"Don't take a TB without leaving one" - WHY?
#1
Posted 22 October 2003 - 09:08 AM
InkyCat
#2
Posted 22 October 2003 - 12:43 PM
My take is the hotel should be a quick and easy place to drop off a bug if you have been holding on to one for some time and realize you won't be able to help it out soon.
#3
Posted 22 October 2003 - 01:50 PM
#4
Posted 22 October 2003 - 11:16 PM
quote:I have been to a hotel and taken a TB and left simply a log in the book. I was helping that TB to its goal! No guilt here.
Originally posted by InkyCat:
if the goal of the TBs is to travel, the owners should be glad they're taken and moved along.
I do understand that it's cool for hotels to have guests in it at all times, but I feel that is secondary to the TBs' goals.
-- Do you think lobsters look good on telephones?
#5
Posted 22 October 2003 - 11:47 PM
How about a cache where it says please only drop off travel bugs, don't take any. Because the owner wants to come by and grab bugs regularly.
Well, for starters, I wouldn't leave a bug in there, but I also wouldn't be worried to take one if I could help its mission.
Maybe a polite email to the hotel owner to ask what their reasoning is?
Cheers,
Stu
#6
Posted 25 October 2003 - 11:10 AM
quote:I would take the bug if I could help it on its intended journey. The "take something, leave something" rule is not generally regarded as applicable to travel bugs. Perhaps the cache owners who have posted those rules are not aware of the exception.
Originally posted by InkyCat:
...Do you agree I should NOT take the bug? The cache owner is setting these rules...
worldtraveler
#7
Posted 26 October 2003 - 01:25 AM
quote:
I do understand that it's cool for hotels to have guests in it at all times, but I feel that is secondary to the TBs' goal.
Couldn't agree more.
#8
Posted 26 October 2003 - 02:55 AM
#9
Posted 26 October 2003 - 03:46 AM
quote:
Originally posted by InkyCat:
..... I would think that the TB owners would rather their bugs get moving.....
InkyCat
Exactly! Also, I only handle one bug at a time.
(I tend to shy away from caches that demand you do something. I get enough of that at hime.
DustyJacket
Not all those that wander are lost. But in my case...
#10
Posted 26 October 2003 - 04:41 AM
#11
Posted 26 October 2003 - 04:55 AM
It is a cache convenient to drivebys (kind of) for folks to drop off or pick up travelbugs.
I.E. If there was a bug going to Chicago, you could place it into a cache East of where you picked it up, or put it in a TB Hotel, and someone could grab is as they were headed there.
DustyJacket
Not all those that wander are lost. But in my case...
#12
Posted 26 October 2003 - 06:27 AM
Again, I only made this policy to try and keep TBs from going MIA.
The path to insanity is seldom a solitary journey.
#13
Posted 26 October 2003 - 09:28 AM
The point of TBs is to travel - I help them do so, regardless of whether or not I have one to replace in the cache.
~ Lesley
____________________________
I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel.
When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high,
And don't be afraid of the dark
www.bookcrossing.com Read and Release!
#14
Posted 26 October 2003 - 10:26 AM
quote:
The point of TBs is to travel - I help them do so, regardless of whether or not I have one to replace in the cache
Exactly! Travle Bugs are to travle, not sit in a cache until somebody with another travle bug comes along. That gives the "Extermanators" a better chance of getting the bug, which is bad. The longer TBs sit in caches, the more chance the extermanators have of scarfing them up.
Mooooom! you didn't log my finds!
#15
Posted 27 October 2003 - 11:35 AM
I've noticed in my area the TB hotels seem to be a quick and dirty way for the owner of the hotel to raise his score on TBs found, without the hunting - other people doing the work by dropping the TBs in the backyard as it were.
I don't want my TBs in a hotel with people feeling they can't take it and move it because they don't have one to drop there. I own the TBs - I set their goals and I'm relying on others to get those goals met. If you see one of mine in a hotel (or anywhere) and you can help, send it on it's way. If you can't help it, log your find and leave it for the next one.
#16
Posted 27 October 2003 - 12:26 PM
Hotel owners probably want to make sure a good stock is available for bug movers, but different areas have different circumstances. So far, my San Francisco hotel has had good circulation (fingers crossed) and I have no rules. Have to admit, when I finally got down to the LAX hotel and it was lean, I was kinda disappointed. Luck of the draw.
