When geocoins go missing...

January 4, 2011

The travel bug thread is almost full of threads about TBs going missing, but we never hear about coins going missing, does anyone have any stories about them going missing or coming back?

January 4, 2011

The travel bug thread is almost full of threads about TBs going missing, but we never hear about coins going missing, does anyone have any stories about them going missing or coming back?

I've seen lots of stories here about coins going missing and coin theft (there are people out there who collect travelling coins).

I currently have 31 coins that are known to be lost/missing or whose last travel log was in 2007. The number would be significantly higher if I counted the coins that were last logged in 2008 as I released more in 2008.

However, I have had coins that I've actually labelled as lost/missing that have been found. In one case, a coin that was lost for a year and a half suddenly reappeared with a note from the cacher who said they were selling their car, had decided to clean it out, and found the coin wedged under the back seat.

Another time a cacher logged a lost coin by saying that they found it on a forest floor while searching for a cache that they never found.

They do reappear from time to time, but they go missing way too often.

I still have coins that I will be releasing over the course of the next few years, but I've stopped buying them the way that I used to. They're too expensive to be putting them in someone else's collection or to be lost so easily.

January 4, 2011

I think the main reason that people aren't complaining about geocoins going missing is that few people put them out any more. It's rare for me to discover one in a cache that lists a geocoin as being there. With many geocoins fetching $10 or $20 on ebay, it's too much temptation for most people.

3.6k · January 4, 2011

That coins go missing is a fact of life over here on the Geocoin Forums. It didn't used to be so bad but it is deterring a good many people from releasing them anymore after they've already dumped hundreds (or thousands in a few cases) of dollars worth of geocoins in the wilds. Some turn back up but not enough to make it seem like the disappearances are the exception not the norm. Reasons are many and varied but they originally disappeared when caches got muggled but now it seems to be ignorance, forgetfulness and sometimes willfulness on the part of cachers ... and caches getting muggled.

3.1k · January 4, 2011

I've read many, many stories in here about geocoins going missing. It is really annoying that it happens, and a real shame.

Quite a few of mine have gone missing: caches muggled, cachers picked up and then never dropped (have a couple like this at moment which I am hoping might be dropped again soon...), dropped into caches that never get published;

I have had a couple resurface after long periods of time too, but they are far and few between.

Exceptional MIAs would be:-

* the cacher who took a large number of geocoins at the starting event for a geocoin race and then "apparently" dropped them in random caches on his way home and then mis-logged all the drops he made - my coin was never seen again after he got his hands on them

* sitting on a sunken boat in thousands of feet of water off the coast of Antarctica (someone was going to drop a new geocoin of mine off in cache in Antarctic but the boat he was on sunk!)

I have to say, I really think twice about letting geocoins go to the US now given that is were nearly all of mine have gone missing - but then that is where most of mine are. Europe seems to be reasonably safe, not had any go missing there.

3.6k · January 4, 2011

...

I have to say, I really think twice about letting geocoins go to the US now given that is were nearly all of mine have gone missing - but then that is where most of mine are. Europe seems to be reasonably safe, not had any go missing there.

Heehee.... I had one that was moving quietly in the US and then was flown to the UK for a few stops, whisked to NZ for another couple of stops (different cachers, mind you) and then back to EU only to be lost at Frankfurt airport in a darned TB Hotel. Argh, TB Hotels at airports are just a dumping ground for coins and a beacon for coin thieves and muggles and should be BANNED!!

2.1k · January 4, 2011

I had a geocoin in a cache along the upper Mississippi River when the area had a huge flood many years ago. 2 years later the cache that it was in was found downstream by a cacher looking for another cache. He actually used by coins log to determine whose cache he had found that belong way upstream. It had traveled 100 or so miles if I remember correctly.

1.4k · January 4, 2011

I think twice about releasing in the US too... Lol. I think that the quick expansion of the game as of late has led to an abundance of absentee coins. The real question is, what is inherently different about EU cachers that coins don't disappear as frequently?

