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Geocoins missing -- stolen?


padgettharper

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Hi all,

 

Over the course of about a year, two geocoins have gone missing from my cache "South of Willamette."

 

One of the coin owners wondered whether muggles might be raiding the cache. Would you suspect that (it's not in a particularly easy-to-happen-across location) or just some forgetful/acquisitive geocachers? Would moving the cache do any good? Any suggestions welcome.

 

Thanks,

padgettharper

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Could be either.

 

The thing to watch for, is are they consecutive go-astrays.....

or is there a gap?

 

It could be the same person.

But then again it could easily be an international traveller who has yet to log.

 

And then there are cachers who do not keep notes, pick up a coin here, drops it there and does not have the tracking # to be able to log it, is too lazy to bother to do anything.

 

Put a watch on the coins. After a suitable period mark them missing from your cache. They may pop up again somewhere.

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Both coins may not have been stolen. A cacher could have lost a coin and is embarrassed to admit it. Could be in the bottom of a backpack, forgotten.........Could have been picked up by someone who had a very unfortunate accident or something and is not currently caching...........really any number of things could have happened. I don't think theft is really the first thing I would assume, unless there were something pointing to that--entire cache muggled for instance. The coins could still show up again.

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I guess I'm just :unsure: , since BOTH of the GW VI coins that I sent out to travel (in my own Cache :rolleyes: ) went missing without ever getting logged :rolleyes::rolleyes::ph34r:

 

 

I guess what really gets to me is that I've spent nearly a thousand dollars in just over a year, on things to just give away to all takers(about 75 coins, and 75 TBs so far), but someone saw it best to just TAKE the ones I left out for travel. Heck, I even gave away about 5 of those very coins, but I guess that's just not enough.

 

I love to share, and I don't ask anything in return for all the prizes I like to give, but is it too much to ask that the ones I intended to travel remain out there(for more than one person to enjoy)?

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I have the distinct feeling, that lots of people can't tell the differenz between a traveler and swag. With lots of unactivated coins left as swag in caches, I'm not surprised, that some think the travelers are for keeps as well.

 

Over here I did leave an unactivated coin im my difficulty 5 caches as a FTF prize. But I clearly marked it.

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WOW, Good luck. I bet I've put out over 100 coins in the past several years and I think over half are missing. I think the problem is geocachers making up there own collection. I was reading on the forum a cacher out east was setting his collection free of several hundred coins he had collected over the years. I wrote him and thanked him for letting them go seeing they were not his in the first place. I also read where a fellow cacher said he drills a hole in his coins before he sets them out. He said most cachers that are stealing coins (for there own collection) don't like them damaged in anyway. I know I have put out a lot of coins in the Portland Or area and most of them come up missing. So I think there is a cacher in our area who is collecting off others. Not sure what else to do. If I come up with anything I will sure post it. As far as you greedy cachers out there. GET A JOB.

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Hi all,

 

Over the course of about a year, two geocoins have gone missing from my cache "South of Willamette."

 

One of the coin owners wondered whether muggles might be raiding the cache. Would you suspect that (it's not in a particularly easy-to-happen-across location) or just some forgetful/acquisitive geocachers? Would moving the cache do any good? Any suggestions welcome.

 

Thanks,

padgettharper

 

I'm pretty sure one of them was mine too. :D

 

If you live in the Portland metro area then we (like many cities) have problems with coin thieves. Now I try to move coins only into caches that are premium members only, are multi or puzzle caches or are caches with higher difficulty ratings. This seems to have helped a bit (and I make this request on my trackable page) but there is only so much you can do. I also drill and tag all my travelers to prevent swag confusion.

 

I really wish Groundspeak would consider not showing trackables on the cache page at all. It is like a beacon calling all thieves to come and steal. I would also enjoy the surprise-factor of opening a cache and finding a coin or bug there.

 

I'm sure there are reasons why people wouldn't like this idea (especially people who like to collect icons) and that I have not considered all of them but I really think it might cut down on theft.

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Hi all,

 

Over the course of about a year, two geocoins have gone missing from my cache "South of Willamette."

