Geocoins for tours/prizes

[+ByronForestPreserve]

I am salivating. Our director suggested we encourage more geocachers to visit our property, so I explained geocoins. "That sounds great! Do it!" Whoo!

 

So...I can read all of the "how-to" posts and get most of that figured out, I think, but I'm left wondering about a few things. I've seen tourism and visitor bureaus offer coins for sale if they find a certain number of caches at parks and whatnot (geotrails). Some of them seem to be for sale, and some are rewards. Do people mind that much having to buy them (for cheaper than regular coins), or would we get a much bigger response giving them out? (Maybe it depends on if we get a resale deal with the manufacturer?) Second, is there something that would make us an "official" geotrail? I see there's only one on the list for the state of Illinois, and they offer eight coins for finding caches in various parks.

 

How challenging should they be? I will be reworking the caches on our various properties this spring and could set up new caches just about any way I'd like.

 

Also...any idea what kind of response to expect? Do geotrails and/or rewards draw lots of people? Honestly I don't know if we'd get a dozen people to come out or three hundred. We're south of a decent sized city and about 2 hours west of Chicago.

 

Any comments and answers are appreciated. Thanks, all!

[+Panther&Pine]

I've done a few passport style ones, they've all had a free coin for finishing and the option to buy a differnt finish.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Non-trackable coins -- be they coins designed for geocaching; Police; Fire Departments; Military; Brotherhoods; Sisterhoods; Fraternal; as well as seemingly endless numbers of organizations, are all around. Many, if not most, are certainly collectible.

 

Being non-trackable (at geocaching.com), they needn't be an "approved" design by Groundspeak nor would they require the additional production costs of bulk tracking # purchase.

 

 

Google searches turn up many types. Don't limit your searches to the following examples:

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=challenge+coins&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=W_G_VPziOYacgwSBj4HYBA&ved=0CGgQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=887

https://www.google.com/search?q=military+coins&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=zvG_VMa-CYWoNob8g5AG&ved=0CFgQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=887

https://www.google.com/search?q=fraternal+coins&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9fG_VLLIHIKUNtyYgoAJ&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=887

[+Sivota]

Have you read this: Geocaching and GeoTours

You can mail them too with al your questions.

 

[+T.D.M.22]

In my city we've given away the other tag like things for completing a geocaching related task, and they went OK. So we are moving to actual geocoins now (paid for by a certain tourism related group. Not getting into specifics, but basically they give you a list of 10-12 caches, I can't remember the exact number. And they have a code word in them you can redeem 10 code words for a free coin.

 

As for giving away vs selling, well free is always better to the other caches, especially if the only way to get them is to complete the task, like I mentioned above. IMO if you're selling them it tales some of that sense of doing something and earning the coin away, but that also means anyone can buy them.

 

I guess the question is what do you want? To make make money? Sell the coins. To attract cachers? IMO give the coins away- especially if their paid for through a tourism group. And make sure people know about them. The benifit is you can tell the group that cachers will spend money to come do whatever they have to do. Gas money, hotel, food, shopping. If you want to know more about what the group I'm in is doing, feel free to PM me.

[+ByronForestPreserve]

Those are all great considerations, thank you. I hadn't known about the GeoTours that were partnered with Geocaching.com. That sounds like the way to go, and I see one in Illinois that isn't on the list in the forums, which is the only list I knew about.

 

I would rather give them out for free...depends on what the boss says. I gave him a very rough estimate that he seemed to be okay with. I like the idea of having a different finish for sale...that would also make a better prize for events (and FTF prizes). And I think I'd prefer trackable ones, though that's my collectible preference. I know folks bring books and books of coins to local events that can be discovered, so I think locally, that's the case, too.

 

Getting excited to scour our 2,000 acres now...

 

Oh, and I just noticed a brand new spot in the forums for GeoTrails and GeoTours. Cool.

Edited January 21, 2015 by ByronForestPreserve

[+Zepp914]

I love geotrails. I have only done 4 of them so other people may have more experience and suggestions. The trail should work for both the geocacher and the people putting the trail together. What are the goals of your trail? Is it to just bring people to your property? Do you want them to support local businesses? What is your budget? These are questions you need to ask before you start.

 

Examples:

If you have a non-profit small museum and want to increase visitors. You can simply add a few caches with code words and give out a free TB or path tag.

 

If you want people to support your local hotels and restaurants, you can make a bigger trail (12 to 25 caches), make one cache a night cache, and reward people with a really nice geocoin.

[+ByronForestPreserve]

I love geotrails. I have only done 4 of them so other people may have more experience and suggestions. The trail should work for both the geocacher and the people putting the trail together. What are the goals of your trail? Is it to just bring people to your property? Do you want them to support local businesses? What is your budget? These are questions you need to ask before you start.

 

Aside from our main site, we have five other pieces of newer property that a lot of people don't know about. To give you an idea, four of them have been open for over a year and only one cache has been placed by a local cacher between them. Just north of that (adjacent, in fact), there are 20 caches in a preserve of about the same size that belongs to another county district (one that requires permits, no less. We don't). If cachers haven't jumped on all of that open space, that tells me that our properties aren't well known at all.

 

We want to spread the word about the trails and facilities available, as well as highlight some restoration work and unique natural features. It's part of a media/PR drive the district is working on right now; geocachers are a noticeable percentage of people who visit our main site, so it makes sense to draw them in and reward them for visiting all of our property. Plus, you know, I've been talking about caching to our director for a few years and showing him all of the logs.

 

There's about ten miles between the two farthest properties, so it should make a pretty good trail and bring people to places they might otherwise not have gone. I'm thinking I'd require a dozen found with a total of 15 placed. It's also great for me, quite frankly, because it means I can spend lots of time out "in the field" placing caches while at work...who could ask for more, right? I suppose I am obligated to make them more than a Lock 'n' Lock stuck under a log, if I'm getting paid to place caches.

 

We're not working with any other local agencies or community group (and the town is pretty well saturated with caches, regardless). Our budget is probably in the area of $3,000, and that's pretty much just for coins and cache containers, plus any printed passports or log books if we want to do that. Should be plenty, I hope. Of course, we can add it to our yearly budget if it turns out we need to.

 

Again, thanks, all! I appreciate all of the responses!