They vanish too soon.

[+Matt_B_Good]

So I placed a new trackable in a cache with a goal sheet and a bag to protect it. Less than 4 days later another find is on the cache from someone who participates in moving trackables. it would have been great for them to grab it but when they got there the trackable is gone and nobody signed the log but the bag and goal sheet remain. This is a bad sign isn't it? i am hoping the person who grabbed it is either a former finder that didn't know enough to grab the bag and goal sheet but I fear it was simply stolen. What do you guys think? Is this a sure sign it was stolen or is it likely to show up again? it really was nothing special just a Bonobo the monkey from oak coins.

[RedShoesGirl]

So I placed a new trackable in a cache with a goal sheet and a bag to protect it. Less than 4 days later another find is on the cache from someone who participates in moving trackables. it would have been great for them to grab it but when they got there the trackable is gone and nobody signed the log but the bag and goal sheet remain. This is a bad sign isn't it? i am hoping the person who grabbed it is either a former finder that didn't know enough to grab the bag and goal sheet but I fear it was simply stolen. What do you guys think? Is this a sure sign it was stolen or is it likely to show up again? it really was nothing special just a Bonobo the monkey from oak coins.

 

welcome to the reality of putting coins in a cache. sad, but true. there is NO way i would put a coin out there to travel.

 

sorry you had this experience, but i think your coin is gone.

 

rsg

[tommytrojan360]

So I placed a new trackable in a cache with a goal sheet and a bag to protect it. Less than 4 days later another find is on the cache from someone who participates in moving trackables. it would have been great for them to grab it but when they got there the trackable is gone and nobody signed the log but the bag and goal sheet remain. This is a bad sign isn't it? i am hoping the person who grabbed it is either a former finder that didn't know enough to grab the bag and goal sheet but I fear it was simply stolen. What do you guys think? Is this a sure sign it was stolen or is it likely to show up again? it really was nothing special just a Bonobo the monkey from oak coins.

 

welcome to the reality of putting coins in a cache. sad, but true. there is NO way i would put a coin out there to travel.

 

sorry you had this experience, but i think your coin is gone.

 

rsg

 

I agree with what your saying and I hate when I see coins stolen, but isn't the point of geocoins to be placed in cache?

[RedShoesGirl]

 

I agree with what your saying and I hate when I see coins stolen, but isn't the point of geocoins to be placed in cache?

 

not any longer. in the beginning, absolutely. it isn't the placer that is at fault, but the thieves. as long as there are thieves, there is no point in releasing a coin to the wild.

 

some of them are just too valuable. if you have a $10 gold piece from the 1800s, are you going to spend it because that was what it's original intent was? well, maybe you would, but honey, not me!

 

rsg

[+ThePetersTrio]

If you want to see your coins travel, I suggest you take advantage of the World Release Register and start them outside of the USA.

 

I've had pretty good luck with my coins traveling in Canada and in Europe (for the most part). It seems that cachers there tend to take better care of travelers. I'm not really sure why but that is my experience.

[+Droo]

 

I agree with what your saying and I hate when I see coins stolen, but isn't the point of geocoins to be placed in cache?

 

I think you've missed the point. Geocoins were meant to be placed in caches to be moved and tracked from cache to cache not to line some low life's souvenir chest. I still treasure the half dozen coins I still have traveling out of the dozens upon dozens I've released but I no longer drop my coins in caches so someone with entitlement issues can steal it. Oh yeah..... grrrrrrrrr!

 

Edit to add: oh, and to the original point of the thread.... yeah, I'd say someone took the goods and left the wrappers behind (couldn't even dispose of the trash properly).

Edited May 28, 2010 by Droo

[kdlutz41]

Yeah, my very first cache I set out I put a "gold ingot" in and it was picked up and that was the last I have heard of it...but I have sent out others, one to Australia, I enjoyed watching it's travel from one side of the country to the other....I believe it is now gone missing....but it was so worth the pictures...and the joy other people had with finding it and taking it with them....I still send out geocoins.....the Fallen Heroes was the last I sent out...

