To Take or Not to Take

[+_Pebcak_]

Occasionally I will come upon a Travel Bug or Coin in a cache, and while I always discover them, I oftentimes don't take them b/c I know I'm not going to be traveling any great distance for a while. So my question is this: Is it better to leave it, or just take it along to my next Geocache, even if it's just one town over?

[+cerberus1]

If you feel "one town over" is following the trackable's mission, why not?

[+cerberus1]

I always discover trackables in case it's not found by another for some time.

- Let's the TO know it's still in play.

Often, I'm not in a position to honor it's mission, or if it's mission isn't with it (no longer using a sorta-smart phone), leaving it for another.

We haven't found trackables in some time.

They don't seem to be in distant caches like they used to.

[+dprovan]

I suppose different TB owners feel differently about it, but my attitude as both an owner and a finder is that if you can move it, move it. The idea is that a little movement is better that sitting in a cache idle for long periods.

 

I cache nearly every day, and I can pick where I go to find a big enough cache to drop anything I'm carrying, so I tend to drop TBs the next day, and I rarely hold anything for more than a week, perhaps a little longer if I'm about to go on a trip. Anyone operating in that time range, I'd say pick it up. If you find you can help it towards its goal, that's great, otherwise just drop it somewhere without worrying too much about distance.

 

People that don't cache as often and don't know when they'll be going out again I'd say should tend to leave them behind. Having a TB in your geocaching kit when it's sitting at home for a month is not moving it, so better to leave it in the cache for someone else to pick up that will move it.

 

I've noticed that newbies, whether they realize it or not, don't really have any idea when they'll cache again, if ever, so I'd discourage them from taking anything until they have more experience caching. You're basically a newbie, but I don't mean that comment to apply to you because you're asking the question, and that tells me you care enough not to forget about any TB you pick up no matter where life takes you.

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

I think some newer cachers forget that they can revisit a cache that they have already logged. We have a couple of nearby smalls that are our go-to caches to drop-off trackables if our schedules do not allow real caching. I picked up a coin a couple of weeks back that I was planning on taking on a business trip to Mexico. That trip got cancelled and your post reminded me to drop it off at the nearby cache today.

[+J Grouchy]

I pretty much always grab any trackable I find in a cache and worry about the mission once I am back at home and can look at the description page. Depending on the mission, I'll then either move it around or put it in an appropriate cache.

 

The exception is if I find more than one in a cache. I rarely take more than one trackable. If there are a bunch in a cache, I might take two.

 

The only time I ever "discover" trackables is at events. I don't like to spend time at an open cache to write down tracking numbers.

[+Zepp914]

I only retrieve a TB if one of the following is true:

 

1) I can help it on its mission. This could be moving it closer to an airport or moving it a few miles closer to its destination.

 

2) The TB isn't listed in the cache. Yesterday I found a TB in West Virginia that was last logged in Massachusetts. I retrieved it, then I visited it to the cache I found it in. Unfortunately, I am not going where it wants to go. I will put it in another cache soon which will constitute backtracking, but at least the owner knows where it is.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Zepp914

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

I only retrieve a TB if one of the following is true:

 

1) I can help it on its mission. This could be moving it closer to an airport or moving it a few miles closer to its destination.

 

2) The TB isn't listed in the cache. Yesterday I found a TB in West Virginia that was last logged in Massachusetts. I retrieved it, then I visited it to the cache I found it in. Unfortunately, I am not going where it wants to go. I will put it in another cache soon which will constitute backtracking, but at least the owner knows where it is.

You may want to give the guy you grabbed it from time to log it...not sure if you thought of that.

[+Zepp914]

 

You may want to give the guy you grabbed it from time to log it...not sure if you thought of that.

 

How many days should I wait? The cache the TB was last seen in was last logged on 11/11/2014. I figured if they haven't retrieved it in 5 days, they aren't going to drop it anytime soon. Bug = TB4XKWP

[+irisisleuk]

 

You may want to give the guy you grabbed it from time to log it...not sure if you thought of that.

 

How many days should I wait? The cache the TB was last seen in was last logged on 11/11/2014. I figured if they haven't retrieved it in 5 days, they aren't going to drop it anytime soon. Bug = TB4XKWP

 

The last online log was on 11/11/2014 but this doesn't mean these were the last logs. When you took it from the cache, on what dates were the last logs in the logbook? And I don't understand your logs, because in your grab log you say "Found in Harper's Ferry. Will move." , but in your log at this cache you state "No TBs in the cache".