It's not a store is it, stocked with 3 westbounds and 3 eastbounds?
That said, however, I do try to do a stocking run every week or two, with a few of bugs, so there's no need for a 1 for 1 rule.
#17
Posted 28 October 2003 - 10:49 PM
I think that if you have a cache that is for bugs only, then trading helps so that when someone gets there it's not empty.
However, if the 'hotel' is in a normal cache with other stuff, then I don't see why to do a trade.
#18
Posted 30 October 2003 - 12:28 AM
#19
Posted 30 October 2003 - 06:10 AM
Take only pictures, leave only footprints.
#20
Posted 30 October 2003 - 07:23 AM
Sounds like the beginnings of a bug graveyard to me. Bugs and their objectives are the property of their owners, not the cache they are in. Bug hotels are supposed to be fast drive by drop/grab points for bugs on a mission, not a cantral place to go find just any bug. near me there is a bug hotel near Gatwick Airport. the first time I went there, there was only one bug, going where I was the next week, so I grabbed it. the next time I went there to drop one off I'd brought back from the USA to go home, I grabbed one that had just arrived to see the sights. at that time there were 7 bugs in the hotel, 6 going overseas.
Bugs should not stay in the hotels for long. the very purpose of the hotel is to keep them moving. If bugs are going to stick around, it should e in a normal cache, so that it makes a challenge to grab it.
"This Is GC.com If you don't like it, speak up, others may thank you for it."
#21
Posted 24 November 2003 - 05:00 PM
Right now it's down to a single TB (that has been there over a month) and a lot of IOUs. And here I am with this travel bug key that I'm been encouraged to place somewhere "difficult"...
One bug enters, one bug leaves.
#22
Posted 24 November 2003 - 05:41 PM
#23
Posted 26 November 2003 - 08:50 AM
bthomas, on Oct 27 2003, 12:26 PM, said:
I think this is the crux of the problem. I view the take one leave one hotels not as hotels, but prisons, keeping bugs in there for long times, especially if it's not a particularly interesting looking bug.
If a person is going to take the time to set up a Travel Bug hotel, then they should also understand that the upkeep of that hotel is different than regular caches. They should be prepared to restock their hotel with more bugs should the need arise, and as a owner of a bug hotel, the need arises more ofthen than you'd think. I think the take one leave one policy is the lazy man's way of creating a cache that needs little maintenence. Travel Bug Hotels are unique entities and should be maintained as one, not turned into prisons for bugs to languish.
When I first started my hotel, I put 6 bugs in the cache, figuring the "First to Find" people would wipe it out fairly quickly. I've restocked the hotel at least three other times since it's establishment last January. Some of the restocking has been other bugs that I've found, other times it's been more of my own bugs.
#24
Posted 26 November 2003 - 08:53 AM
The Dillon Gang, on Oct 30 2003, 06:10 AM, said:
I am in total agreement with this one. I've had two bugs end up in prisons like that. What a waste. I was fortunate that my bugs got picked up quickly after that, but like you said, others may languish for months.
What a ridiculous requirement.
#25
Posted 26 November 2003 - 09:49 AM
#26
Posted 17 May 2004 - 10:53 AM
#27
Posted 17 May 2004 - 11:09 AM
#28
Posted 17 May 2004 - 12:08 PM
The more rules a travel bug hotel has, the more it becomes a travel bug prision.
#29
Posted 17 May 2004 - 02:13 PM
#30
Posted 17 May 2004 - 04:57 PM
Under the Stars, on Oct 26 2003, 01:28 PM, said:
Kind of makes it hard for anyone to ever acquire a TB if you need to have one for an exchange!
A TB is not a trade item... it's a take it and leave it someplace else item. No need to "trade" for a TB, though I'm sure no one would complain if you did.
#31
Posted 19 June 2004 - 01:21 PM
Kitch, on Oct 26 2003, 02:55 AM, said:
I think is someone is farming a cache then they should be applied to the bat clause from Dr. B.T.'s book of Travelbugology
#32
Posted 19 June 2004 - 08:08 PM
#33
Posted 19 June 2004 - 08:14 PM
#34
Posted 20 June 2004 - 05:47 AM
My 2¢ worth...
