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Geocoins In Caches, At What Price Point?


nielsenc

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I would like to see more Geocoins, and for that matter, TBs, in caches. I like being up to pick them up, move them and help them on the way. I have been putting out my own Geocoin to move. Left some in Hong Kong, Philippines, Utah and California. I have mailed some to Prague, the UK, France, Canada, and NY to start them on their journey.

 

Knowing the rate some geocoins end up missing, you are most likely *not* going to find them in Geocaches. Personally, I have only found one in a real live cache and that was a great day. I would like to find more that others put out.

 

With that in mind, at what price point would people be willing to purchase and send Geocoins on their merry way? This would include full tracking on geocaching.com.

 

Thanks.

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I would like to see more Geocoins, and for that matter, TBs, in caches. I like being up to pick them up, move them and help them on the way. I have been putting out my own Geocoin to move. Left some in Hong Kong, Philippines, Utah and California. I have mailed some to Prague, the UK, France, Canada, and NY to start them on their journey.

 

Knowing the rate some geocoins end up missing, you are most likely *not* going to find them in Geocaches. Personally, I have only found one in a real live cache and that was a great day. I would like to find more that others put out.

 

With that in mind, at what price point would people be willing to purchase and send Geocoins on their merry way? This would include full tracking on geocaching.com.

 

Thanks.

Well since the USA Geocoin is $5.00 I would say somewhere in the $4.00 to $5.00 price range. The problem with this is, the price of coins is starting to go through the roof. So who will be the first to mint a coin and sell it for cost :lol: ???

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$3 to $4 coin is easier to leave than a $6-$10 coin. I leave my personals here and there, but considering some of the trades left for them (or no trade at all), I've cut way back on how often I leave one of my coins in a cache.

 

Seeing "Took AG coin. Left $1" in a cache log is really is annoying. I get really pissed off when I see "came hoping for the AG coin, but when I got here there is no coin in the cache and no one has found the cache since it was left."

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I have placed geocoins in my own caches in the past as travelers and trade items. Now, I will mostly place them as trade items, although I just prepared one with TB tags attached with a drilled hole in the coin. I have 3 coins currently placed in my own caches as trade items. They each have a note stating the expected value of a trade item placed for them, 2 at $5 and one at $6, which is about the cost to me (lower than ebay values.) Cachers have followed this, typically placing money in exchange.

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I would like to see more Geocoins, and for that matter, TBs, in caches. I like being up to pick them up, move them and help them on the way. I have been putting out my own Geocoin to move. Left some in Hong Kong, Philippines, Utah and California. I have mailed some to Prague, the UK, France, Canada, and NY to start them on their journey.

 

Knowing the rate some geocoins end up missing, you are most likely *not* going to find them in Geocaches. Personally, I have only found one in a real live cache and that was a great day. I would like to find more that others put out.

 

With that in mind, at what price point would people be willing to purchase and send Geocoins on their merry way? This would include full tracking on geocaching.com.

 

Thanks.

I have wondered the same thing but I really don't think it's price--it's scarcity.

 

What I mean by this is that even if Geocoins cost $1 each, if they are only occasionally found in caches, they will still get stolen.

 

On the flip side, if Geocoins cost $10 each but everyone did the honorable thing and kept them moving so they were common in caches, they would not get stolen.

 

I have noticed that the average Travel Bug costs more than a USA geocoin if you count the cost of the TB tag AND the object attached to it, but TB's get stolen MUCH less than USA geocoins. Why is that? The USA geocoins are not as common.

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This is why I created the red-handed coin. It would be hard to make it much cheaper I think.

 

The coin cost me $2.53 each and the $1.50 tracking cost. This made it just under $5 (then there is shipping, mailing supplies, etc) -- so it really ends-up being about a $5.50 coin (as long as you order a few -- the shipping on one coin would bring it to $6.25ish.

 

The idea was to make this as inexpensive as possible, so there are few frills (there is a red-hand and the finish is antiqued).

