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Homemade Travel Bugs Dog Tags??


travis99

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I was curious. Is there any way that someone could make a travel bug and track it as usual, therefore avoidingthe cost of buying the travel bug dog tags?

 

i.e. stamp a unique tracking number in a steel tab, etc.

 

If so, how would we go about obtaining a unique tracking number?

 

thanks,

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...If so, how would we go about obtaining a unique tracking number?...

You buy a dog tag.

 

or you make your own tracking site and use it instead.

 

That's about it for options. Maybe Groundspeak will be willing to sell numbers sans tags & shipping. Money for the site and less money for those willing to just engrave the number on their TB

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You are free to make your own bugs and tags, but the only bugs that are trackable on the geocaching.com website are bugs with official tags purchased from geocaching.com (with a few exceptions like geocoins). The cost of the tags is what helps to pay for not only the tag itself, but also the costs of maintaining the web pages.

 

Personally, I think it's a bargain.

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Renegade and I must've been typing at the same time.

 

I believe Jeremy is open to other ideas, judging from his posts over the past couple of years. He's discussed the possibility of less expensive plastic tags and other trackable stuff (like collector's cards). Perhaps he'll weigh in here when he catches up with things.

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I personally love the Travel Bugs and would love to get a few out there, but my very tight budget does not allow for the purchasing of any dog tags at this time, therefore I gues I am SOL at this time :lol:

I hear ya man, I was able to order one recently though, after almost a year wait :lol:

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I love bugs and I have made sure that I have included the cost of 5 TB's a month in my personal budget . I currently have 17 TB's. Only one a coin is MIA but thats part of the game as I get to log him into the graveyard. I sometimes am a numbers player. But I adore best being in the field with my famil.

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I personally love the Travel Bugs and would love to get a few out there, but my very tight budget does not allow for the purchasing of any dog tags at this time, therefore I gues I am SOL at this time :ph34r:

Get some objects that you want to track. Get a fine point Sharpie marker. Develop a code for a 3 digit number (for example, 1st digit is the batch released, 2nd and 3rd digits are the item's number in the batch).

 

Label the objects with your geocaching ID and a 3 digit number. Put the item in a small baggie with a card or piece of paper telling people to log their find of your item on GC and email you with its movement through GC.com.

 

These work almost as well as TB's.

 

I have geocoins scattered from Anchorage to Berlin and geocards as far away as Johannesburg.

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I have a hard time understanding how someone could afford a GPS which is $100 or more, and not be able to buy a $5-6 dogtag.

 

im not rich by any means, but come on.

 

i hear people complain all the time about not having any money, yet they eat out every day for lunch and dinner at fast food resturants and have the starbucks coffee in hand in the morning or at night. :blink:

 

maybe just enjoy moving bugs if that is really the case. :lol:

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I have a hard time understanding how someone could afford a GPS which is $100 or more, and not be able to buy a $5-6 dogtag.

 

im not rich by any means, but come on.

 

i hear people complain all the time about not having any money, yet they eat out every day for lunch and dinner at fast food resturants and have the starbucks coffee in hand in the morning or at night. :blink:

 

maybe just enjoy moving bugs if that is really the case. :lol:

Gross over generalization there.

 

A GPS unit might be borrowed from a friend or family member, or received as a gift.

 

A trip to Starbucks is not made by all of us (I don't go at all).

 

Dining out is often cheaper than eating at home if you are single. If you don't believe me, do a little test at the grocery store. Ask for a 1/4 of hamburger, one slice of tomato, and 3 leaves of lettuce. Ask for 1 hamburger bun. They don't come in this amount. You buy a pound of meat, a whole tomato, a head of lettuce, and 8 hamburger buns. All of which will go bad unless you eat hamburgers every night for 4 nights and use the remaining 4 buns for something else.

 

The interest in saving money may also stem from the fact that many of us have families and don't have the ability to spend all of our money on one hobby. Or, that we have more than one personal hobby, and don't want to spend too much on this one so that we can't do something with the other.