 

I always wait at least a week if a trackable isn't logged yet. In vacation time I wait longer, about 2 weeks. I might write a note saying "found this in cache...on..., now waiting for the drop log to retrieve it online as well", this way the owner knows the TB is fine. But if the TB is retrieved and not dropped and I see that the person who had it has logged the caches but forgot to drop it, I grab it (or sometimes email the cacher asking him to drop it, when I notice it is someone who writes nice logs with trackables and/or posts photos).

[+Zepp914]

The last online log was on 11/11/2014 but this doesn't mean these were the last logs. When you took it from the cache, on what dates were the last logs in the logbook? And I don't understand your logs, because in your grab log you say "Found in Harper's Ferry. Will move." , but in your log at this cache you state "No TBs in the cache".

 

I always wait at least a week if a trackable isn't logged yet. In vacation time I wait longer, about 2 weeks. I might write a note saying "found this in cache...on..., now waiting for the drop log to retrieve it online as well", this way the owner knows the TB is fine. But if the TB is retrieved and not dropped and I see that the person who had it has logged the caches but forgot to drop it, I grab it (or sometimes email the cacher asking him to drop it, when I notice it is someone who writes nice logs with trackables and/or posts photos).

 

I think you read the log of a different cache. I found the TB in Harper's Ferry "A House on a hill Top"(GC1H9T3) and I grabbed and visited the TB there so it got the mileage. The previous finders (hugsters) logged a find of GC1H9T3 the same day we were there. I never check for anyone other than the last finder and that is mainly so I can be sure I am signing the right place. I'll have to make a better effort reading the paper logs.

 

I'll start waiting 7 days to log trackables, but to me that is an eternity in this day and age. Meanwhile there may be people going to the cache in Boston looking for this TB and the latest log mentioning it was dropped there.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Zepp914

[+dprovan]

I always wait at least a week if a trackable isn't logged yet. In vacation time I wait longer, about 2 weeks.

So you intentionally stop the TB from moving while you wait? Or do you go ahead and drop it, thus insuring the next person to find it will have to wait for you?

 

I might write a note saying "found this in cache...on..., now waiting for the drop log to retrieve it online as well", this way the owner knows the TB is fine.

If you aren't going to grab it, writing a note is a good idea. I've done that a few times. But after I wait, I usually end up grabbing the TB, anyway, just a week late. And even in those rare cases where the wait is successful and the TB is eventually dropped, the log tends to be blank, so what was the point? As time goes by I get more inclined to skip the note and the waiting and just do the grab so everyone knows right away where it is, not just someone reading its log.

[+irisisleuk]

I always wait at least a week if a trackable isn't logged yet. In vacation time I wait longer, about 2 weeks.

So you intentionally stop the TB from moving while you wait? Or do you go ahead and drop it, thus insuring the next person to find it will have to wait for you?

 

I might write a note saying "found this in cache...on..., now waiting for the drop log to retrieve it online as well", this way the owner knows the TB is fine.

If you aren't going to grab it, writing a note is a good idea. I've done that a few times. But after I wait, I usually end up grabbing the TB, anyway, just a week late. And even in those rare cases where the wait is successful and the TB is eventually dropped, the log tends to be blank, so what was the point? As time goes by I get more inclined to skip the note and the waiting and just do the grab so everyone knows right away where it is, not just someone reading its log.

 

No I do not intentionally stop the TB from moving while I wait. We always try to fulfill a trackable's mission which means dropping it in the next cache on the same day wasn't going to happen anyway. The TB can wait a week (or two) to be taken on an adventure with us. But in the rare situation that we can fulfill the mission quickly (which has happened by the way) we grab it and explain in our log why we did so, so the previous cacher won't be annoyed.

 

I'm sorry your experience is that waiting for a log is rarely successful, our experience is different, especially with caches/trackables at touristy places. Lots of cachers only have limited internet access while traveling, so it can take a while before everything gets logged. We dislike the impatience of cachers who seem to think geocaching is some kind of sprint like sport, where everything has to be done quickly and on the spot. We take our time to write decent logs, place photos since we enjoy this part of the game as well. Because of lack of patience of others we now often write a short "log will follow" log on caches if we find wifi on our way, just to drop the trackables so we at least have it in our online list here where to add logs and photos later. And all this to prevent them to be grabbed before we end our day(s) at a hotel or at home. So annoying...

