geocoin theft

[waister]

In the past year Three of my trackable geocoins have gone missing. I am very disappointed with this and just class it as stealing by some people who do not follow the rules of logging trackables.I now no longer put trackable coins out in the field just for someone to take and my interest in the activity of geocaching has being greatly reduced and I now spend very little time following an activity that I enjoyed before.I'm sure most people who buy trackable coins to put out in the field expect them to travel around giving other people pleasure in finding them and NOT to end up in someones "collection "

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

With all due respect, you are losing interest in geocaching because you have lost somewhere in the range of $30.00 on the activity?

Is that not worth the rest of the fun, activity and whatever else you have gotten out of it in the past 12 months?

 

If trackables are causing you grief though, it's just a small part of the game. I would suggest that you focus on another aspect of the game - there's plenty of other things to keep everybody interested.

[+slowdownracer]

You have to release your trackables with the attitude that nobody may ever see them again except the idiot who doesn't play fair and keeps them.

 

The happiness comes from the surprise over the trackables you release that do travel far and well, and the joy it brings to those who find them and do play fairly.

 

My first signature line below says it all.

Edited March 4, 2013 by slowdownracer

[+nevadanick]

In the past year Three of my trackable geocoins have gone missing. I am very disappointed with this and just class it as stealing by some people who do not follow the rules of logging trackables.I now no longer put trackable coins out in the field just for someone to take and my interest in the activity of geocaching has being greatly reduced and I now spend very little time following an activity that I enjoyed before. I'm sure most people who buy trackable coins to put out in the field expect them to travel around giving other people pleasure in finding them and NOT to end up in someones "collection "

 

Not really 'most'. Truth is that 'most' understand that releasing a coin into the wild is high risk. Read through many threads here and folks are very willing to remind all trackables addicts that you NEVER put anything into the wild that you are not willing to lose. MISS IT? Of course.

 

Missing coins and trackables are also one of the main reasons for the creation and utilization of 'proxy' coins/tags.

[waister]

Ok fair comments but still like to think that most people would play the "game" with trackables but if everyone thought of "putting things in the wild and be willing to lose them" was the done thing then there would be a sharp decrease in coins put out .

[+EXMAN]

Send out PROXYS of your coins.

[+nevadanick]

Ok fair comments but still like to think that most people would play the "game" with trackables but if everyone thought of "putting things in the wild and be willing to lose them" was the done thing then there would be a sharp decrease in coins put out .

 

While I don't have worldwide stats to back it up, based on the nearly 200 caches I own and the others in our area I monitor, there HAS been a decrease in the number of actual 'coins' being released and/or recorded passing through our caches. I would guess, largely due to the increase in availability of proxy tags, copy tags being sold with geocoins and the increase in 'travel tags' and 'travel bugs' at the reduced cost being well under that of any standard sized geocoin.

 

Another solution is to drill one (or more) holes in the coin before releasing it. Seriously downgrades the value of the coin itself and makes it less desirable to any potential coin thief. It does allow the coin to continue in circulation longer than it might otherwise with an understandable 'defect'.

 

How a coin is presented for travel can also affect it's future. When my SO/geo-partner puts her coins or tags out to travel, they all have laminated mission tags attached and start their mission in a ziplock baggie. Any actual geocoin is also in a coin flip-sleeve and is attached to the mission card. She has, over the past 2 years, kept a large portion of her travelers active. It also helps that we monitor all notices received about the items and follow-up when a potential problem is detected. It doesn't happen without extra effort on the part of the coin owner.

 

We're always bummed when something goes MIA, but that too is part of the game we play. A game that for many folks is totally 'free' to play, has no penalties for misconduct or failing interest in playing the game.

[+armadillogal]

I feel your pain. I had a trackable that was supposed to go to Japan and the cacher's whole pack was stolen so no doubt I will never hear of it again.

[+nevadanick]

I feel your pain. I had a trackable that was supposed to go to Japan and the cacher's whole pack was stolen so no doubt I will never hear of it again.

 

The ones that count for the coin owners are the real success stories ... and they DO happen. Late last year we were able to pick up a coin for some cacher-friends from a cache nearby us and return it to them. It had made it's destination in the Orient and returned, as requested. Logged over 25,000 miles doing it as I recall.

[+EXMAN]

I feel your pain. I had a trackable that was supposed to go to Japan and the cacher's whole pack was stolen so no doubt I will never hear of it again.

 

The ones that count for the coin owners are the real success stories ... and they DO happen. Late last year we were able to pick up a coin for some cacher-friends from a cache nearby us and return it to them. It had made it's destination in the Orient and returned, as requested. Logged over 25,000 miles doing it as I recall.

 

BUT....... a coin that survives a month is a rarity anymore.

[+Doctor A]

For the msot part, the people I have met through geocaching have been decent people. But not everyone is. I sometimes think it's rather pollyanna-ish when people think that all geocachers are "good people" and there are no "bad eggs". Look at places that supposedly weed out the bad eggs, things like police officers- they're tested and evaluated and put through screenings that supposedly weed out the bad guys, but still some bad guys slip through. Geocaching requires no such screening. So if you assume there are probably X% of bad people who will steal things in the world, then assume there is that same X% among geocachers.

 

There was something I read one time that was published about geocaching and from my memory, there was a description about a woman who was travelling to a new area and basically connected with some man through gc.com and he picked her up at the airport and took her out caching for the day because she wanted to go caching there. And the comment was made that of course she knew he was a decent person (or some similar verbage) because he was a geocacher! I was appalled when I read that!

 

Sadly, there are no admission criteria to this activity, so just as at your work there are going to be jerks who are coworkers, and even worse than jerks, there are also going to be people who cache who are jerks/thieves, etc.

 

So as others have said, if you choose to release trackables, then do so with the expectation they'll go missing. Or as FSM said, focus on the parts of the activity that aren't frustrating. Like many others, I stopped releasing trackables a long time ago for this very reason- it wasn't worth the annoyance!

 

Sorry to be negative, and it's sure not directed at you- I truly hope that you can find enjoyable things about geocaching and continue to participate.

[+raistlin306]

It is a shame that Geocoins go missing, I have a small collection, and I haven't released any yet, if I were independently wealthy, I'd just get doubles of everything, but that is not the case. One day I might send one out, but that day hasn't come yet. I have found many geocoins and I would never consider keeping them, I know how I would feel if some one kept mine. Its always cool to move them on to caches, though I admit, its tough to let them go, but I always do. I look back on my list of geocoins I've helped move on and I like to track their progress. If only all geocachers were honest, but the law of averages says you always have some bad apples. Don't let this discourage you from the game, I still love finding micros with just logs as well as the big ones loaded with swag. I've been with some geocachers with thousands of finds, and you just notice that the whole swag trade isn't as important to them as the chase itself and discovering new places and people.