"Bassmedic"
#35
Posted 20 June 2004 - 09:13 AM
And As I have just ordered 8 tags, and getting a couple ready for deployment. I have made 2 of them Cacheless TB's meaning they are to be handed from 1 person to the next. not dropped off in a cache. I may even have a 3rd going that way. as for the rest I still thinking of how they will travel.
This post has been edited by Dream Alchemist: 20 June 2004 - 09:14 AM
#36
Posted 20 June 2004 - 09:42 AM
I also have TBs. On each of their pages I state in RED there is no need to trade for my bug. It is meant to move.
Remember the TB is owned by the TB owner, NOT the cache owner!!
Perhaps open defiance of the bug hotel's rules are in order. I would say just avoid the cache, but then that would not be fair to the bug owners, would it.
#37
Posted 20 June 2004 - 11:38 AM
I was thinking of making a rule of leaving at least one TB in the hotel unless you could help the remaining bug on its journey. If you could then go ahead and take it. What do you think?
Zack
#38
Posted 21 June 2004 - 12:18 AM
If I am traveling (mostly business trips), I do not always have the time to go Caching as much as I would like, so I prefer TB Hotels to which I always try to bring some TBs along. Now if it is empty, I am surely dissapointed so a "keep some in here rule" is nice.
On the other hand:
if the number is below the suggested/requested limit and
for some reason I am out of TBs and
there is one TB in there that has the goal of going to Europe and
I am about to board a plane to Europe in a few hours,
should I really leave it in there?
All rules have exceptions...
Olaf
#39
Posted 21 June 2004 - 05:32 PM
IMO, a hotel ought to be just like any other cache; sometimes the swag is good (bugs present) and sometimes maybe not. As for myself, I have no guilt about liberating an imprisoned travel bug and helping it on its way.
#41
Posted 21 June 2004 - 08:54 PM
TB Hotels are meant to be a "clearing house" for TBs..........if you think you can help one, TAKE IT. TAKE 2, TAKE 3, etc..........
Take em' all....just don't bogue em'........
I have taken 3, left 2, ..whatever.....but I ALWAYS try to help them accomplish their goals.
Enuf said,
JayBee
#42
Posted 23 June 2004 - 12:24 PM
#43
Posted 02 July 2004 - 11:26 AM
TravelingViking (118k TBmiles), on Jun 21 2004, 12:18 AM, said:
I am fortunate to have a wonderful TB motel in my area!
It's only a 2-months-old and 107 TB's have been there. (I think it's a very good number, isn't it?)
It's located on a nice trail and is a 1 star (Neo-cacher friendly)!!
No rules like you-can't-take-it-without-leaving-one, and this-many-bugs-have-to-be-left-here.
No suggestions to exchange bugs.
Instead of "controlling" how we take/drop TB's, the cache owner puts his effort in maintaining the cache.
Like Mr.TravelingViking, he seems to travel a lot on business.
He posts "Travel Advisory" (and encourages others to do so); A few days before departure he annonces where he's going and gives us a deadline to drop off bugs so that he can take them with him.
When the cache is getting low on TB's, he makes deposits himself.
But as this cache becomes popular, eventually he won't have to do it anymore.
Looks like he already has some "repeaters" (I'll probaly bring more TB's to
this cache too)
Here is my 2cents. what I learned from this TB motel:
You don't need the exchange/minimum number rule.
A very well-maintained, straight-foward (no rules), and easy (1 star would be great for beginner like me
This post has been edited by MustardSeed: 02 July 2004 - 11:35 AM
#44
Posted 05 July 2004 - 02:42 AM
Quote
It's true that many TBs disappear, although I do not know if that is in any way related to "an ignorance of logging procedures." In addition, anyone could "honor" this silly "take 1 - leave 1" policy without logging the TBs at all.
And lastly, it's ridiculous to make up silly rules that one can't possibly enforce. Some people will undoubtedly take that as a "challenge," and the rule will actually cause the unwanted action/event to occur.
This post has been edited by BassoonPilot: 05 July 2004 - 02:57 AM
#45
Posted 05 July 2004 - 07:26 AM
EraSeek, on Jun 20 2004, 01:42 PM, said:
Exactly. The cache owner doesn't set the rules for the TB. If I can help a TB towards it's goal, I'm moving it, just like the person who OWNS the TB asks me to do via the TB page. I've yet to come across a TB that says "don't take me and move me toward my goal unless you have another TB to drop off in the cache".