2.3k · January 4, 2011

I bought a couple coins. Two of the same with the intent to release one and keep the other. I also have some TB's out there. My thought is that realistically I will never ever be seeing these items again. Sure there's the off chance that it may come back here. Or that I might run across a cache that it's in but all in all once I release them into the wild they are released. With that mind I don't invest a lot of money into these things and I don't emotionally attached to them. Because the minute they leave me they're gone.

I like to find coins or proxies in caches. I like to see where mine travel. I want to contribute to the traveling items in caches so other people potentially may find one. Why buy it if I'm not going to use it for what it's meant to be used for? I'm not going to dump hundreds out there. But my small handful is a contribution.

January 4, 2011

I've read many, many stories in here about geocoins going missing. It is really annoying that it happens, and a real shame.

Quite a few of mine have gone missing: caches muggled, cachers picked up and then never dropped (have a couple like this at moment which I am hoping might be dropped again soon...), dropped into caches that never get published;

I have had a couple resurface after long periods of time too, but they are far and few between.

Exceptional MIAs would be:-

* the cacher who took a large number of geocoins at the starting event for a geocoin race and then "apparently" dropped them in random caches on his way home and then mis-logged all the drops he made - my coin was never seen again after he got his hands on them

* sitting on a sunken boat in thousands of feet of water off the coast of Antarctica (someone was going to drop a new geocoin of mine off in cache in Antarctic but the boat he was on sunk!)

I have to say, I really think twice about letting geocoins go to the US now given that is were nearly all of mine have gone missing - but then that is where most of mine are. Europe seems to be reasonably safe, not had any go missing there.

Haha, in a sunken boat at the bottum of the sea :') did make me laugh, seems like they do go missong a lot, although i do like the expresion, once you let them go never expect to see them again, that's a good way of thinking about it

January 5, 2011

It's really too bad that these moral less people take them for collections and not to move on. I am new to the sport but the coins and TBs was one of the biggest draws and my kids especially love finding them. If there are none to find and everyone is too afraid to drop them because they will disappear then a big part of the fun will disappear as well.

1.2k · January 5, 2011

Thanks for the nice stories!

My view is similar to Chokecherry's. It's fun to find trackables, and to see people enjoy finding mine. But you need to be ready to lose them...

There are sooo many beautiful coins! But if I bought lots of them without releasing them, they would just be sitting in a pile on my desk - as I haven't been brave enough to attend any events yet.

So far, I have focused on buying nice, affordable coins that I can manage to part with. I try sending them out on interesting missions that people will enjoy helping out with.

But... I guess I will soon own a few coins that I absolutely love, to keep for myself.

January 5, 2011

I can attest to coins going missing, I placed one of my Medicine wheel geocoins(minus feathers to make it less collectible)in a cache in Northern Door County, WI and it never moved from that cache, it simply disappeared. I do not know if it was muggled though there is not a cache listing saying it was or if a cacher picked it up thinking it was swag and did not realize that there is a tracking number on it, or what happened to it, I can only hope that it reappears at some point.

January 7, 2011

After seeing all the photos of all the geocoin collections in this forum - it's pretty obvious - people are simply collecting them - I guess they've become collectibles with all the other goofy collectibles in America. When I see one of my coins go for awhile without circulation, I look to see whose hands it's in and I send them a message to please put it back in circulation. No one ever does and no one ever replies. So much for cacher ethics. It's aggravating to realize all that money was wasted on coins, but then on the other hand, what is it we do with caches? We gift each other. But I'll not become a collector. The solution is what we are seeing often from our comrades who've run into the same problem - buy the coin, copy or digitally photo it, high-quality, color, double-sided, laminate it, send that out and keep the coin as the master. Wait, that makes me a collector, hmmm? Collecting your own stuff. So that's where family antiques come from...

