It's good to hear from Webmaster Jay Drew that the "unclaimed-
letterbox" problem is being addressed by adoptions and by retaining
older clues in a separate file. I'm sure that many have hesitated to
expend much effort on searching for them. One way that I have just
started dealing with this in my own boxes, and those maintained for
others, is to add to the clues the statement "Verified in place,
(date)". Fortunately, a well-hidden box in a secure container may
stay healthy for a long time. Our Garden of the Gods LB in southern
IL did so for 2 years without maintenance, and my oldest local box
locally (Sugar Hill in western and central NY) has also been in place
2 years. The latter, tho, has had periodic visits and a couple of
times been discovered not tightly closed and with some moisture in
the box. And I've had a couple of boxes disappear entirely. So,
things to happen to them, and maintenance - perhaps twice a year - is
strongly urged.
Bob / 'Cock o' the Trail'