Both Mal and I are running into the Drop Pod bug (in separate solo games) while doing the Utopia Expedition.
After purchasing the very expensive items that are supposed to lead you to a Drop Pod, they seem to lose track of which Pods have already been repaired and used.
That bug (feature?) has been around forever. I’m now wondering if I should limit myself to four to six per planet?
I’ve been doing that for years. Same with the observatory pointers to crashed ships - after the first four or five, they start directing you back to sites you’ve already visited. It’s best to just find a few, then move to a different planet.
(edit) Correction - it’s the signal towers that find crashed ships for you. At least, they find distress signals, and sometimes they are crashed ships. But the same principle holds good. You can only use them a few times, and then they start sending you to places you’ve already been.
I rarely use drop pod charts for that reason. I’ve personally had much better luck with the exocraft scanners. You think they would give the same results, but I’ve had charts get stuck in those used-pod loops, while the exocraft was still giving plenty of fresh targets.
You should just play on Nintendo Switch. I swear it is geared to make the game easier. I find Drop Pods regularly. I have not stayed in one place long enough to say how many I run across and if this eventually triggers a lower encounter rate. 
I think I will start tracking that.
Moved discussion into its own topic.