Where are all the Geocoins disapearing to

[+Davidmu11]

I have been to a few caches just lately and have noticed that there are no geocoins or travel bugs in them when it's reported that there are....has anybody else noticed this spate of disapearances. Let me know.

Thanks Dave ( davidmu11 )

Edited December 10, 2009 by Davidmu11

[+murphyrulez]

People are jerks.

[+Droo]

I have been to a few caches just lately and have noticed that there are no geocoins or travel bugs in them when it's reported that there are....has anybody else noticed this spate of disapearances. Let me know.

Thanks Dave ( davidmu11 )

Oh yeah!!

 

NB.... Geocaching is promoted as a treasure hunt. When you find a cache that's got coins in it what would you normally think unless otherwise taught? Exactly..... free stuff! mine mine mine mine mine.

Edited December 10, 2009 by Droo

[Maine Family]

My caches have geocoins in them. Nobody wants to pick them up. Pretty soon they will be under the snow.

[+ThePetersTrio]

I have been to a few caches just lately and have noticed that there are no geocoins or travel bugs in them when it's reported that there are....has anybody else noticed this spate of disapearances. Let me know.

Thanks Dave ( davidmu11 )

 

Hi Dave,

 

Welcome to the board.

 

Cache pages are often inaccurate about the contents of the caches with regard to TBs and GCs. This can be due to a number of reasons. Sometimes travelers are taken out of the cache just before you get there by another cacher and haven't been logged yet. Sometimes travelers are taken and not logged in a timely manner (maybe the cacher who grabbed them is on vacation and hasn't gotten the chance to sit at their computer yet). Sometimes travelers are stolen.

 

Many people don't know that they can remove their missing traveler from the cache page in one quick step.

 

Many cache owners don't know that they can remove the missing travler from their cache page in one quick step.

 

The bottom line is, don't ever expect to find a coin or a TB in a cache and then when you do come across one, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Just keep in mind that if you retrieve a bug or coin, please log it as soon as possible and please remember not to keep it longer than 2 weeks (unless you contact the owner).

[+Mauison]

This has been happening for years. I myself have had nearly 170 geocoins go missing. I chalk it up to people stealing them, newbies taking them and thinking they're to keep, geocoins being at the bottom of your geocaching bag, or suitcase, or under your car seats, etc.

 

But I've also had geocoins reappear after over a year of being missing.

[+murphyrulez]

My caches have geocoins in them. Nobody wants to pick them up. Pretty soon they will be under the snow.

 

It bugs me when cacher after cacher just leave a coin or bug in a cache. TNLN. TNLN. Why?!?! Move it!

[+opalsns]

A cacher can return to any cache,

Anytime,

As Many times as they want ,

to move travelers.

 

Maybe this will help to get more movement.

 

Opalsns

[+tom4props]

There are several possible reasons that caches have coins listed in them, that are no longer there.

1. The coin has been picked up by a traveling cacher who hasn't had a chance to log it yet.
   
2. The coin has been taken by someone who intends to keep it (could be due to theft or ignorance).
   
3. The coin has been moved to another cache and never logged (there do seem to be a number of cachers out there who move 'em but don't care to take the time to log 'em).
   
4. The cache itself has gone missing and since been replaced (in which case the cache owner should have marked the coin "missing").
   
5. The coin has accidentally been dropped or fallen from the cache unnoticed.
   

As far as Coins getting stuck in caches and never picked up... I think there may be a growing occurance of stress to cachers dropping coins off in caches. They feel guilty if the coin they moved gets lost or stolen and therefore are reluctant to pick it up in the first place.

[+JoenGPS]

My caches have geocoins in them. Nobody wants to pick them up. Pretty soon they will be under the snow.

 

It bugs me when cacher after cacher just leave a coin or bug in a cache. TNLN. TNLN. Why?!?! Move it!

 

We are with you ...we have caching friends that "log (discover)" travel bugs......and leave them in the cache. The most absurd thing we ever saw......!!!! What the heck is the point ....you "SAW" that many TB's...? It drives us crazy!

