Xerox Copies in Caches, Cheating or Insurance?

[+MrHollick]

My question is do you feel putting a xerox copy of a geocoin in a cache and keeping the original safe at home is cheating?

 

I ask because I went to a cache that listed a Geocoin only to find a laminated xerox copy of the real coin. Well I sort of felt cheated and disappointed. The great joy of finding a shinny geocoin and enjoying it until I drop it off at another cache is a lot of fun.

 

I understand people may do this as a means to combat coin loss, theft and such but then since the actual coin isn't really traveling around how can it be logged in and out of caches as if it were? Its not really been in all those places it lists in it log page. It just seems like fraud to me somehow.

 

I am about to start buying some Geocoins myself and I think I will have to just buy doubles of every coin, one to keep at home in "my collection" and one to release into the word and fend for itself so to speak. Im thinking that can get expensive after awhile.

 

I am interested to hear what others think about this practice.

[avroair]

This very questions has been debated many times over in these forums. Some feel that the loss rate is too high to put real coins into caches, others feel that drilling, tagging and defacing coins is the right way to go since they won't be so attractive to sticky fingers (also, you will probably never see the coin again once released so it doesn't matter what it looks like).

 

I feel laminated copies are lame.

[+pghlooking]

There are several threads already about this. I will just tell you simply that it is a lame thing and I will never move them. Alot of people will actually throw the soggy wet paper away as trash.

[SoDakCachers]

This very questions has been debated many times over in these forums. Some feel that the loss rate is too high to put real coins into caches, others feel that drilling, tagging and defacing coins is the right way to go since they won't be so attractive to sticky fingers (also, you will probably never see the coin again once released so it doesn't matter what it looks like).

 

I feel laminated copies are lame.

 

I had a person email me after he saw that I logged taking his coin from a cache. It was a super cacher coin, very cool btw. He asked me if wasn't too much of a problem if I wouldn't mind drilling a quarter inch hole in it somewhere so people would be less likely to steal it. It seemed like such a waste of a coin, but I saw his point. He said that he had quite a few coins stolen in the past and was getting tired of it.

[+River Cacher]

I think if someone is so worried about there coin getting stolen they should just keep it at home.

I have 78 released and way over 70 are still moving.

If more disapear i will just put more out.

[+Butterfly_lady]

I think if someone is so worried about there coin getting stolen they should just keep it at home.

I have 78 released and way over 70 are still moving.

If more disapear i will just put more out.

 

Ditto - I keep on putting them out.

I also gift them to people, with a condition that they release it.

 

A few of my in the wild coins go astray.

Most continue to travel.

 

My main problem with copies is that they get mixed up with visiting cards, can get wet & soggy and are overlooked by cachers, therefore don't always travel as quickly as the real deal.

[+KoosKoos]

My 2 released coins (with notes, but no defacing) both disappeared within 2-3 moves, so I'm not really keen on releasing any more coins personally. I applaud those who try to put them out to move and help push them along when I can.

 

I agree that the laminated versions aren't really worth finding. It's not cheating, but it's just not the same as finding a "coin".

[+River Cacher]

I think if someone is so worried about there coin getting stolen they should just keep it at home.

I have 78 released and way over 70 are still moving.

If more disapear i will just put more out.

 

Ditto - I keep on putting them out.

I also gift them to people, with a condition that they release it.

 

A few of my in the wild coins go astray.

Most continue to travel.

 

My main problem with copies is that they get mixed up with visiting cards, can get wet & soggy and are overlooked by cachers, therefore don't always travel as quickly as the real deal.

That is a great idea on the gifted ones.

I have gave several I have gave away or left them in caches for prizes and from now on I will post a note they must activate and RELEASE THEM

Edited September 28, 2008 by River Cacher

[+BrierPatch]

I've released one Replicoin, as part of an experiment to see what could be produced, it cost just under $6.00 to produce not including time involved in producing the proxy. with cost and time it seems alot cheaper to just release the actual coin. However it did allow me to say alot more on the copy than was on the actual coin and inject a certain amount of creativity that would not normally be associated with a coin. I love the coins and designes and I now leave a replicoin as swag when I visit a cache. The replicoin (Not an exact copy of a coin) is in a card focusing on the front and back design of the coin while the inside has information on the actual coin. since there are no tracking numbers it is an avertisment of what is available to be purchased.

To simply make a laminated copy with a number on it does not seem very interesting, or entertaining for any one else. I have never come across a laminated copy so have never seen one so my opinion is limited by my experience and I am still new at this.

The replicoins that I make to leave as swag are made for just under a dollar, and allow me to share some of the coins I found interesting. I may one day find a laminated copy, (I may have already and did not recognize it. I do not try to find a cache based on what is reported to be in it, so when I come across a coin it is a bonus.

 

I do not think I would call it cheating or insurance, Cheap comes to mind but then I did not buy the coin. I would quote Avroair here and say...... But I think people need to do what they feel comfortable with. For those of you releasing coins to share them with me and others I can only say thank you and well done. Now if you take the time to create something worth retrieving and moving from cache to cache again thanks. I really enjoy the generousity of others when playing the game and try to do likewise.

[+Laval K-9]

We have 15 coins and 28 TB travelling all around the world and only 4 of them are MIA, not too bad.

One of them was a Generic Geocoin, it was in a cache destroyed on a location for new housing. We decided to make a copy in a little plastic box and send it on it's way again. He is now in California.

The same thing when a TB has been lost for a long time, we put the license copy on an other item (about the same or a different one and we change it's picture and mission) and send it again.