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

 

You may want to give the guy you grabbed it from time to log it...not sure if you thought of that.

 

How many days should I wait? The cache the TB was last seen in was last logged on 11/11/2014. I figured if they haven't retrieved it in 5 days, they aren't going to drop it anytime soon. Bug = TB4XKWP

Zepp, I hope my comment didn't come across as judgemental. I just remember seeing you started this year and wanted to offer some thought. I wait a week, send an e-mail and grab a few days later if no response...there is no logic there, just what I do. If I dropped a tb and didn't log for longer than a week, I would be glad that someone grabbed it from me to update the status.

[+Zepp914]

 

Zepp, I hope my comment didn't come across as judgemental. I just remember seeing you started this year and wanted to offer some thought. I wait a week, send an e-mail and grab a few days later if no response...there is no logic there, just what I do. If I dropped a tb and didn't log for longer than a week, I would be glad that someone grabbed it from me to update the status.

 

No worries

 

I would have sent an email too if the TB was still "in the hands of the owner". This TB was listed in a cache in Boston. Basically someone moved the TB from Boston to WV and didn't log a retrieve or a drop. I grabbed it and visited it where I found it. Irisisleuk and you think I should have given the person who did this more time and you may be right.

 

One thing I am not sure of is how this negatively affects the person who moved the TB. If they have the TB's code, they can see that it has already been grabbed AND they can Discover it. The TB got the mileage, they get the TB's icon on their profile, and their discovery log can claim credit for the move, so I don't see the problem.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Zepp914

[+dprovan]

Irisisleuk and you think I should have given the person who did this more time and you may be right.

I understand their logic (kinda), and I'll drag my feet if it's convenient, but it's almost never convenient because I log my Finds promptly, and I want this TB to visit the cache, so I tend to grab it in order to log the visit along with my find rather than wait and log the visit later as a note after I've confirmed it's not going to be logged.

 

One thing I am not sure of is how this negatively affects the person who moved the TB. If they have the TB's code, they can see that it has already been grabbed AND they can Discover it. The TB got the mileage, they get the TB's icon on their profile, and their discovery log can claim credit for the move, so I don't see the problem.

I agree with you, but just for the record, the main claim is that the person on vacation has big plans to log visits to lots of interesting places the TB visited before they dropped it where you found it, and grabbing it from them keeps them from doing that. Normally that argument rates a "gee, that's too bad, but life goes on" response from me, but in your case, where they haven't even picked it up yet, I don't think that deserves even that much credit or consideration. If they haven't picked it up yet, then the problem is almost certainly that they don't know how to log it, not that they can't get somewhere to log it.

[+Zepp914]

Thanks Dprovan! That makes some sense.

 

From now on, whenever I encounter a TB in a cache that is NOT listed as being in that cache, I will Discover it and list the cache's GC# in my log for the TB. I will log that I found a TB in my log for the cache itself and leave the TB there. It seems like that is the only way to keep everyone happy.

[+Bearb4cofi]

Thanks Dprovan! That makes some sense.

 

From now on, whenever I encounter a TB in a cache that is NOT listed as being in that cache, I will Discover it and list the cache's GC# in my log for the TB. I will log that I found a TB in my log for the cache itself and leave the TB there. It seems like that is the only way to keep everyone happy.

 

You can't make everyone happy.

 

Case in point. In October I accompany a caching friend of mine to a cache I've already found, but he didn't. In the cache was a TB. I took a pic of the TB to discover later. Left it in the cache.

Logged it online to be met with this:

 

Hello. My cache name is So and So. You just wrote a discovery log for my Flag TB. How did you discover it? Please respond or I'll be forced to delete your log entry....because this TB has been taken and kept by someone who's essentially holding it hostage and refuses to respond to my repeated email inquiries for nearly 9 months now.

 

Now at this point I just discovered his TB. So I respond:

 

Hi So and So,

I discovered this one at a cache.

It's called <Example> GCXXXXX. I only discovered it because I was caching with a friend today and I had already found the cache before. I took a quick picture and moved on. If you want I can delete the log, retrieve the TB, then place it there.

 

In same email I sent him the picture I took as proof.

 

 

Anyway, after a few more exchanges I logged it retrieved then I logged it placed in the same cache I found it in so it could get the miles logged.

