claytman Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Greetings all. I am very new to GCing (2 finds under my GPS), so I need a little guidence. I found a bug that had not been logged for several moves. I updated it's history and am wanting to place it. From the description, it is very clear that it has a strong desire to get to the NJ area, or to the UK (it is currently in NE). I have several friends in London and think that I could get it there. Here is the question: Is it cheating/bastardly/evil/badform to mail it to a friend? I will only do it if they (or a friend of thiers) is a GCer. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 (edited) .... Edited December 30, 2004 by BlueDeuce Quote Link to comment
+Riddlers Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 As a new cacher from someone who has had good and bad experiences with TBs I would just like to say that the best thing you can do for the owner of the TB is place it in a good cache that sees lots of traffic so it has a chance to travel more as soon as posible. Quote Link to comment
+orome Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Check your general area, or places you're likely to visit, for a travelbug motel. They're often found near transportation junctions such as airports, and act as waystations for TBs trying to make long-distance leaps. I think mailing one is generally frowned upon. Quote Link to comment
+AuntieWeasel Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 You could mail your own -- say, if you wanted it to start out in a particular place. I'd hesitate to mail someone else's, though. Especially if you're doing it because you want to help it reach its goal quickly. Reaching its goal one cache hop at a time is more the thing. I've got a couple of bugs I started out on one side of the Atlantic, 'dipped' in a cache for a landmark then hopped them myself to the other side. I find I mentally subtract 3,000 miles from them when looking at their descriptive pages, because somehow the ride I took them on doesn't count. Quote Link to comment
+Harry Dolphin Posted December 31, 2004 Share Posted December 31, 2004 New Year's Resolution. I shall stop mailing Travel Bugs to my sister in Maine. Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted December 31, 2004 Share Posted December 31, 2004 Ask the Travel Bug owner as a courtesy. Some people care and some people don't. Cover your bases. Quote Link to comment
briancm Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 You've just given me an idea for a travel bug: it must be mailed between caches! Quote Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 You've just given me an idea for a travel bug: it must be mailed between caches! Not a bad idea! How do you think it'll work? I figure people could mail it to their geobuddy or acquaintance. Maybe it could work like this, as soon as you get it you have to visit a cache, drop it, then retrieve it, then mail it to the next person. Some might try to go for the biggest hop. hmmmm, food for thought. Maybe in a container that is easy to mail so people don't have to find their own box. hmmmmmm Quote Link to comment
+Birdsong-n-Bud Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 You've just given me an idea for a travel bug: it must be mailed between caches! We already have one like this. It has an option (not a requirement) of being mailed. It racked up miles FAST!!! 2,035 miles in 30 days! Schnail Mail Travel Bug by Birdsong-n-Bud Quote Link to comment
+The Neverlanders Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Cool idea. Where would you get addresses of people to send them to? Quote Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Cool idea. Where would you get addresses of people to send them to? Maybe just the people you know. I bet you have to only go four deep to connect to neary every cacher. I would think a cacher should first verify that the next person is willing to mail it once they receive it. Quote Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 (edited) Schnail Mail Travel Bug by Birdsong-n-Bud Well there you go! (That one is now on my watchlist) Now I know what my next TB wil be. Edited January 5, 2005 by BlueDeuce Quote Link to comment
+Semper Questio Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 IMHO there is nothing wrong with mailing a bug IF the owner says it's OK. Quote Link to comment
+Birdsong-n-Bud Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 IMHO there is nothing wrong with mailing a bug IF the owner says it's OK. I agree. I'd much rather someone mailed one of our TB's than sit on them for 2 months. A TB sponser finds joy in seeing them move. Cool idea. Where would you get addresses of people to send them to? If you're friendly online with other geocachers, you can ask them privately for a mailing address. If you know a cacher anywhere in the world, you can send it. Otherwise, plop it in the nearest cache and it'll be just as happy. Quote Link to comment
+TEAM 360 Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 I have helped many TBs travel back and forth on the plane with me between Michigan and Arizona, so I don't see why mailing it would be any different. Like the Boss Man said, it would probably be best to check with the TB owner first. Quote Link to comment
