Found an unactivate coin...

[+AKStafford]

We hit 8 caches last night, and grabbed a coin from one of them, although I'm not sure which one. When I went to log it, it said that it wasn't activated yet. I went back through the logs for the caches we found, and realized it's not listed in the inventory for any of them.

It's a square coin. On the front is a picture of Signal the Frog, riding a bike past a windmill. On the back is says The Netherlands, World Geocaching Series 2, 2006 August 1st-31st.

So, is this a trade item, rather than a trackable? Do we activate it? Do we pass it on without activation?

Any help?

[+jAY miLLS]

We hit 8 caches last night, and grabbed a coin from one of them, although I'm not sure which one. When I went to log it, it said that it wasn't activated yet. I went back through the logs for the caches we found, and realized it's not listed in the inventory for any of them.

It's a square coin. On the front is a picture of Signal the Frog, riding a bike past a windmill. On the back is says The Netherlands, World Geocaching Series 2, 2006 August 1st-31st.

So, is this a trade item, rather than a trackable? Do we activate it? Do we pass it on without activation?

Any help?

 

Activate it and enjoy the coin. Remeber to trade equal or trade up.

[+ArtieD]

It looks like someone left an unactivated coin as a gift or swag. It's yours to do with as you like. You can keep it as is, keep it and activate it, release it activated, or put is somewhere else unactivated. Your choice.

[+Droo]

How is a finder to know to trade for an unactivated coin fairly if it's not clear that it's swag until they go home and try to log it in? Just wondering since it's a bit of a double standard that activated ones don't need to be traded for but unactivated one do.

[+AKStafford]

How is a finder to know to trade for an unactivated coin fairly if it's not clear that it's swag until they go home and try to log it in? Just wondering since it's a bit of a double standard that activated ones don't need to be traded for but unactivated one do.

I was wondering the same thing... We didn't trade for the coin, but we did leave a Travel Bug. We typically try not to take a trackable without leaving a trackable. But this clearly wasn't a fair trade in this case. If I had known that it was an unactivated coin, we would've left something comparable in exchange...

[+Damenace]

How is a finder to know to trade for an unactivated coin fairly if it's not clear that it's swag until they go home and try to log it in? Just wondering since it's a bit of a double standard that activated ones don't need to be traded for but unactivated one do.

 

Very valid question, I can only tell you what I do. When this happens to me and I do not have an "equally" valued item to trade, I make sure to take something with me on the next trip out and drop it in a cache that I find. Sometimes I drop by the same cache, and sometimes I just drop it in a different cache. I have never been chastized for dropping something at a later date. At least I know I made a conscious effort to do the right thing.

 

Please, note I am not insinuating that others do not make a conscious efforts . My wording got me in trouble once today, so I thought I would clarify ( I promise I am not poking fun, I truly learned a lesson today )

[+jAY miLLS]

 

When this happens to me and I do not have an "equally" valued item to trade, I make sure to take something with me on the next trip out and drop it in a cache that I find. Sometimes I drop by the same cache, and sometimes I just drop it in a different cache.

 

 

Exactly, sorry I didn't make myself clearer.

[+AKStafford]

Problem solved... Coin owner contacted me today with apologies for forgetting to activate it. Now I can "find" as normal.

Thanks for all the replies!!

[gridlox]

How is a finder to know to trade for an unactivated coin fairly if it's not clear that it's swag until they go home and try to log it in? Just wondering since it's a bit of a double standard that activated ones don't need to be traded for but unactivated one do.

 

The resposibility falls on the cacher dropping the coin in the cache.

 

What I do when dropping an unactivated coin is to put it into a small craft size ziplock baggy a little bigger than the coin flip (I've noticed that Oakcoins have been shipping their's this way lately! So it makes it easier.).

Then with a bold Sharpie marker I write "UNACTIVATED" on the baggy.

That lets the finder know it's a trade item (or FTF prize!!) & doesn't deface the coin flip incase the person finding it wants to use it to display the coin in the flip.

 

D-man

 

edit: to correctly spell "UNATIVATED" with a "C"

Edited May 27, 2007 by gridlox

[+kiya1994]

We hit 8 caches last night, and grabbed a coin from one of them, although I'm not sure which one. When I went to log it, it said that it wasn't activated yet. I went back through the logs for the caches we found, and realized it's not listed in the inventory for any of them.

