Completely, totally discouraged

[+Marky]

We have a few hundred out traveling. One of my "joke" responses to missing travelers is: the more you release, the less you notice when they go missing. Seriously though, if you want to have successful geocoin travelers, you have to do some up front preparations:

• Drill a hole in the geocoin to attach a tag to it.
  
• Add a 'travel buddy' metal tag.
  
• Add a laminated goal tag.
  
• Attach everything together with aircraft wire.
  

Drilling a hole in the geocoin makes it MUCH less collectible, and also makes it very unlikely to be sold on ebay (although the fact that it's activated also make is less likely to show up on ebay). Attaching a 'travel buddy' tag makes them look more like the familiy 'travelbug', so people are less likely to assume that it is a normal trade item. Having a goal tag helps people know if they can help it towards its goal without having to check the website, so are more likely to move it along. The aircraft wire makes the removal of the tags a deliberate act, rather than an accidental one (ball and chains do come apart sometimes). We have good success with our travelers when we've tagged them in this manner.

 

--Marky

[+czarbucks]

Thanks again for the good suggestions. Yes, "just letting go" isn't something I excel at, and I truly hate ruining the coins by drilling holes, but these both seem to be part of the solutions.

 

At any rate, we've (apparently) increased the traveler count by 3 again, for which we're pleased. Thanks to everyone who does continue to release coins, we enjoy each one, and move them on quickly.

[+tiki]

Might I offer a few alternatives.... most of us have been through the 'I ain't releasing any more coins' thought process. I can truly sympathize: after having half my activated coins go missing, opening a coin discovery cache, only to have them swiped after a couple months, people following my caching activities to see where I dropped coins, so they could sell them on ebay or get a free collection.... I almost quit leaving coins altogether in Helena. I was really getting PO'd!

 

Here is what I do now. I have slowed my free coin dropping significantly. I no longer mention it in my logs unless I cache out of town. I just drop an unactivated coin in a cache and then watch the cache. I write down the tracking number and wait to see if anyone activates it. I admit, that I have only seen 1 log where someone actually admits to even trading the geocoin I left. But, the nice thing is, I know I left a neat surprise for the next finder and it is less worry and disappointment when an activated coin goes missing.

 

I totally second this! I also was getting "watched" by some nefarious folks who were swiping tiki coins and tiles after I dropped them. The irony is, the tikicoins are non-trackable, and I want people to keep them! I do get miffed when folks would swipe them without logging it though. I've also started to randomly drop coins/tiles, and I never mention it in the log. I also then watch the cache page to see if the coin is mentioned in later log entries.

 

Most of my hand-made trackable items have managed to keep moving. Some I had written off for good, only to have them pop up 8 months later! I have a hand-pressed tile travelbug sitting out in a field in Kansas - it has been there nearly a year!

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=659841

 

I wouldn't give up entirely on releasing coins into the wild - just manage your expectations. Plan on them getting swiped, and you will be pleasantly surprised when they get moved along!