 

Lastly, it may not be that we want to save money so much as we don't want to pay money for something that will go missing in 2-6 months, when we could come up with alternative means that are cheaper.

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Lastly, it may not be that we want to save money so much as we don't want to pay money for something that will go missing in 2-6 months, when we could come up with alternative means that are cheaper.

As much as Garmin might like it, I really couldn't see many people geocaching if they had to buy a new unit every six months!

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Lastly, it may not be that we want to save money so much as we don't want to pay money for something that will go missing in 2-6 months, when we could come up with alternative means that are cheaper.

As much as Garmin might like it, I really couldn't see many people geocaching if they had to buy a new unit every six months!

True enough.

 

I don't mind whem my geochips go off into the mist, they aren't very expensive. Buying the TB, then buying the tracking tag, even if your TB is free, the overall cost will add up quickly.

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Beware... there are some travelbugs that were found in PA recently that are attached to homemade round brass tags with TB numbers punched in. I have three of them and I have already found out that one of them is DEFINATELY a "pirate bug". The number that was punched in belongs to REAL travelbug that has not been released yet. I know of two other fake tags that are in the hands of cachers. I have sent out a few emails trying to stop these fakes from being circulated. If they continue to travel and be logged they will messup the log pages for the real travelbugs.

 

Their are also a few REAL travelbugs from the PA area that have been released with the same type of tags. These should continue to travel as usual.

 

If anyone finds a travelbug with a round brass tag (probably bent from hammering in the numbers)... and that number corresponds to a real travelbug... contact the owner of the real travelbug to find out it the the bug is real or not.

 

Thanks,

 

Gargoyle (SEPAG)

Edited by Gargoyle!
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I have one TB out and going to pick another one up tomorrow to be soon released. I look at the 5.00US as just another small cost of a new hobby. As a fisherman, I think nothing of spending 5.00 - 10.00 on a new shiny lure that could get lost the first time I cast it. It's not that I don't care about throwing away 5.00 - 10.00, I care a lot, but again, it's just the cost of doing something I love to do.

Besides, 5.00US is a bargain. Convert that to Canadian currency and you'll find we pay 8.00Cdn for one TB. :blink:

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We are not sure... but the fake bugs are apparently opening up bugpages... it could actually be that the REAL bugs here activated but never released... either way... the point is that we have found about 6 or 7 fake travelbugs from 2 caches in NorthEastern PA. I have managed to get three of them and I have contacted people about 2 others and told them to NOT place the fake bugs. One or two may have already been disposed of. I am checking caches that are local to that area to see if there are anymore of these floating around.

 

My theory is that a small group of people from somewhere in NorthEastern PA may have tried to start their own tracking system and created these bogus bugs... but they stupidly decided to use the same 6 digit number system that Groundspeak was already using... that is really pretty stupid... but the numbers coincided with a few bugs that were already issued to caches...

 

There is also the possibility that this was done intentionally but I dont think so.

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Call me a masochist, but I find the cost makes me slow down and think about the bug I'm going to release; the object itself and its mission, the date I'm going to release it, the cache I'm going to release it in. Of my first batch of four, I've released two and I have two in the making, and will definitely buy another batch of four after that.

 

If it were free, there would certainly be a lot more bugs released, but their specialness would surely be diminished. If I found a bug in every cache I'd get bored with the idea quickly, unless a bug was a really extraordinary object or had an interesting mission. Nah, I'd just get bored with it.

 

I also don't mind that it leaves a tip in the cookie jar here. It's a shame that the cost makes things more difficult for those who have less, but that's practically a law of physics.

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I'm amazed at how many of you assume that most cachers are made of money.

Did you guys ever stop to think that maybe - just maybe - if someone forks over $200 for a GPS that they CANT fork over even four more dollars for a TB?