#46
Posted 05 July 2004 - 12:53 PM
30 more days, and it can claim residency.
Yup, seems silly that it has had numerous visitors since, and yet that "There always MUST be 5 TB's left here" rule seems too have kept mine in limbo.
#47
Posted 29 March 2005 - 08:58 PM
I don't like to see more than one travel bug in a cache at one time, because I like to move travel bugs to different caches.
On Jan. 15, 2005 I took eight travel bugs from a cache in Apache Junction that the owner had designated as a "travel bug hotel". The cache owner didn't like this, but I felt that it was okay for me to do this, because several geocachers had visited this cache without taking any travel bugs. I don't understand why one cache should have so many travel bugs, so I took these travel bugs to move to eight different caches.
I moved the travel bugs as soon as I could. I did not move these travel bugs to micro caches or to highly exposed urban caches, but I did move all of these travel bugs to easily accessible caches and to caches that fit the theme of the travel bugs. A geocacher who owned two of the travel bugs that I picked up sent me e-mails thanking me for picking up his travel bugs and moving them to good caches (one in South Mountain Park in Phoenix, another in Camelback Mountain Park in Phoenix).
Here is my log entry for the cache. This is what travel bugs are supposed to do. They aren't supposed to be sitting together in one cache and are not supposed to be passed up by visiting geocachers.
#48
Posted 30 March 2005 - 05:51 AM
If a TB Hotel owner has this policy I follow it, just so I don't get someone mad at me. I did ask someone to go to a TB Hotel and take one of mine out since they were going on a trip to Scotland and offered take my TB there, the proviso was that one of us would go back and drop another TB later.
I am not overly fond of caches with special rules for logging them.
#49
Posted 30 March 2005 - 06:35 AM
The reason for this: before I created these hotels, I dealt with a local TB cache which (1) was a study in dampness (1) had a 4 bug rule (3) was in a BAD location, i.e. right next to a trash dump in a forest!
I remember deliberately violating the rule when I visited because I was going on a trip soon, and a bug wanted to fly where I was going. A second bug, a plush bear, needed to go too, but I felt bad at the time breaking the rules already, so I left it.
Long story short: that bear stayed in that cache so long that one ear rotted off of it. Damaged TB because of a stupid rule.
I will no longer follow any such rule of any TB hotel I ever find. If I can help a bug on it's way, I'm helping the thing.
(Incidently, I reference this very thread on the page of one of my TB caches.)
This post has been edited by Sparrowhawk: 30 March 2005 - 06:37 AM
#50
Posted 30 March 2005 - 06:36 AM
Since I do travel widely, I often bring home bugs and wind up restocking said travel bug hotel -- and they generally move on again in fairly short order.
The only rule that remains on said hotel now is that you have to email us (the wife and I) to get the actual proper coordinates for the travel bug hotel and state that you understand how to log a bug in and out. If you can do that, it demonstrates that you can read instructions and write a simple message, and if you can, I'm more than happy to send you the coordinates.
Since I'm one of those obssessive geeks who checks his email seven thousand times a day, people rarely have to wait for very long, usually only an hour or two, before I reply with the coordinates. (The cache is listed as a mystery cache so people don't make the mistake of visiting the posted coordinates.)
I can recall only one occasion where I didn't make with the coordinates, and that was when a message came in from someone who, from their message, appeared to be a nine-year-old AOL user: "HEY MAN SEND ME DA CORDINAETS FOR UR CACH3!!11! WTF" I replied asking if he understood how to log travel bugs in and out of the site and got something like this back: "WUT DO U M3AN?!!!? WTF I KNOW HOW 2 TAEK A BUG OUT OF A CAHCE!11!! U VISIT DA CACH3 AND TEH BUG IS THEIR RIGHT?!!!!?!? OMG LOL" So, that user never got sent the coordinates.
Since that rule went into effect, not one bug has disappeared from the hotel, unlogged and unaccounted for. Yet, dozens of bugs move through the hotel, so it seems to be working.
My only regret is that I didn't think of this solution in the beginning. Would have saved a lot of ill will -- but I was too bent on doing things the way I'd seen other travel bug hotels do 'em.
-- Lemur
This post has been edited by Otter and Lemur: 30 March 2005 - 06:36 AM

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