3.4k · January 7, 2011

After seeing all the photos of all the geocoin collections in this forum - it's pretty obvious - people are simply collecting them - I guess they've become collectibles with all the other goofy collectibles in America. When I see one of my coins go for awhile without circulation, I look to see whose hands it's in and I send them a message to please put it back in circulation. No one ever does and no one ever replies. So much for cacher ethics. It's aggravating to realize all that money was wasted on coins, but then on the other hand, what is it we do with caches? We gift each other. But I'll not become a collector. The solution is what we are seeing often from our comrades who've run into the same problem - buy the coin, copy or digitally photo it, high-quality, color, double-sided, laminate it, send that out and keep the coin as the master. Wait, that makes me a collector, hmmm? Collecting your own stuff. So that's where family antiques come from...

exactly. be careful though, coin "not-collecting-just-having" becomes expensive and addictive. but a lot of fun. the joy of a coin in the mail is quite infectious!

rsg

January 23, 2011

We are pretty new to Geocaching and our young lad is enjoying every minute of it, which is terrific.

However, he is now really keen on getting out a Travel Bug or Geocoin, but, having come across 4 caches in our local area that are supposed to have trackables in them that are not in the cache and appear to have become missing in action almost as soon as they are placed, does nothing for our confidence.

Our young lad would really like to set a mission for the trackable and then follow it's adventures online, but to put one out there knowing the chance of it even completing the first step of the mission are pretty slim, doesn't exactly tickle our fancy.

I guess, in theory, it would be nice to simply vanquish the emotional ties, but surely that is not what it was all about when Geocaching trackables were conceived, so we hope, when we give in and let the lad set one loose, the folk that for whatever reason don't or can't move the trackable, leave it in the cache and allow someone who can keep it travelling, do just that.

3.1k · January 23, 2011

We are pretty new to Geocaching and our young lad is enjoying every minute of it, which is terrific.

However, he is now really keen on getting out a Travel Bug or Geocoin, but, having come across 4 caches in our local area that are supposed to have trackables in them that are not in the cache and appear to have become missing in action almost as soon as they are placed, does nothing for our confidence.

Our young lad would really like to set a mission for the trackable and then follow it's adventures online, but to put one out there knowing the chance of it even completing the first step of the mission are pretty slim, doesn't exactly tickle our fancy.

I guess, in theory, it would be nice to simply vanquish the emotional ties, but surely that is not what it was all about when Geocaching trackables were conceived, so we hope, when we give in and let the lad set one loose, the folk that for whatever reason don't or can't move the trackable, leave it in the cache and allow someone who can keep it travelling, do just that.

Start with a travel bug as it is not likely to be "collected" for someones collections and will hopefully just keep traveling.

January 23, 2011

I know many people object to proxies, but when I spend about $10 apiece on a coin, I figure, a proxy is fine to send out in the wild. A group meets for coffee every week so I take the original to coffee so anyone from the group can discover the original, but it's a laminated color photo that is attached to a description tag that then goes out into the wild.

22k · January 24, 2011

I know many people object to proxies, but when I spend about $10 apiece on a coin, I figure, a proxy is fine to send out in the wild. A group meets for coffee every week so I take the original to coffee so anyone from the group can discover the original, but it's a laminated color photo that is attached to a description tag that then goes out into the wild.

What are you releasing, a coin or a traveler?

January 25, 2011

Tonight I sent 10 emails to people who have held on to my geocoins for more than 2 months, this only seems to happen with my coins, not my tb's or trackable traveler tags. I expect I may see 2 or 3 of these return to caches, the rest, people have picked them up and seem to have quit geocaching.

I learned early on, if you release a traveler, say good bye because there is a very high probability will never see it again.

January 25, 2011

I figure it is only a matter of time before some of these start turning up at garage sales, as people who aren't into the hobby/sport start clearing out 'stuff' they've amassed. I'd love to find find a box of these, look them up and return/release them. It is too bad so many people get the finders keepers bug.

January 26, 2011

Heh!

I figure it is only a matter of time before some of these start turning up at garage sales, as people who aren't into the hobby/sport start clearing out 'stuff' they've amassed.

That's already happened! A geocoin of ours was found at a yard sale about a year ago :lol: The folks who found it were cachers, so they bought it and put it back in the wild when they looked it up and saw that it was already registered. I can't remember which one it was, unfortunately. We have over a thousand, released or in our collection (all paid for, traded for, or won at raffles), so going through them all would take days. Still, anything is possible. What's interesting about that is that, if memory serves, the yard sale was many miles from the cache that the coin was last in. It might even have been in a different state.