It's a square coin. On the front is a picture of Signal the Frog, riding a bike past a windmill. On the back is says The Netherlands, World Geocaching Series 2, 2006 August 1st-31st.

So, is this a trade item, rather than a trackable? Do we activate it? Do we pass it on without activation?

Any help?

 

Earlier this week, I found a lovely coin in a cache in Northunberland England. I got it home, logged it and put it in a different cache ( Clayton Wall) the following day. I even put pictures on the cache and coin log pages. I saw the record on the cache site but the next day, the coin log had disappeared, it has gone off the trackable link and the coin is now recorded as unknown. What may have happened? I am assuming the owner de-activated it. I certainly didn't want to offend the owner if they didn't want it publicised but it would have been helpful if they had sent me a mail. Has anyone else had this experience? If it was a trade item i would have been happy to keep it.

[+Kabuthunk]

How is a finder to know to trade for an unactivated coin fairly if it's not clear that it's swag until they go home and try to log it in? Just wondering since it's a bit of a double standard that activated ones don't need to be traded for but unactivated one do.

Because activated ones are basically TB's? Since you're not keeping it, and it's going straight back into another cache shortly... I don't see a need to 'trade' something for it (well, unless you count a signature item, which I put in all caches).

 

It's like if a travelbug was a nice, fancy, 50 dollar item, are you going to be dropping a 50 dollar bill in the cache just to move the TB along?

[glennk721]

 

Earlier this week, I found a lovely coin in a cache in Northunberland England. I got it home, logged it and put it in a different cache ( Clayton Wall) the following day. I even put pictures on the cache and coin log pages. I saw the record on the cache site but the next day, the coin log had disappeared, it has gone off the trackable link and the coin is now recorded as unknown. What may have happened? I am assuming the owner de-activated it. I certainly didn't want to offend the owner if they didn't want it publicised but it would have been helpful if they had sent me a mail. Has anyone else had this experience? If it was a trade item i would have been happy to keep it.

 

I looked back at your caches. It was probably removed because you posted the TB# and a photo of the coin on the log for your find. The TB# is unactivated. With the photo of the coin and TB# anyone could activate the coin virtualy.

 

A coin can not be de-activated. It was a coin left as swag. The person that dropped the coin probably did not want someone at random not actualy holding the coin to activate it. This may be the answer.

Edited May 28, 2007 by glennk721

[TokyoBlossom]

I think I am in the minority, but I ALWAYS trade something for a travel bug and even though I have yet to find a geocoin in the wild, the same would apply.

 

Either I trade another travel bug OR I leave something nice, nothing worth $50, but something that I believe another cacher might actually take: a travel candle, new items in packaging, etc. I see travel bugs as more than just something with a mission, it is like a transient prize. Travel bugs/geocoins attract geocachers, so if I take this attraction from a cache I want to leave something that I like to think will also be attractive.

[+kiya1994]

 

Earlier this week, I found a lovely coin in a cache in Northunberland England. I got it home, logged it and put it in a different cache ( Clayton Wall) the following day. I even put pictures on the cache and coin log pages. I saw the record on the cache site but the next day, the coin log had disappeared, it has gone off the trackable link and the coin is now recorded as unknown. What may have happened? I am assuming the owner de-activated it. I certainly didn't want to offend the owner if they didn't want it publicised but it would have been helpful if they had sent me a mail. Has anyone else had this experience? If it was a trade item i would have been happy to keep it.

 

I looked back at your caches. It was probably removed because you posted the TB# and a photo of the coin on the log for your find. The TB# is unactivated. With the photo of the coin and TB# anyone could activate the coin virtualy.

 

A coin can not be de-activated. It was a coin left as swag. The person that dropped the coin probably did not want someone at random not actualy holding the coin to activate it. This may be the answer.

 

Thanks for this. i appreciate your help. We are new to caching but have become hooked and don't know all the "rules", especially about geocoins. That said, we have never kept a bug/coin and always swapped like for like ordinary swaps - it only seems right to do so. I can't remember if there was a message in the coin case to keep it moving : we have picked up and moved on a few so i can't remember exactly. Anyway, we enjoyed looking at it and moving it on and i hope someone else does too. I will need to read up about activated and inactive coins now!! Thanks again Kiya1994