+GPSOkie Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 I first joined GC.com in 2001. I didn't start caching until the end of November last year. I had no idea what I was missing! In the last couple of days, I finally signed up for a Premium Membership. If you are new here, please stop by my blog and read my review and opinion of the Premium memberships here at GC.com. If you love caching as much as I do, don't hesitate to get a premium membership. It supports the community and the site that just cannot be beat by any other. As I say in my editorial on my blog, the free membership is worth the $30 a year. Add the membershipp benefit to that and you just have a heck of a deal. GPSOkie's Geocaching Blog Quote Link to comment
+Vinny & Sue Team Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 I must agree with you 100%, or maybe 200%. I personally feel that even the basic services offered with a free "basic" membership at geocaching.com are worth at least $3 per month, and I feel that the Premium membership is easily worth $5 or $6 per month. In fact, I pay $5 to $10 per month in membership fees at other sites for extreme outdoor adventure sports for lesser benefits. Quote Link to comment
+atascadero Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 The funny thing with me being a newbie and all. I looked this site over and liked what I saw so I paid the $30 to support a fun and wholesome sport! Then I discovered the benefits of being a PM. What a deal in my book! Quote Link to comment
+Thrak Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 I bought one month to check it out. It took no time at all for me to upgrade to a full year. It is cheap, cheap, cheap for what I get and it helps keep this site up and running. Quote Link to comment
+phayzer5 Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 (edited) I dropped $380 for an explorist 600 + 512mb sd card combo, $30 for the year of premium GC.com membership (well worth it for the PQ's alone ), and the $8 Cachmate registration all in the last week. Ordered a neoprene case and Mapsend Direct route this week to finish my grand entrance to the hobby Edited February 1, 2006 by phayzer5 Quote Link to comment
+Zzyzx Road Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Just wait until you hit the $ store and other bargain swag places... Can you believe that I managed to spend 35$ in the $ store, and another 40$ or so in Wallyworld, and neither bag was larger than a shoebox? I found some cool goodies though! Quote Link to comment
+4leafclover Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Just wait until you hit the $ store and other bargain swag places... Can you believe that I managed to spend 35$ in the $ store, and another 40$ or so in Wallyworld, and neither bag was larger than a shoebox? I found some cool goodies though! I can easily believe this... and my husband would too. Quote Link to comment
+bblake Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 I'd like to hear opinions regarding caches for premium members only vs regular. Does this make it any less likely that the cache would require maintenance, be damaged, etc? I'm asking because I haven't decided to make my first one for premium only or not -- wondering what the pros/cons of doing so would be. I signed on as a premium member immediately -- definitely a small price to pay for what you get (but don't go raising it now, guys!) bblake Quote Link to comment
+Vinny & Sue Team Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 I'd like to hear opinions regarding caches for premium members only vs regular. Does this make it any less likely that the cache would require maintenance, be damaged, etc? I'm asking because I haven't decided to make my first one for premium only or not -- wondering what the pros/cons of doing so would be. I signed on as a premium member immediately -- definitely a small price to pay for what you get (but don't go raising it now, guys!) bblake Yes, as an owner of a number of PMOC caches, and with a number of finds, it is my opinion that Premium Member-Only Caches (PMOC) suffer less damage, end up with less cheap trash items placed as trade items, generally require less maintenance, and have lesser chance of being a victim of vandalism (because the listing cannot be seen by a casual nonpaying visitor to the website) than do "regular" caches. But of course, another way to gain most of these same benefits is to place an extreme cache, one with a Difficulty and/or Terrain rating of 5.0, and this too will tend to serve to exclude most of those who might inadvertently or purposely damage the cache, and also exclude most of those who practice what I call "trading down" (i.e., taking a quality trade item and leaving a broken McToy worth two cents or leaving pieces of a cookie, or [in one case at one of our caches] leaving water softener pellets...) Quote Link to comment
The_Brownies Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 (edited) Ok I'm going to kick the hornets nest and run!! Have been caching for over 3 years. Yes, I signed up for premium to help support the sport I enjoy. However, I don't quite agree with putting a price on the basic membership. It's been discussed before and the answer has always been the same. If it ain't broke don't fix it. If you start charging to play the game you could potentionally loose people from the game. They won't stop caching. They will simply band together and start a different website to play the game, which btw is already happening. Long story short, Geocaching.com was founded on the principal that anyone could play which btw, Jeremy once wrote something to the effect. "This will never be a pay for service". If you want to be a premium member, go ahead a be one. But not everyone out there wants to be a premium member. They are perfectly fine with paper caching and are happy be a lowly geocacher. Plus it's not like gc.com is going bankrupt. If you were to ask me, I would say these ingenious, innovative young men came up with a hot idea and are making alot of money off of it. Another thing to remember is this is a world wide game and $30 for a US customer could mean good news for European users, because the Euro is of a higher value than the dollar. It could also mean bad news for a Canadian, or eastern european user where the dollar value is high comparred to their currency. You also need to ask just how many premium members do you think are on gc.com? In addition to the money they make of the premium members, they are also getting revenue from their online store, advertisements from Chrysler, Magellan, Lawrence, Etrek, etc. If you were to ask me how their profit and loss statment looks, I would say they are doing pretty good, which means there is no need to even consider charging for the basic fee membership. Edited February 1, 2006 by The_Brownies Quote Link to comment