I'd love to find find a box of these, look them up and return/release them. It is too bad so many people get the finders keepers bug.

That would be very cool One of the neatest things for us is to Find a cache that has a traveler in it which is not logged into the cache, and which has been months since the last log. It's happened two or three times, at least. It's a rare month not to have something like that happen to one of our travelers.

Edited January 26, 2011 by chaosmanor

January 26, 2011

Respect for other people's property?

I think twice about releasing in the US too... Lol. I think that the quick expansion of the game as of late has led to an abundance of absentee coins. The real question is, what is inherently different about EU cachers that coins don't disappear as frequently?

Courtesy? Consideration? I dunno, but the fact is that very few of our travelers disappear in Europe, or in Asia, for that matter, but they have a tendency to vanish in North America. Canada is not immune. I have my opinions as to why this is, but I think I'll keep my thoughts to myself, as this isn't the place to air them.

I don't know about Mexico and points south, as I think we've only had one or two travelers go that way. I know that one of them made it out of Baja California Norte safely.

Edited January 26, 2011 by chaosmanor

February 13, 2011

A little advice please. I had two items listed in my inventory, a tb and a geocoin. When reporting the tb drop I accidently chose the wrong item to drop. In stead of the TB I clicked on the geocoin and it dropped into the cache. A fellow cacher (who found the same cache 10 minutes after I did called me and indicated that he did not see the geocoin in the cache. I told him I did not leave a geocoin in the cache and he said for me to check the cache. I did and there it was staring me in the face. He indicated it would be easy to "find it" again and put it back in my inventory. Here is the problem, I have lost the coin. Seriously, my wife and I have looked everywhere. I have stepped back in time to when I last had it in my hand and narrowed it down to a active restaurant when I was showing some of my students the coin and talking about geocaching. I know they gave it back to me but I must have left it on the table. After talking to the restaurant owner and to the waitress to no avail, I am at a loss as to what to do next. I did not take a photo of the coin as I placed it in my inventory so I do not know the serial number stamped on the coin. Sure you can find the tracking number but that will not help you pull it back into your possession. I usually keep them until I can get out then send them on their way in another cache. No I do not have a collection and after reading the threads above I most likely will not have one. I just want to get the coin out of the cache inventory until I exhaust all avenues. Hopefully, I will find the coin in the back seat of the car like the thread above mentions but for now that looks unfavorable. I have written the coin owners with an explanation and hope they would reply but both are retired and have not kept up with the game. It seems their last cache was two years ago so they must have discontinued the hunt or have other issues that prohibit continuance. Any positive comments are welcome.

8.6k · February 13, 2011

It's possible your pc might have cached the tracking number for the geocoin in its vast brain... you might be able to retrieve it - my pc seems to remember the last 8 tracking numbers that I've typed into the box.

It's worth trying anyway...

Go back to the geocoin's home page, go to 'Add a log entry', then click your cursor in the Tracking Code box - see if any previous tracking numbers appear. If you're lucky you just might get it back.

If that doesn't work, try sending an email to the cache owner and explain what's happened. The cache owner is able to remove the geocoin from their cache's inventory by marking it as Missing.

MrsB

February 14, 2011

someone logged mine as found and it's been 8 months and they haven't placed it I could understand if it was in winter but they logged it as found in the middle of summer so they had a couple months to place it before winter

Edited February 14, 2011 by mountain_biker14

22k · February 14, 2011

someone logged mine as found and it's been 8 months and they haven't placed it I could understand if it was in winter but they logged it as found in the middle of summer so they had a couple months to place it before winter

Something they failed to tell you when you bought your coin. - Never release anything into the wild that you are not willing to lose.

bd

Edited February 14, 2011 by BlueDeuce

February 15, 2011

I found this coin a few days ago:

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=7b988f15-4ddd-487e-92f8-04fa641476c9

08/08/2009 thegr8simondo placed it in Stuck up the Inlet United Kingdom - 6.73 km Visit Log

05/29/2010 Kriyacacher posted a note for it Visit Log

Not in Stuck up the Inlet. I assume lost.

