How to Prevent Travel Bugs and Coins from going Missing
Posted by admin on Jul 20, 2010
I have a sneaky little trick up my sleeve 
Have you ever released a Travel bug or Coin into the Geocaching wild, only for a fellow cacher to lose it, a muggle to take it or for it to just go missing for one reason or another? If you have you're one of many cachers who have. The fact is most trackable items do end up missing sooner or later and it's very frustrating and sucks the fun right out of it. Fingers are pointed and there just isn't anything fun about it.
I've only released 3 travel bugs in my time and only one is still accounted for and racking up miles. I attribute my sneaky little trick to it's continued success 
So what is my sneaky little trick for keeping travel bugs from going missing?
Leverage the power of superstition! My travel bug that continues to move from cache to cache and has been for over 1 1/2 years is a good luck charm. But if you don't pass it on quickly, your luck may change Here is exactly what I state on the description:
"All who hold this 4-leaf clover will have good luck, but don't hold on to it for any longer than a couple days or your luck may change"
I know what you're thinking... it's like a chain letter. No, it's not. I'm not asking cachers to do anything they wouldn't normally do, I'm not sending the TB to their mailbox (no requirment to pick it up) and I'm not making threats. It's all in good fun and I've had nothing but good feedback from cachers =)
It works and who knows, maybe my little TB really is a good luck charm to some.
So what about you? Do you have any tips for preventing a TB or Coin from going missing? I would love to read them below.
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July 20th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
I don’t do anything special for the trackables I put out, but for trackables I move along I always make an extra effort to put them in caches that are not likely to be muggled, or in caches that require a little extra effort to reach to prevent them from being lost to the casual coin-thieves.
Of course, I also try and balance this against putting trackables in caches that are so difficult that the bug is likely to be trapped for months on end.
July 20th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
I totaly agree with this idea.
My travelbug (literaly!) has a simliar description. Most cacher move it quickly and refer to the curse in ther logs.
Look here:
http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=771990
July 20th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
@ Ruhrcacher – lol that’s the evil version I guess. Man, that little guy does look scary!
July 20th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I have been running across “copies” of GCs for a while now. These are actual photocopies (laminated) of the coin and are sent out in place of the “real” one. I can’t say this is as much fun as holding the real thing, but it serves to keep it in circulation longer since it is easily replaced. I have a TB that went to the Middle East and across the US, only to be picked up by a rookie cacher over a year ago who hasn’t cached since getting it and doesn’t return emails. Maybe he’ll come upon it when cleaning out his car one day and think “I should get back into caching…”
July 20th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Hmmm…I have to say that releasing only three trackables and having only one still in circulation hardly seems like a success story worthy of a ‘trick’ to keeping it in circulation.
I’ve released over 100 geocoins and about 40 are still travelling. it seems to me to be a luck of the draw as to what travels well and what doesn’t. I’ve tried defacing my coins and drilling holes in them so that they are less attractive to thieves, but just as many of them have gone missing as have those in pristine condition.
Occasionally a coin that’s been missing for over a year will turn up as found in some strange cache, and that’s always a treat.
I have found that coins and TB’s that find their way over-seas tend to live and travel longer than those in the U.S.
July 20th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
@ Muscache – Yeah I have copies for those of mine that were lost/stolen, but for some reason I just don’t feel inclined to release them. I figured I might as well just start a new one.
@ stickerooni – Ok, you got me. Good point
Especially when compared to your 100! I guess it’s just a hunch that makes sense to me.
July 20th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Wish, I had seen all of this before, I put out my first “cachekin” that disappeared the day after I set it out.
July 20th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Well, I tend to agree with the “thread” of the conversation here….
No matter what you do, some “newbie” or just plain “jerk” is gonna keep your trackable, if they have a mind to…. It’s a shame; but it’s true. Even trying to just limit their travel to “premium” caches doesn’t work. I have put out about 40 bugs; and only 20 of them are still circulating. One, (like the person’s above) traveled all around the world, only to get taken by some guy named “Sarge” who won’t answer e-mails. Another TB of mine was a treasured coin with a black-lab on it that I had especially purchased from a guy in the Netherlands. When our 15+ year-old lab, “Gina” died, I put it out to travel, because she no longer could. The coin moved 13 miles, and then was taken! Talk about a bummer!…
Nope, nothing works… Not attaching messages, good luck charms, or anything.
The Lesson To This Story Is:
You set your TBs loose putting them at the mercy of the morality of the person who finds it next……
July 28th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
This is a fun idea. I wonder if over the course of your time placing more out there, if your success rate will higher then it is now? I think it would be a fun experiment to run and also will add a whole other dimension to the hunt! Imagine getting a trackable that come with a karmic warning? LOL