It's true that we prefer to find the real things but sometimes there is a story behind the copy

[+earthrooster]

I have not done this myself but I won't say I never will. I've found them like this and while I was a little disappointed I understand why people do it. I've had a few of my coins go missing too

[+CBT69]

Depends on how it's done. Just a piece of paper? Meh.

 

Good quality copy, both sides, laminated, with a clear tracking number? Better.

 

Then there's what someone did to a local cachers coin.. took it out of a cache, photocopied both sides, glued it to a poker chip, _KEPT_ the original, and sent the copy on out.

 

Sorry.. I'm not spending 10 bucks to have some magpie walk off with what I sent out. The amount of creeps in this game who have no respect for others or the rules is growing by the day. I still want to enjoy the game, and want others to enjoy logging finds, and/or adding trackables to their count.

 

I see little difference, personally, between the actual coin, and a _SINGLE_ replica, out circulating, other than your replica stands a far better chance of not ending up in the junk drawer in some magpie's kitchen counter.

 

I've tried to "discover" at least 40 coins that are listed as being in local caches, some within a day or two of them being "dropped", only to find them long gone, and no logs, and they never turn up anywhere else.

 

Face it, there are people out there who are "collecting" the coins, and in effect, stealing hundreds of dollars from us, collectively. ANything I can do to thwart these jerks, I will.

 

That includes keeping track of who visits my cache, and when things seem to disappear without a log or note.

 

It's nice to have one I can see from the house, and that I can keep tabs on.

[chill2k]

We picked up a fake geocoin this weekend, took the excitement out of the find kids felt a little dissapointed. It is a shame and reading down through the lines here seems there are quite a number of collectors keeping the cache, maybe they are in the wrong game. Sell the GPS and buy a metal detector that way keep their find but leave the cache.

[+CBT69]

We picked up a fake geocoin this weekend, took the excitement out of the find kids felt a little dissapointed. It is a shame and reading down through the lines here seems there are quite a number of collectors keeping the cache, maybe they are in the wrong game. Sell the GPS and buy a metal detector that way keep their find but leave the cache.

 

Well, it's one thing if you want to do it with your _own_ coin, it's something completely different if you are doing it to someone elses coin.

 

And I agree with you. I'm not a violent man, by nature. But magpies just make my blood boil. Some coins are upwards of 20$ _each_, and I've seen a few of them (compass roses, or the navigational tool ones) dissapear around here. That's gotta sting.

[+Renegade Knight]

...

Edited September 29, 2008 by Renegade Knight

[+Renegade Knight]

It's as much cheating as it is to tattoo the TB number on a TB and to keep the TB Dog Tag at home safe and sound. The TB folks seem to manage to live. It's only the geocoin folks who are holding out a higher expectation.

 

It's a courtesy to say on the coin's homepage that it's a proxy. It's also the coin owners sole discression to use a proxy, damaged coin, or the real unblemished coin for those folks who have to have the "sparkly" effect when they fondle the coin.

[+Renegade Knight]

I've released one Replicoin, as part of an experiment to see what could be produced, it cost just under $6.00 to produce not including time involved in producing the proxy. with cost and time it seems alot cheaper to just release the actual coin. ...

 

There is a point at which the replicoin is as good as if not better and more collectable than the real coin.

[+Bhob]

given a choice between a replicoin and nothing at all, I prefer the replicoin every time

[+BrierPatch]

Renegade Knight contact me with through my profile and I will send one to you and you can judge for yourself I have a few left from the experiment. I am going to bring what is left to the coinfest. It makes a great paperweight, and I think you will find it is to large for a coin.

[+LionsLair]

Here is an alternative that I'm surprised nobody has come up with before now. I may have to get me a few of these and see if they work...

Some may get upset when this is what they find instead of the coin(icon should follow the tag and show up in the cache inventory as it moves)

 

Mystery Tag

 

IMO, it may be a bit better than finding a paper copy of a coin.

 

Thoughts?

[+Geo.Error]

we have a kopie coin hide in our nightcache route, it is up the cacher to log the coin or not.

 

the coin is a templar coin and my caches name is treasure of templars.

[+Malpas Wanderer]

I like to see the real coins in the caches.

 

It annoys me even more when someone steals my coin and replaces it with a replicoin as has happened very recently

[+Zarya.]

I have only come across one laminated xerox so far. It stated that the original coin went MIA but the owner still desired for it to travel, even if only virtually - so be it, and it was sent on its way. They live like ghosts - a p-KIA geocoin that still wishes to travel the world.

 

But even ghosts should not be denied their purpose if what they bring to the table is better than nothing at all - an icon, stories of a journey, and a satisfaction of helping someone and his/her little trinket.

 

Here is an alternative that I'm surprised nobody has come up with before now. I may have to get me a few of these and see if they work...

Some may get upset when this is what they find instead of the coin(icon should follow the tag and show up in the cache inventory as it moves)

 

Mystery Tag

 

IMO, it may be a bit better than finding a paper copy of a coin.

 

Thoughts?

 

I think it definitely is better. It allows very valuable coins, like LE ones, to venture "into the wild", in a slightly more tangible, and slightly more fun way than a piece of paper. I just bought a pack of them for future use; thanks for the link!

[+Geo.Error]

I like to see the real coins in the caches.

 

It annoys me even more when someone steals my coin and replaces it with a replicoin as has happened very recently

 

they did that, wow what a ..........................................

 

Better can not say that name here.

 

so maybe i think my real coins are traveling and then it can be a replicoin.

 

i am in real shock now.