I make that 17 months missing, and I retrieved it last week from a cache created just 6 weeks ago, about 2 miles from "stuck up the inlet". No-one has admitted to moving it, but it goes to show that coins can return.

Edited February 15, 2011 by lifechooser

February 15, 2011

It's possible your pc might have cached the tracking number for the geocoin in its vast brain... you might be able to retrieve it - my pc seems to remember the last 8 tracking numbers that I've typed into the box.

It's worth trying anyway...

Go back to the geocoin's home page, go to 'Add a log entry', then click your cursor in the Tracking Code box - see if any previous tracking numbers appear. If you're lucky you just might get it back.

If that doesn't work, try sending an email to the cache owner and explain what's happened. The cache owner is able to remove the geocoin from their cache's inventory by marking it as Missing.

MrsB

February 15, 2011

Thank you for the tip. I tried and because I had entered other information the PC cache information went through the last five. Wouldn't you know it -- it was probable number 6 in the list. Oh well I did send a note to the owner and our state reviewer. They did not answer but the state reviewer marked it as missing.

Thanks again.

M

February 15, 2011

someone logged mine as found and it's been 8 months and they haven't placed it I could understand if it was in winter but they logged it as found in the middle of summer so they had a couple months to place it before winter

Something they failed to tell you when you bought your coin. - Never release anything into the wild that you are not willing to lose.

bd

February 15, 2011

Very good advice..I have lost a coin on it's second move.

February 16, 2011

Recently, I had a conversation with my wife about Geocoins. She's fine with my wanting to collect coins, but she also reminded me there are others out there who enjoy finding the coin.

And I can completely identify with RasCar66 - I know what it's like to take my son to a cache, thinking there might be a coin, only to find it isn't there. One thing we have stopped saying is "oh, it's been muggled". Now, we talk about "Lex Luthor". Who is Lex? He is an imaginary cacher, who watches the alerts and leaves his house when he finds out a coin has been moved. He is the king of coin thieves. But my son, WahalaKid says if he ever meets Lex, he will ask him to be nice and put all the coins back in the ammo can, he's not being very nice. (Laugh).

True, we all should remember "Never release something we're not ready to say goodbye to". Which for me, is "Truth 01".

Truth 02 - "Everyone enjoys geocaching, and everyone enjoys it for diferent reasons."

(Some are coin/TB hunters, some just want to collect icons, others want the numbers, and some want to see new places)

Truth 03 - "I won't dictate how someone else chooses to enjoy the game"

(If I buy coins and choose to release, doesn't mean everyone else should be doing the same. The only exception to Truth 03, is Lex Luthor. He's not being very nice).

Ive watched the threads and see lots of different reasons for not releasing coins. But at the end of the day, when I buy a new issue, I buy three. One for my collection, one for trading, and one for releasing. Something I will be planning on doing different - when I release a coin, I am going to give it a mission for moving it to a specific cache. (I am just going to pick someone random and send them a PM, letting them know they have a coin to watch.

Alright, doing that, I will also be attaching a laminated card. Will explain this is not for collection, and that it has a specific mission. Might even try to find some art work about coin thieves (I seem to recall seeing a picture a coin designed with coin thieves in mind). Why do this? Because yes, the more the game grows, the more likely someone new will find the coin, and either think it is SWAG, or just not know what to do. As for the one who chooses to keeep the coin, I am going to add a PS - "hope your transmission drops out when you are driving to your next coin show". (Laugh). :anitongue:

And before anyone lambasts me, remember, I am not saying every coin bought should be put into play. That's a person's own choice. And yes, buying coins is expensive. But so is caching in general - money for the GPS, money for Premium membership, and most expensive ... gasoline to drive, drive and drive some more. Especially when you have to go beyond 30 or 40 miles just to spend a day caching. <_<

Ah well.. hope everyone has a great day, and may your next cache found be the one which you find something special!

DocWahala

When geocoins go missing...

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