 

One of the coin owners wondered whether muggles might be raiding the cache. Would you suspect that (it's not in a particularly easy-to-happen-across location) or just some forgetful/acquisitive geocachers? Would moving the cache do any good? Any suggestions welcome.

 

Thanks,

padgettharper

 

I'm pretty sure one of them was mine too. :D

 

If you live in the Portland metro area then we (like many cities) have problems with coin thieves. Now I try to move coins only into caches that are premium members only, are multi or puzzle caches or are caches with higher difficulty ratings. This seems to have helped a bit (and I make this request on my trackable page) but there is only so much you can do. I also drill and tag all my travelers to prevent swag confusion.

 

I really wish Groundspeak would consider not showing trackables on the cache page at all. It is like a beacon calling all thieves to come and steal. I would also enjoy the surprise-factor of opening a cache and finding a coin or bug there.

 

I'm sure there are reasons why people wouldn't like this idea (especially people who like to collect icons) and that I have not considered all of them but I really think it might cut down on theft.

 

You read my mind Danean! Us Portlander's (ish) must think alike :D I have been telling my husband that not showing trackables would help a lot. Around here you can almost guarantee they aren't in there anymore anyway. It would be more exciting to go to a cache and not know what's in there and be surprised. I feel really bad when I have to mark them as missing out of caches I own :D And I am having to do it more and more :D

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Hi all,

 

Over the course of about a year, two geocoins have gone missing from my cache "South of Willamette."

 

One of the coin owners wondered whether muggles might be raiding the cache. Would you suspect that (it's not in a particularly easy-to-happen-across location) or just some forgetful/acquisitive geocachers? Would moving the cache do any good? Any suggestions welcome.

 

Thanks,

padgettharper

 

I'm pretty sure one of them was mine too. :D

 

If you live in the Portland metro area then we (like many cities) have problems with coin thieves. Now I try to move coins only into caches that are premium members only, are multi or puzzle caches or are caches with higher difficulty ratings. This seems to have helped a bit (and I make this request on my trackable page) but there is only so much you can do. I also drill and tag all my travelers to prevent swag confusion.

 

I really wish Groundspeak would consider not showing trackables on the cache page at all. It is like a beacon calling all thieves to come and steal. I would also enjoy the surprise-factor of opening a cache and finding a coin or bug there.

 

I'm sure there are reasons why people wouldn't like this idea (especially people who like to collect icons) and that I have not considered all of them but I really think it might cut down on theft.

 

You read my mind Danean! Us Portlander's (ish) must think alike :D I have been telling my husband that not showing trackables would help a lot. Around here you can almost guarantee they aren't in there anymore anyway. It would be more exciting to go to a cache and not know what's in there and be surprised. I feel really bad when I have to mark them as missing out of caches I own :D And I am having to do it more and more :D

 

Hmmm....maybe we should start a thread about this and see how other coiners and cachers feel about it. Then if people seem to like the idea, we could post a request in the web site section and see what Groundspeak thinks about it...

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While I like to think positively and hope it's just a travelling cacher who hasn't logged his/her grabs yet or an absent minded one who forgot grabs at the bottom of their swag bag I personally have stopped releasing coins because there are just too many acquisitioners!! Too many noobs come to the geocoin forums wondering if the way to build a collection is through the swag in caches. My God! Is everyone looking for a handout???? Or feeling entitled to free stuff??? Is that the fascination with geocaching.... a source for free stuff for kids (of all ages)??? It sure takes the fun out of giveaways.

 

I will activate coins and bring them to events for others to discover but I won't add game pieces to a game that is now a magnet for folks who can't be bothered to learn how to play or takers who want to ruin a game that is totally based on the faith in the kindness of strangers.

 

I've also tried making caches subscriber only but ironically thieves will pay the $3 a month to get those listings to denude coin bearing caches too. However I'm not convinced that removing coin icons from cache pages is the answer either and I don't know what is.

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I think if it was mugglers raiding the cache they would take the whole cache.

The coins missing have probably fallen into the hands of a cacher who does not log them until they are ready to release them.

This happens in my area all the time and it is usually cachers that are in it just to discover or find trackables.

Most of the cachers do not want to have 50 or 100 trackables show up in there hands so they do not log them until they are ready to drop them.

It is sad to see this but it is happening more and more.

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