[+Matt_B_Good]

Why in the world would anyone steal a Bonobo Monkey that is activated? I mean if they go to sell it someone can just look up who owns it and they can't really show it to people other than those that also are thieves. hopefully whoever stole it is dumb enough to share it and others put a discovered note on it. Then I can message them and tell them it is mine. Do they not realize that as the owner of the trackable you forever have the tracking number. i hope this jerk tries to sell it to me. You know what i am going to check e-bay they might just be dumb enough to put it up for sale. All in all i hope whoever took it really just neglected to take the bag and goal sheet and just didn't get around to logging it yet. That is the best case scenario.

[+Reddragon421]

Why in the world would anyone steal a Bonobo Monkey that is activated? I mean if they go to sell it someone can just look up who owns it and they can't really show it to people other than those that also are thieves. hopefully whoever stole it is dumb enough to share it and others put a discovered note on it. Then I can message them and tell them it is mine. Do they not realize that as the owner of the trackable you forever have the tracking number. i hope this jerk tries to sell it to me. You know what i am going to check e-bay they might just be dumb enough to put it up for sale. All in all i hope whoever took it really just neglected to take the bag and goal sheet and just didn't get around to logging it yet. That is the best case scenario.

 

There are actually idiots who put up activated coins and TBs on eBay. I bought a lot of swag on eBay and it came with a coin and a bug! Contacted the owners to see about adoption and they asked me to send them back into the wild. I did. The coin is gone again; the bug was at least picked up and logged by someone.

 

Went to all the caches in my area of Indiana to locate all trvelers to move them to Louisville this weekend and I only found 2 out of 12 in area! TWO! I noticed a bunch of signed logs by people either not registered. You know those are gone! What are the chances of making all caches that can hold trackables "premium member-only" caches automatically?

 

I'm trying my first TB next week. It will have a specific goal of getting to a specific cache in Portland, OR. It's a birthday present for my BiL. I'm hoping TBs have better luck escaping theives than do coins!

[+wolfslady]

I think if we all drill a small hole in our coins that travel to attach a tag or something it will make them less likely to be stolen. Lets face it many of the people who steal them are likely showing them off. And it would look odd if someone had a bunch with holes drilled in them. As long as it's the norm to not activate all coins it makes it easy for someone to show off stolen coins by just saying you can't discover them because they aren't activated. So in effect the higher market for unactivated coins feeds the problem of missing travelers. I was wondering what would happen if all coins were activated by default. I mean really the idea that a coin is new because it hasn't be activated is silly. You could have 1 that has been sitting on a shelf since day 1 that was activated and another that traveled across the country to be shown off at events and the second 1 is worth more? But as long as that isn't going to happen I'm thinking that the drilling is a good option. I'm sure that won't stop the problem, but it might stop some of it.

[+ZeroHecksGiven]

I just did a run from Tacoma, WA down to Redding, CA to get that elusive GPS Maze icon. I did a little under 50 caches and out of all the caches I stopped at that mentioned trackables, two actually had trackables. Including the original stash tribute plaque. I've never released coins or trackables, but I'm not starting now. What a bummer that such a cool part of geocaching has turned into this. At least there are the $3 trackables floating around these days so it's not quite the investment.

As one way to help, add into your trackable goal that you want the trackable to only go into Premium member caches.

[+anne.and.eli]

Gillianms, eli and I are heading to do the Redding, CA GPS maze on 4th of July weekend! How was it? I can't wait to check it out.

 

Umm, sorry that's a bit of a derail.

 

In other news, stealing geocoins is such a depressing thing.

[avroair]

Gillianms, eli and I are heading to do the Redding, CA GPS maze on 4th of July weekend! How was it? I can't wait to check it out.

 

Umm, sorry that's a bit of a derail.

 

In other news, stealing geocoins is such a depressing thing.

 

Stealing geocoins from caches is rampant. All it takes is one thief with a 50 mile radius to wreck havoc in an area... coins make bad travelers, there are cheaper alternatives that I find are better options like salmon tags.

[+Matt_B_Good]

Well, it turns out it was not exactly stolen. A new user who doesn't know what he is doing picked it up. i know the kid he is 13 or so. Why he left the bag it was in and the paper stating the goal is beyond me. I really wish he would have just left it alone. On the bright side I can ask if he has any more and help him log them properly.