 

Oh, and like someone else suggested... I started caching with a borrowed GPS, and now I have my own GPS. I didn't buy it. My father seemed to think that spending $40 for a used one off of eBay wouldn't be a good investment so he scraped together the money for a new one and gave it to me as an early birthday present.

 

Oh, and my first bug - $5 for the tag&shipping (I got it off another cacher who mailed it to me), $1 for the item.... My first cache... $1 for the containers (I broke the first one trying to make the hole I was making for it the right size so I had to get a second one), $2 for items from WalMart for the cache, the rest was stuff I already had. So, yeah, sometimes the bugs cost more.

 

With that said, check the garage sale forum, and there's a link to a store, which sells the tags for Hitch hikers a little cheaper than the TB tags, but with the price difference, you also lose the ability to see on the GC website where they are. Travelertags has wooden nickels you can buy for $1.75 including shipping, but I'm looking at one right now (no, not mine!) that the number is fading off of it... Not good if you want to track it, and the site has it's downfalls. (I'm hateful of the site right now.)

 

 

I guess what you do if you want real TBs is to save your pocket change and buy some when you can afford them. Or get a group of people together and buy them as a group, so even if you only want - or can afford - one of them, you get the bulk price.

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When push comes to shove, whether you like it or not, you gotta pay to play. Or I guess you could ask Jeremy to send you some free TB tags. Geocaching Federal Aid. We could even have some HUD house travel bug hotels. If you can't afford it don't do it and don't complain about it. If you want the TB tag so bad make a sacrifice for it. Skip a meal. Take the change in the cache some people live. I am not trying to be mean but this topic has taken the direction of this world we live in anymore. Oh I can't afford it but I still want it but I am not gonna go out of my way to get it. I want to buck the system.

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If it were free, there would certainly be a lot more bugs released, but their specialness would surely be diminished.
-AuntieWeasel

 

I liked that one, you weasel. (Also you have some GREAT pics in your gallery!

You got me motivated to include more pics in mine!) And WHAT did that

Stonehenge-looking thing turn out to be????

 

Anyway... back to the topic

I'm not a rich dude, but I can usually find $ for the stuff I want to buy

bad enough. Especially frivilous stuff, like Geocaching related junk.

 

I think the price for dog tags is very reasonable, considering the access you

have to this site, the mapping, tracking, posts, etc...

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A few thoughts...

 

1. The only time I'm considered "rich" is when the Democrats want to tax the rich and the Republicans make a graph showing how well the economy is doing.

 

The rest of the time, I'm poor as a church mouse.

 

2. I still managed to save enough money to buy a Magellan Meridian Platinum.

 

3. I also bought 4 travel bugs and a nice new GPS sticker for the back bumper of my beat up 10 year old Dodge Ram and some "Official Geocache" stickers to go on the sides of ammo cans.

 

4. Including the sticker, ammo can, and contents, I spent almost 50 bucks putting together my first cache.

 

I guess if you want to do something bad enough, you find a way. If a way can't be found, you wait. If you don't have the money now, save until you do. It's how I do things and my wife and I have a hell of a lot of fun!

 

5. I think I'm going to drop an unregistered set of Travelbug tags in the next cache I visit. Beats the hell out of golfballs and chewtoys. Maybe some other folks out there might consider doing the same.

 

After all, they're CHEAP!

:huh:

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5. I think I'm going to drop an unregistered set of Travelbug tags in the next cache I visit. Beats the hell out of golfballs and chewtoys. Maybe some other folks out there might consider doing the same.

What an awesome idea! I already bought a set of 8 (to get the cheaper price) and I think I'll do that as a SWAG thing periodically! I will definitely do it when I place my own caches - great idea - thanks!!!

 

I learn so much from these forums!!!

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How could you log a TB which not is activated???

If it is your bug, you should have received and activation code to start it up. If it is not your bug, it cannot be logged until the owner activates it, send them an e-mail. If it is your bug and you lost the activation code e-mail contact@Groundspeak.com and explain the situation, include the tag number.