[+ThePetersTrio]

My caches have geocoins in them. Nobody wants to pick them up. Pretty soon they will be under the snow.

 

It bugs me when cacher after cacher just leave a coin or bug in a cache. TNLN. TNLN. Why?!?! Move it!

 

We are with you ...we have caching friends that "log (discover)" travel bugs......and leave them in the cache. The most absurd thing we ever saw......!!!! What the heck is the point ....you "SAW" that many TB's...? It drives us crazy!

 

It used to drive me crazy too.

 

But then as I started having more of my own coins to release, I began discovering more than moving just to keep everything straight.

 

I think a lot of people don't know what to do with them so they ignore them OR the mission isn't explicitly stated on a tag with the coin so people aren't sure if they can move them in the right direction so they leave them be.

 

Then there are those who just feel bad when they move a coin or bug and it winds up getting stolen...so they don't want that to happen again.

 

It is too bad when the actions of a few (thieves) spoil the fun for the many.

[+Droo]

My caches have geocoins in them. Nobody wants to pick them up. Pretty soon they will be under the snow.

Hehehe.... reminds me of coin I thought was lost. A year later the cache was found ... and my coin was moved!! A lazarus coin.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

My caches have geocoins in them. Nobody wants to pick them up. Pretty soon they will be under the snow.

When you say Pretty Soon...you mean like in Five Minutes, Right??

[+seekerfamily]

We have visited many caches that had coins listed to find there were no coins in the cache. It can be very frustrating. But we have also had coins move all over the country - Murphyrulez just picked up one of our coins last week and brought it from Orlando, FL to Michigan. And Mainefamily - if you want to send any coins our way the weather here is great - 75 degrees today.

Seekerfamily

[+tachoknight]

I'd like to add to this discussion with a question...what does everyone think of revisiting a cache for the sole purpose of taking some coins/TBs with the intention to move? For example, we're driving east to New York in a couple of weeks, and I'd love to add a lot of miles to anything that wants to come along.

 

That said, I currently don't have a big stash to come with me. I was thinking of revisiting a local TB hotel and grabbing a bunch, throwing 'em in the swag bag, and dropping some off along the way and then dropping the rest around the NY area....none of them would be making a return trip. Likewise, I'd like to grab a bunch there for the opposite journey. As it's been said, people want to see their trackables moved, but I wouldn't want to be accused of spoiling the fun for other cachers who might want to do likewise.

 

I personally love the TB/coin aspect of geocaching, and while some of it is the craftsmanship of the coin, or the cleverness of the TB, the biggest thrill is holding something that has been in the hands of so many other people, in so many other places. In this regard I go out of my way to go for caches that report to have TBs and coins because I want to move 'em on. I just don't want to tick anyone off in the process.

[+Droo]

I'd like to add to this discussion with a question...what does everyone think of revisiting a cache for the sole purpose of taking some coins/TBs with the intention to move? For example, we're driving east to New York in a couple of weeks, and I'd love to add a lot of miles to anything that wants to come along.

 

... As it's been said, people want to see their trackables moved, but I wouldn't want to be accused of spoiling the fun for other cachers who might want to do likewise.

 

That's the key right there.... just move them baby.

 

On a side note if you're going in the opposite direction than their mission calls for it's probably bad form but..... if you're in the field and maybe on vacation or traveling how on earth are you to find out about their mission until you go to log your grab? I think the fun is in seeing how crooked a line a bug/coin takes to make the journey.... straight or beelines are boring.

 

Anecdote.... I had a coin in the NW and had changed the mission to include that it make the pilgrimage to the APE cache, the Lilypad and the Original Stash Cache and just as it was making it's way to Snoqualmie Pass and mere millimeters on the map from the APE it gets grabbed and brought down to Los Angeles... a couple of hours from where it's journey started. It is said the Fates have a strange sense of humour.

[+seekerfamily]

I'd like to add to this discussion with a question...what does everyone think of revisiting a cache for the sole purpose of taking some coins/TBs with the intention to move? For example, we're driving east to New York in a couple of weeks, and I'd love to add a lot of miles to anything that wants to come along.