 

I explained it like this to him after:

 

This is not the first time I have found an undocumented TB, nor probably the last, unfortunately. I was in a hurry today so I took a pic and logged it later. Luckily it is all sorted out. That still doesn't mean the TB won't disappear by being misplaced again by a future cacher. In the meanwhile you should find some comfort that it's currently being moved and finally documented.

 

So, I thought this was done. NOPE! He posted this note on the cache page:

 

Hello. Can someone confirm for me that my Flag is actually in this cache physically? It's been kept by someone for 9 months and after repeated attempts at contacting this cacher named <example> all my efforts have been ignored...and now I see its supposedly been dropped off into another cache and wanted to get confirmation of that. Its been gone since Christmas of 2013. I'm hoping a responsible cacher retrieves it and moves it out of that area for me and gives it a chance to travel. The next person who looks in this cache, can you please contact me and tell me if its there? Thanks.

 

Ok, I can understand he's upset. But, really, to imply that it is mandatory for me to move a trackable just because it's there? I'm not responsible for that. That aspect is voluntary. He's lucky I logged it and didn't let it languish totally not found into the trackable abyss as so many end up.

 

 

Fast forward to 43 days later, another cacher finally visits the cache only to post this:

 

Lots of stuff but no T.B., no Flag.

 

 

Nice.... So someone visited the cache, didn't log it (online), and took the trackable. Hopefully someone will log it soon.

 

Can't win them all.

[+Zepp914]

"Ok, I can understand he's upset. But, really, to imply that it is mandatory for me to move a trackable just because it's there? I'm not responsible for that. That aspect is voluntary. He's lucky I logged it and didn't let it languish totally not found into the trackable abyss as so many end up."

 

If moving trackables was obligatory, I'd stop geocaching immediately. That really sucks.

 

That hasn't happened to me, but I have been threatened once by a TB owner. I retrieved an army man TB from a cache and said so in my log. A week later the owner of a different army man TB contacted me because his TB was still listed in the cache saying that I don't know how to properly log TBs and if I didn't release his TB soon he'd report me to Groundspeak. After back and forth I figured out that a previous logger who posted "Swapped TBs" had swapped one army man TB for another. So I contacted the "swapped TBs" guy, he was nice and he properly retrieved the TB and a day or so later he quickly dropped it somewhere else.

 

Never got an apology from the angry TB owner...

[+Bearb4cofi]

"Never got an apology from the angry TB owner..."

 

Yeah, makes me rethink even bothering with TBs anymore.

[+_Pebcak_]

"Ok, I can understand he's upset. But, really, to imply that it is mandatory for me to move a trackable just because it's there?"

Yikes! Do some people really think that? I always discover them but I seldom move them b/c I'm not really going anywhere special like on a vacation someplace far away rather than the next cache along the road. (Hence the reason for the topic, lol!) Smh...Though hey if people want that, I don't mind!

 

So is that how sometimes I see a travel bug in my cache but when I go to check it out, it's not there? Someone took it but didn't log it yet?

[+Bearb4cofi]

So is that how sometimes I see a travel bug in my cache but when I go to check it out, it's not there? Someone took it but didn't log it yet?

 

Could be. Maybe someone logged it dropped in your cache, but it was actually dropped at another spot. That sometimes happens as well.

[+Crow-T-Robot]

Zepp, I hope my comment didn't come across as judgemental. I just remember seeing you started this year and wanted to offer some thought. I wait a week, send an e-mail and grab a few days later if no response...there is no logic there, just what I do. If I dropped a tb and didn't log for longer than a week, I would be glad that someone grabbed it from me to update the status.

 

No worries

 

I would have sent an email too if the TB was still "in the hands of the owner". This TB was listed in a cache in Boston. Basically someone moved the TB from Boston to WV and didn't log a retrieve or a drop. I grabbed it and visited it where I found it. Irisisleuk and you think I should have given the person who did this more time and you may be right.

I think you did the right thing. If the TB is showing in the hands of someone else, then I wait and give them a chance to log it, which almost never happens...I end up grabbing it and logging it myself.

 

If it's showing in some other cache, the chances that someone is just catching up on their logging is practically zero. Almost 100% of the time, the person moved the TB but didn't log it at all...nor are they going to. I just grab it, log a visit to the cache I found it in and then drop it into another cache the next time I'm out.