briancm Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 How about if the travel bug is something which could fit in a normal envelope? That way the costs are minimal, a dollar at most. Now, the post office has to deliver what is posted, so if the postage and address can be affixed to the bug itself, then packaging isn't needed. You can stick an address and postage on a coconut, and they have to deliver it! Just ask Tom and Ray Magliozzi about the weird things NPR listeners have mailed to them! I think the rules would be like this: the bug has to be mailed, and, being its a postal bug, its OK if it gets lost! Don't count postal milage, just cache-to-cacher milage, so when its logged, the cacher would note cacher-to-cache milage in the log entry. When the bug is received, it goes into a cache. When the bug is retrieved, it gets mailed to another cacher. Its the cacher's choice of where to mail the bug, as the cacher is paying the postage. A tag and a plastic card as a hitchhiker should weigh under an ounce, I think, so mailing it would only take normal postage. Quote Link to comment
+Birdsong-n-Bud Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 (edited) How about if the travel bug is something which could fit in a normal envelope? That way the costs are minimal, a dollar at most. Our mailable bug worked much like this. It is a laminated postcard made of stock (card thickness) paper, with the TB tag inside the lamination. It fits into a standard letter-sized envelope very comfortably. Here is a picture of the TB just before we released it: I wanted to give geocachers their choice of mailing it or placing it. I do know some cachers have written of living in remote places where they do not know other cachers than themselves, so there may be cachers who have no place to send it where anyone would know what to do with it. And it saves anyone from having to use their last stamp if they prefer not to mail it (stamps are still cheaper than gas, though, lol). Edited January 6, 2005 by Birdsong-n-Bud Quote Link to comment
briancm Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 Here is a picture of the TB just before we released it You managed to stuff your kid into a cache?? WOW! Seriously, many years ago, my grandma took one of her kids down to the post office to find out how much it would cost to mail the kid to a relative's house. And why not? They bought chicks through the mail. It'd be OK to send a kid, right? (Yeah, lots of hicks in the sticks in this unpruned family tree!) Quote Link to comment
+Birdsong-n-Bud Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 You managed to stuff your kid into a cache?? WOW! ROFL! I'll remember that method when it comes to sending him off to college someday! ::making a mental note to remember that one:: lol Quote Link to comment
+ibycus Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 You've just given me an idea for a travel bug: it must be mailed between caches! Thinking of maybe releasing one and combining it with something like "Where's in a Name" Locationless cache. Could be kinda different. My one experience with mailing a bug, I contacted the bug owner, and he had no problem with it. The thing went missing somewhere between here and there. I was sending my registration fee in cash down to Clyde for GSAK, and thought I'd include a calgary bug with it. Funny, the 20AUD I put in got there fine. The travel bug went missing! Quote Link to comment
+BilboB Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 I am going to enter the MLB TB Race, and this gave me a great idea for the TB. I like the way the previous poster made it up. Quote Link to comment
+Husker Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 If it were my travel bug, I would be disappointed if someone mailed it. If I wanted it mailed, I would have mailed it. There's not much special about dropping something off at the post office. I think the coolness of bugs is that they get moved by cachers, not postal workers. During Christmas, we were in Kansas City and picked up Rainey Reindeer TB. We wanted to help out by taking him back to Michigan with us. Somehow with a van load of gifts and luggage, my three kids and no wife along to help me, the bug was left at my Dad's house. My Dad mailed it to us. I don't consider this to be against my view. We had fully intended to take the bug with us. If we had left the bug in a (people) hotel, they would have shipped it to us. Now if you have a bug that you want mailed and have stated so on the bug’s page, I all for it. I probably wouldn’t mail the bug but that’s because the only cachers I know live within 10 miles of me. No sense in mailing a bug to someone I’m going to see at our next Cub Scout meeting. Well, maybe I’d mail it across town just to be a goofball! Quote Link to comment
+mortaine Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 As a thought for making the mailing a little more exciting: Use a small notebook (like the Write in the Rain ones) as your bug, and have people tape/glue the cancelled stamp from receiving it in the mail before placing it in a cache. Encourage people picking up the bug to use commemorative stamps, so the book becomes like a mini stamp collection album! Quote Link to comment
+Birdsong-n-Bud Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Encourage people picking up the bug to use commemorative stamps, so the book becomes like a mini stamp collection album! You are very creative! That's a great idea! Quote Link to comment
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