. I would have just started over with another TB, not expecting him to do anything other than let me know. It's nice to see someone with a consience about the TB, rather than the attitude of to TB highjackers.

 

It's not a sport unless there is something dead in the back of the truck when you get home.

[+Renegade Knight]

I have done exactly that. A TB called Eye Vacation. When I realized I lost it I emailed the owners and told them I'd misplaced it but hoped to find it. A few months later I got an email asking me if I was ever going to move the TB on. I had to explain again that I'd misplaced it and that if it hadn't turned up yet, that the odds were not good. Worse the TB was released by their kid.

 

I eventually put it in the Travel Bug Graveyard and still hope it will turn up so I can put it back in circulation.

[+briansnat]

My first TB was taken by a local geocacher, who held onto it for 5 months. Even though he was active throughout this time and had a number of finds, he never released my bug. I e-mailed several times and finally received a response. The TB was then "released" in another state, but it was never found in that cache. I suspect the finder actually lost it and like Wyoduckhunter, I would have appreciated it if they were honest.

 

Informing the owner right away is yourbest bet. I know some owners who have used the copy tag to replace a lost TB, so this is an option in some cases.

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

 

[This message was edited by BrianSnat on September 14, 2003 at 10:15 AM.]

[+Finders_Jeepers]

quote:

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Originally posted by 4agers:

when I couldn't find a travel bug we picked up a few weeks earlier. First travel bug we got

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My question is why would you hold onto it for a few weeks? The point is to get them moving. Why do so many people hold onto them for so long? Pick it up - take it home for the night - put it back out there the next day! If the cache is interesting enough for you to visit, it's good enough to have a TB placed in it.

 

I hate hearing about people holding onto TB's for weeks!

 

-Ken

[Shortfuse & Sidekick]

I believe that weeks are a bit much,but not everyone can go out the next day or so and place it due to work or other commitments.

[+FarSideX]

If you can't go out the next day or two (at the most) DON'T take the TB in the first place. Would that be too hard? I've left TB behind when it's in the last cache I will do on a Sunday knowing I won't be out until the following weekend. The only exception I can think of is if the bug has been sitting in the same cache for months, then it would be OK to take and hold until the next weekend I would think, but no longer.

I am guilty of holding a TB for a week though but the day after I picked it was the start of a week of rain.

If I lost a TB I would inform the owner and place it the graveyard if there was no chance of recovery.

 

FarSideX

 

Took tupperware container - Left nothing.

[+droosa]

Jeepers_Keepers and FarsideX you had better quit putting out bugs now. You are in for a lot of disappointment given the perception you have about bugs.

 

When the cache population is low there are times you can not cache every week. In these circumstances the best bug steward can have one for up to a month.

 

Your worry is not the length of the hold, but gone forever and that will happen. But, I hope you both have good luck with your bugs.

[fat_cat]

We had a similar scare with the camel travel bug, in which cachers add a camel of their choice to the bag before moving the bug along. Came downstairs one morning to find the dogs had eaten the plastic bag and camels were strewn everywhere.

 

For whatever reason, it was the bag they wanted, so no camel was harmed in the taking of that travelbug, but it was close call and I always make sure any waiting bugs are put up HIGH on the shelf before going to bed.

[+briansnat]

quote:

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If you can't go out the next day or two (at the most) DON'T take the TB in the first place. Would that be too hard?

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The next day or two? How many geocachers really get to go out every day or two. I have a few TB's and I have no problem if people hold on to then for a week or two. I've done the same and never had a complaint from an owner. If you're gonna hold it beyond two weeks for whatever reason, it's nice to let the owner know.

 

I held onto one for 6 weeks, because I knew I was going to be travelling soon in the direction the owner wanted the bug to go. I e-mailed the owner, and this was fine with him.

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

[Shortfuse & Sidekick]

quote:

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Originally posted by FarSideX:

If you can't go out the next day or two (at the most) DON'T take the TB in the first place. Would that be too hard? I've left TB behind when it's in the last cache I will do on a Sunday knowing I won't be out until the following weekend. The only exception I can think of is if the bug has been sitting in the same cache for months, then it would be OK to take and hold until the next weekend I would think, but no longer.

I am guilty of holding a TB for a week though but the day after I picked it was the start of a week of rain.

quote:

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Not much of an excuse for the person that thinks it should be left there if you can't send it off right away :

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:If I lost a TB I would inform the owner and place it the graveyard if there was no chance of recovery.

 

FarSideX

 

Took tupperware container - Left nothing.

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quote:

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[This message was edited by shortfuse on September 14, 2003 at 11:11 AM.]

 

[This message was edited by shortfuse on September 14, 2003 at 11:17 AM.]

 

[This message was edited by shortfuse on September 14, 2003 at 11:18 AM.]

[+Xitron]

This is a easy one, if you lose someones property just let them know.

 

I see your lips moving but all I hear is blah blah blah

[+DapperDanMan]

I lost my own travel bug once. I went to a cache that was a 16 mile hike (32 round trip) and half way there I took it out to show the others I was with. At about the same time it started raining really hard and I put the bug back into my backpack and took out my rain jacket. I am pretty sure it fell out there because the next morning (just before we were going to summit the highest peak in Utah) I could not find it.

 

The next day when we hiked back I looked in the area I thought I dropped it and it was not there. The hike is a popular one and I am pretty sure somebody must have picked it up. I still hope that somebody will read the tag and go to the website so I can know where it is.

 

[+hikemeister]

Last weekend one of my caches was stolen, and it contained a travel bug that had logged over 3,000 miles. I went on the bug's page and got the owners email link -- contacted him about the event, and also gave him the link to the Travel Bug Graveyard page. Perhaps the cache and bug will come back sometime, but I doubt it.