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5. I think I'm going to drop an unregistered set of Travelbug tags in the next cache I visit. Beats the hell out of golfballs and chewtoys. Maybe some other folks out there might consider doing the same.

What an awesome idea! I already bought a set of 8 (to get the cheaper price) and I think I'll do that as a SWAG thing periodically! I will definitely do it when I place my own caches - great idea - thanks!!!

 

I learn so much from these forums!!!

yeah i have been thinking of doing that as a trade item or a FTF prize or something.

 

it would be cool to do that then watch yur adopted out bug travel.

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And WHAT did that Stonehenge-looking thing turn out to be????

I never found out. I was hoping someone who lived nearby and was familiar with the park would email me, but it hasn't happened yet. Still, it's a popular cache. I hold out hope somebody will know.

 

Back to the topic, I really like the idea of leaving TB dog tags as a trade item. For the sake of newbies, you'd probably need to warn that potentially you recorded the bug number and everyone visiting the cache without taking it knows it, too. I'd like to think that the risk of that being a problem is small, as the percentage of cachers capable of bug ID shenanigans is minute.

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And WHAT did that Stonehenge-looking thing turn out to be????

I never found out. I was hoping someone who lived nearby and was familiar with the park would email me, but it hasn't happened yet. Still, it's a popular cache. I hold out hope somebody will know.

 

Back to the topic, I really like the idea of leaving TB dog tags as a trade item. For the sake of newbies, you'd probably need to warn that potentially you recorded the bug number and everyone visiting the cache without taking it knows it, too. I'd like to think that the risk of that being a problem is small, as the percentage of cachers capable of bug ID shenanigans is minute.

I think that your Stonehenge-looking thing may be an abandoned/donated sculpture from the Convergence Festival . You can see the remnants all over the state of Rhode Island.

 

Back on topic. I have one Travel Tag in circulation Somethings under the sofa. I just wanted to test the water. Those things are a pain in the terminal end! They get usually get moved without being logged. I'll pass on them in the future and stick with what works.

 

MC

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When push comes to shove, whether you like it or not, you gotta pay to play. If you can't afford it don't do it and don't complain about it. I am not trying to be mean but this topic has taken the direction of this world we live in anymore. Oh I can't afford it but I still want it but I am not gonna go out of my way to get it. I want to buck the system.

You're simply wrong. There *are* free alternatives out there and they aren't wrong to ask about them. This game isn't about pay-to-play at all. Some people have a hard enough time justifying the cost of gas to get to the geocache locations where they pull out their Xmas gift GPSr and end the day at the library logging their finds from the free internet access. If this person has a great idea for how to release 10 TBs in a twist on the game that could be the most inventive addition we've ever seen, then *I'm* not going to require that they spend on the order of $50 to do it if they have a free option available.

 

The world we live in has plenty of free options available to us if we're resourceful enough to discover and implement them.

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:o

Dining out is often cheaper than eating at home if you are single. If you don't believe me, do a little test at the grocery store. Ask for a 1/4 of hamburger, one slice of tomato, and 3 leaves of lettuce. Ask for 1 hamburger bun. They don't come in this amount. You buy a pound of meat, a whole tomato, a head of lettuce, and 8 hamburger buns. All of which will go bad unless you eat hamburgers every night for 4 nights and use the remaining 4 buns for something else.

 

I would have to strongly disagree with this. Put the left over meat and buns in the freezer. Eat the left over tomato as a snack. Now for the lettuce. You don't need any stinking lettuce; if you are single no one cares about your health and if you are eating anything green.

 

Being a former student (and still single), I would pick up a couple of cases of Raman noodles to save money. I use to eat the noodle 'blocks' uncooked (yum). cost: about 5 cents a meal. You will have money for your TB tags in no time. Also a case of generic mac & cheese can't hurt to solve your budget woes.

Edited by Mxyzptlk
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