 

That said, I currently don't have a big stash to come with me. I was thinking of revisiting a local TB hotel and grabbing a bunch, throwing 'em in the swag bag, and dropping some off along the way and then dropping the rest around the NY area....none of them would be making a return trip. Likewise, I'd like to grab a bunch there for the opposite journey. As it's been said, people want to see their trackables moved, but I wouldn't want to be accused of spoiling the fun for other cachers who might want to do likewise.

 

I personally love the TB/coin aspect of geocaching, and while some of it is the craftsmanship of the coin, or the cleverness of the TB, the biggest thrill is holding something that has been in the hands of so many other people, in so many other places. In this regard I go out of my way to go for caches that report to have TBs and coins because I want to move 'em on. I just don't want to tick anyone off in the process.

 

We do this all the time. The coins are great and we try to move them along. We have a lot of coins that travel from one cache to another in this general area so it is good to get them somewhere else - out of state and get some new coins into this area. We like to see ours move and like to move others

 

We collect the icons not the coins.

[Maine Family]

My caches have geocoins in them. Nobody wants to pick them up. Pretty soon they will be under the snow.

When you say Pretty Soon...you mean like in Five Minutes, Right??

Well some are all ready under snow, Some are still high enough. Could be Five Minutes before even the high ones are under snow. One good thing about it, they will still be there come spring but you never know when spring will arrive.

[+usyoopers]

This has been happening for years. I myself have had nearly 170 geocoins go missing. I chalk it up to people stealing them, newbies taking them and thinking they're to keep, geocoins being at the bottom of your geocaching bag, or suitcase, or under your car seats, etc.

 

But I've also had geocoins reappear after over a year of being missing.

 

After reading this thread and another similar one I decided to go through our list of travelers and see what was going on with them. We must have 250ish traveling so it took awhile to go through them. I didn't keep track of how many I ended up marking as missing from caches....probably 20-25. I emailed cachers who had had a TB/Geocoin of ours in their possesion for 2 1/2 months or longer....31 emails. I have heard back from 4. 2 have already gotten the coin back into circulation, the other 2 said they will very soon. It is very frustrating not to get any feedback from the other 27....I guess that is just the chances you take.

[+Team Idasam]

There have been coins and TB's missing in my area too, a lot. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've gone to a cache expecting to be rewarded with a trackable, only to have it gone. I've noticed an influx of new cachers too. I see so many logs that saying that they grabbed the TB, or coin and they never log it. I wonder if they know how.

[Maine Family]

Something I have been thinking about doing is a little card like the you have found a geocache that tells about geocaching. The card would be on trackables and how they work. A lot of caches have a plastic bag marked trackables and putting the card in the bag might help the new cachers. Haven't got any made though.

[+Minimike2]

Adding a GeocoinBuddy card to the coin might help.

[+Droo]

Something I have been thinking about doing is a little card like the you have found a geocache that tells about geocaching. The card would be on trackables and how they work. A lot of caches have a plastic bag marked trackables and putting the card in the bag might help the new cachers. Haven't got any made though.

It doesn't hurt but it doesn't really help much either. I've sent coins out with and without.... same result. Basically it comes down to peace of mind. If it helps you feel you've done all you can to preserve your traveler then there is no guilt when things veer off the beaten path.

 

Here's an approach I've taken... with a larger version of the outside tag. Inside is another tag that's a printout of the mission statement sized to fit the coinflip.

Edited December 12, 2009 by Droo

[+DJ.J.ROCK]

i have a tb that had a sylvester the cat cacher on it, someone took him off and left the tags,, a few finds later someone else was nice enuff to put a spaceship on it,, now i get messages all the time saying sylvester is gone and theres a space ship,, i chuckel amost every time.

i had my TWR coins only got a few caches befor they were snagged. then reapeard awhile ago and then got snagged again, now i think only 1 is left and come to think of it i havent herd from it for awhile....hummm off to go check.