 

In order to get much cheaper I suspect you would need to order a LOT more coins (I ordered 600)

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Your average geocacher has yet to even find a USA geocoin in an actual cache. I was able to claim a "find" only because I gave away an unactivated coin and then carefully watched to see where it was placed and then I went right out to get it (and move it of course). It lasted about six months after that which was much better than the average life for the ones I put out.

 

The newer coins will be even less likely to show up in actual caches because, for the most part, they are sold out and not replaceable. It's been difficult enough to just try to buy them, let alone find any. They also have nice unique icons, like the Jeeps, and if anyone does actually find one in a cache, they would probably want to share it with their friends or take it to an event. There's always another event in just a few weeks so they rationalize they better hang on to it.

 

I think the reason travel bugs are much more likely to move is that there is only one icon for a travel bug and there's no interest in showing someone else's squeeze toy (or whatever) to their friends.

 

I'm not sure if geocoins will ever be widely circulated. Certainly if they were cheap and plentiful that would help. Right now releasing real geocoins seems like it would be similar to trying to fill up a bottomless pit.

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The derth of coins in caches is somewhat exagerated. While finding a coin isn't a daily occurance, I've found plenty of them. Those I've released also appear to be sticking around of late. I've had one in circulation almost two years and it's got over 4000 miles on it...

 

ICM Geocoin #4

 

I'm release quite few of my new personal coins, it'll be interesting to see how they do.

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So who will be the first to mint a coin and sell it for cost  :huh: ???

2005 Alaska did and we'll try to do the same for the 2006 version.

 

The "problem" is that with increased metal prices, the tracking number cost, and the extra engraving cost for the random alpha-numeric lettering, we're looking at an increase in price of about $2.50.

 

One option would be to have an aluminum cache version struck which would cost less than solid brass. We didn't do that for the 2005 version of the coin because the aluminum has a cheaper look and feel (much lighter) than the other metals.

Edited by Ladybug Kids
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I'm in the process of placing a 5 (or maybe 6) cache series. I'm putting out a series of micros (and maybe a small) with bits of info in each one. When you have all the info you will be able to use the key to find the coordinates of the final cache and the combination to unlock it. The final cache is a .50 cal ammo can stuffed full of stuff that's locked with a 4 digit combination lock and includes one of Kilted Cacher's Christmas Geocoin/Ornaments as a FTF prize.

 

I do have a couple of the USA coins out in caches as "movers" and I'll see how long they last. I may put out some more coins but I'm not sure. The USA coins were about $5.50 each so they make a good experiment. The Christmas coin was $8.50 and is a gift to whoever finds it. :(

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I love coins. I think people would be more likly to release them if they could get a copy of the one they found from someone that has multply copies of it. Selling it, trading it, what ever. When I asked about the Maryland coin (thank you. Joe!) I had a few people respond to me but once they found out I had nothing to trade I never heard from them again! Not a "no thanks", not a "don't want to sell" nothing! So why should they try to find a copy when they already have one. And they might of tried to get another one but just gave up and kept it the dishonest way. And a great big thanks to Ladycacher and Joe (I have totally forgot your cacher name) for helping me and sending me a Maryland Geocoin and Ladycacher's personal coin. I sit at my desk and play with them everyday! lol

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With that in mind, at what price point would people be willing to purchase and send Geocoins on their merry way? This would include full tracking on geocaching.com.

This seems like a geocoin business research question which IIRC isn't appropriate in these forums.

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I have only found one in a real live cache and that was a great day. I would like to find more that others put out.

Just out of curiosity, what did you do with that coin?

 

I've never found a geocoin in a cache, although I've had two come through caches I own.

 

Jamie

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With that in mind, at what price point would people be willing to purchase and send Geocoins on their merry way? This would include full tracking on geocaching.com.

This seems like a geocoin business research question which IIRC isn't appropriate in these forums.

Sorry Bullit. Didnt mean for it to be that way. I will close the thread.

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