+GPSOkie Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 I was in no means implying that they should charge for the basic membership. Had that been the case, it is likely that I would have never got involved and upgrade my membership later. By all means, I feel that you should be able to participate at the basic level for free. I think GC.com has things set up perfectly as-is. You can come in and play for free, then it is a personal choice whether or not to upgrade. Since I have a palm device and a GPS that is PC connectable, it is worth the money for me to upgrade. Many other participants do not have that, so it is a tougher choice as whether to upgrade or not. I upgraded because it made geocaching easier for me and I wanted to support the site and community. Plus, I intend on remaining an avid cacher. It only makes sense for me to have a premium member. Those who do not cache frequently or do not have a Palm or Pocket PC, will get along fine on the basic membership. Quote Link to comment
The_Brownies Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Ok, looks like I mistook what you were saying. My appologies. Sure read like a discussion about an old horse that has already been beat to death. I have to agree with you. The premium service is nice if you want Members only caches, or want to go with pocket queries. But before you upgrade make sure you buy a pocket pc or pda. It will make things a heck of a lot easier. Right now I have my pocket pc loaded with about 100+ cache pages and it sure comes in handy when your on the hunt. No more soggy papers. Plus now I can finally go after a few member only caches in the neighborhood that honestly were ok. Not going to get into that since that is another topic. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 (edited) If you want to be a premium member, go ahead a be one. But not everyone out there wants to be a premium member. They are perfectly fine with paper caching and are happy be a lowly geocacher. Premium membership has little to do with paperless caching. Yeah, paperless caching is one of the many benefits you can get from pocket queries, but not the only one. I used pocket queries long before I went paperless. That pocket queries are only for paperless geocachers is a misconception that too many have. Edited February 2, 2006 by briansnat Quote Link to comment
+Vinny & Sue Team Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 If you want to be a premium member, go ahead a be one. But not everyone out there wants to be a premium member. They are perfectly fine with paper caching and are happy be a lowly geocacher. Premium membership has little to do with paperless caching. Yeah, paperless caching is one of the many benefits you can get from pocket queries, but not the only one. I used pocket queries long before I went paperless. That pocket queries are only for paperless geocachers is a misconception that too many have. I agree with Brian 300% about this myth... I do not do paperless caching, and have NO interest in doing paperless caching -- for many (to me) good reasons --, but I use PQs regularly and have done so for a long time; I find them to be of great value in locating the types of caches I enjoy, all over the USA and all across the world. Quote Link to comment
The_Brownies Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 (edited) (briansnat @ Feb 1 2006, 09:03 PM) If you want to be a premium member, go ahead a be one. But not everyone out there wants to be a premium member. They are perfectly fine with paper caching and are happy be a lowly geocacher. Premium membership has little to do with paperless caching. Yeah, paperless caching is one of the many benefits you can get from pocket queries, but not the only one. I used pocket queries long before I went paperless. That pocket queries are only for paperless geocachers is a misconception that too many have. I agree with Brian 300% about this myth... I do not do paperless caching, and have NO interest in doing paperless caching -- for many (to me) good reasons --, but I use PQs regularly and have done so for a long time; I find them to be of great value in locating the types of caches I enjoy, all over the USA and all across the world. Can't we all just get along.. Think you guys kind of missed the point on this one. So let me explian. When I read this forum I was getting the impression that services Groundspeak provides are more valuable than what they are currently priced. Plus it sounded like the author of the thread was saying "Hey the free membership should have a price tag on it, and the premium membership should have a higher price tag." Since they appeared to be taking this stance of Pro Premium membership, and the ditching of the free GC membership, I thought it would be fun to point out the stance of a normal cacher. Hint.. Hint ...I was playing the devils advocate.. Premium Membership is not just about paperless caching. There are a few more benefits than just that. One of which is the pocket queries, gpx files, and ability to pan on the maps. Plus you get to see upcoming changes to the website. Plus I feel if you have benefited from a service that is provided you should give something back in return. But like I said, the premium membership is not for everyone and we should take those people into consideration before a drastic measure like non-free membership was invoked. Which BTW I hope will never happen. Edited February 2, 2006 by The_Brownies Quote Link to comment
+GPSOkie Posted February 3, 2006 Author Share Posted February 3, 2006 Goodness, I didn't mean to stir up a hornets nest here I was saying that the free service is worth a lot compared to what you get on other sites that have free service, but I, by no means, want them to start charging for what is free now GC.com should be proud to offer what they do free of charge. It is a wonderful hobby and I think it is wonderful that they allow people to participate free of charge. They let me participate for 5 years free of charge and as a result, I became a paying member. In MY situation, the premium membership is the way to go. Being that I have a PDA and a GPS that is PC connectable, it is the right level of service for me in that goecaching is MUCH easier than it was before. If you are in my situation, I highly recommend upgrading. I went 5 years on the basic membership and it was great. Sorry if I ruffled any feathers !! I do think that if you are a long time user of the free service that you should at least considersupporting the community financially. Whether it be paying for a good piece of geocaching software, through a local club, or here at GC.com, it is your choice. I've just seen too many hobbies fail because people didn't want to support them financially and I would hate to see that happen here. Obviously, there are more ways to support the hobby than a membership at GC.com, but it seems like a good starting point. Quote Link to comment
The_Brownies Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Shoot .. you didn't ruffle any of my feathers. and I certianly wouldn't loose any sleep over this. Quote Link to comment
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