[+wolfslady]

Glad you figured out where it was. I'm thinking of drilling any others that I release and attaching a laminated card to them in the hopes that they might do better. It's much harder to pick one up and say "oh I didn't know what I was supposed to do with it." if it has a card attached telling you what to do with it. But that won't stop someone who just wants to be a jerk. Maybe they could add a box on caches for travelers that have been marked missing from this cache. At least that way you would have a clue before you dropped another one in a one that seems to devour them. Sadly I did that with a coin that vanished when I couldn't find the one I wanted to drop it in and I randomly chose another. When I looked at the past trackables page I realized that quite a few coins had gone missing from that cache. If I ever find that happening to one of my caches I will post a note on the cache page so that people are hopefully warned before they drop anything off. Not that that will stop people. I mean there are also people who drop travelers in caches that don't get visited for months at at time. I don't get that either.

[+ZeroHecksGiven]

Gillianms, eli and I are heading to do the Redding, CA GPS maze on 4th of July weekend! How was it? I can't wait to check it out.

 

Umm, sorry that's a bit of a derail.

 

In other news, stealing geocoins is such a depressing thing.

 

It's okay. I mean, I did learn a few things, but for a seasoned cacher, it's really nothing new except the icon, lol. If you have kids or anyone with you who isn't super familiar with caching, it will be a good time and I heard some kids in the exhibit who were having a blast, yelling, "found it!" every couple of minutes...

 

Enjoy it!

[+Droo]

Well, it turns out it was not exactly stolen. A new user who doesn't know what he is doing picked it up. i know the kid he is 13 or so. Why he left the bag it was in and the paper stating the goal is beyond me. I really wish he would have just left it alone. On the bright side I can ask if he has any more and help him log them properly.

I'm happy to hear that as a pundit I was wrong.... glad your coin resurfaced. It feels good to track one down you thought was a goner and nudge it back on the road again.

[+GATOULIS]

So I placed a new trackable in a cache with a goal sheet and a bag to protect it. Less than 4 days later another find is on the cache from someone who participates in moving trackables. it would have been great for them to grab it but when they got there the trackable is gone and nobody signed the log but the bag and goal sheet remain. This is a bad sign isn't it? i am hoping the person who grabbed it is either a former finder that didn't know enough to grab the bag and goal sheet but I fear it was simply stolen. What do you guys think? Is this a sure sign it was stolen or is it likely to show up again? it really was nothing special just a Bonobo the monkey from oak coins.

 

Oh!!!! this story is so similar to the story of my geonerd traveller coin!

 

the coin was placed in a new cache and the cacher who droped it actually had the FTF of the cache! 2 - 3 others found the cache that day! the next day the cachers who found the cache.... reported that the coin was not there anymore! Someone took the coin and left the plastic flip and the paper of the coin!!!!

 

I comunicate with the cachers of the last day and only 1 didn't respond! an other cacher (I do not remember if he was the owner of the cache) took the paper and the plastic flip of the coin and hoped that when the coin will show up, to put it in the flip again....

 

I didn't know what to do! Who took the coin from a brand new cache???

 

the cache is now achived because the owner had the cache hiden in the snow and when the weather was better and the snow melt, the cache was visible! BUT.... my coin was stollen before that!!!

 

And... who actually would steal a nerd coin???

 

I have many travellers out there, and some are already lost or stollen! I also have a list of about 17-20 coins that are in the hands of a cacher or in a cache and they are not moving for more than 3 months now...

 

:D

[+javacofey]

I am new at Geocaching and I think it's a pretty cool hobby (the family do not all agree!). True to form for me when I get into something, I jump in full throttle. When I found out about the coins I was super excited to get some right away and release them into the wild.

 

Reality is, as I increase my smileys, almost every cache I have visited that says they have trackables regrettably do not. I am now hesitant to let mine go when there seems to be a disconnect on what you are supposed to do with them. I am already second guessing what I have released.

 

My question is this: One trackable I picked up had a geo tag, and instead of the coin, it was a laminated color "copy" of the coin with the tracking number clearly legible on it. The note with it said he hoped cachers understood, but he had lost too many coins so he keeps the actual ones at home. What is the opinion on the appropriateness of this practice?