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Bad luck with Geocoins


campbellag

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Ok, apart from the rather dispondent title, I have to say that as a relative newbie I have greatly enjoyed Geocaching in the last year since I got started. My problem is this: I have had very bad luck in getting Geocoins with a particular goal moved at all. I'm thinking that folks are collecting them even though I have indicated that they are not collectible. Do others have the same experience? Should I steer clear of Geocoins and stick to trackables since I seem to have better success with those? The input and wisdom of others more experienced than myself is quite welcome.

Edited by campbellag
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Well, when I first started off, I regretted not laminating a card with the info and picture of a geocoin. That way if someone lost it, stole it, or whatever...I wouldn't cry over losing a laminated card. Now, I could really care less what happens to my TB's or geocoins. Other cachers will probably have the same experience(s). Some will note that they found their geocoins being sold online! Ehhh, the few that I lost, I'm sure people added to their own little private collection. I haven't lost sleep over the losses...so...*shrugs*...don't listen to me, I'm just a neighborhood leprechaun after all.

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I have sent 150+ geocoins and 5 TB's out to travel (since 2007).

Approximately half of them are missing now.

They either went missing with the cache or from the cache and events.

A few coins are still held (hostage) by cachers who do not respond.

The ones that are missing aren't all much desired designs.

There is no way I can check, but I don't believe all trackables were stolen by other geocachers.

In my experience trackables are often dropped in caches that are not save, disappear with the whole cache, get lost in back packs or cars or sometimes are considered goodies by beginning geocachers.

 

I don't send out copy coins and I don't drill holes in my geocoins.

In my surroundings (the Netherlands) I notice TB's and tags in the (virtual) inventory of caches that aren't in the caches anymore.

Based on what I see TB's and tags are equally "fast" lost as geocoins are.

 

At first I set specific goals for my geocoins, but only one of those coins ever reached such a goal.

So now I just let them travel around the world, asking only, not to bring my trackables to events (where they tend to get lost), not to discover from lists and not to use the "visited" logs endlessly.

I'm aware that most geocachers never read the message on the trackables page.

 

I find myself a lot happier considering my trackables are lost the minute I release them to travel, so every drop in the next cache is a nice experience.

This way I'm never disappointed and I really enjoy the very few logs from geocachers who take the trouble to find a save cache in a lovely area and post pictures.

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My SO geopartner and geocoin addict has also released many geocoins and TB's. Approx 150 combined. A few coins are still traveling after several years. Most have disappeared to various reasons based on our investigations as far as we could track them. She has had much better overall success with TB's and travel tags. We did find that TB's attached to animals and cars like Hot Wheels are most likely to disappear. In many cases, as far as we could tell, families go out with Jr or SuzieQ and simply WILL NOT tell them that the trackable they found belongs to someone else and is NOT theirs to keep.

 

Items attached to TB's are now seriously disabled when we release them - holes drilled through windows and chains glued in numerous spots, wheels glued and disabled, chains glued around the necks of the animal, etc. These do seem to survive much better. The biggest percent of survivors seems to be travel tags. She also released numerous 'stunt coin' copies (from GxProxy) of geocoins that went MIA and only a few of those have survived.

 

It is best for your peace of mind to remember that you are releasing ANY trackable into the WILD. We still attach laminated mission cards, a few have reached destinations, 2 have even made the return trip to her possession as requested after mission completed. As mentioned above, the thrill we get is when ANY trackable survives, gets logged many miles, by many cachers, and we get some awesome pictures posted by that cacher. In the past year we have had at least 3 trackables return to circulation after being MIA for at least a full year. The enjoyment those things bring need to offset your feeling of loss over the missing items.

 

Based on past experience, we SELDOM release any geocoin now. We do a few TB's when tied to a group race or specific event. The majority are now travel tags.

 

Good luck with yours. !!! :)

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Thanks for all the input. I've developed a new attitude about releasing TBs and GCs over the last month. I had one I thought was lost show up in Paris surprisingly and have decided that some of the enjoyment is the surprise and uncertainty. I've also spent some time enjoying moving items on behalf of others as I travel quite a bit for my work. Does that make me a TB/GC mule?

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Geocoins are for collecting, not dropping in geocaches. :rolleyes:

But, only if the owner allows it. Otherwise they are made to travel and be enjoyed by many others. I no longer waste money on geocoins.

 

You misunderstand me. I don't mean to collect other geocachers geocoins.

+1

I think most know what you meant. :)

 

Today, when one can have access to other's property by simply loading an app for the weekend, I agree.

The term, "collectible" , and someone's idea on what that means in the help center (maybe not someone who's been around a while), has somehow "made it okay" to steal another's coin based on how it's listed.

The many threads/posts on what's the difference between collectible (and not) shows there's an issue.

 

So yeah, I agree, coins now seem best in your personal collection, and not sent out, other than the code on a proxy.

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I love TBs. :D If one is present, I mark that cache as a priority. I will admit, I have been slow to move some of them along and once or twice violated the goal of the TB. But, based on the goal I find determines if I get to keep it (I really like to find collectable coins in the caches) or if I have to move it on (I have found a few non-collectable geocoins). I currently am releasing 20 TBs (tags) at each of my travel destinations over the next few months. I am hoping they meet my goal and then return to me.

 

I did learn not to invest too much in the travel companion for the tag as the more value it has, the less likely it will travel. :rolleyes:

 

I just wish Groundspeak could go through and delete out all the TBs that are no longer where they are supposed to be (especially those that have been missing for over a year) or give the cache owner the ability to delete TBs off the cache if no longer in the cache. If it is eventually found and sent on its way again, they can just drop in a new cache. <_<

 

The problem I keep having it finding a cache large enough to hold a TB. So many nano and micro caches make it difficult to drop off TBs. So, thank you to all who own caches that are large enough to swap "treasures" (the other part of geocaching I love). :D

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I just wish Groundspeak could . . . give the cache owner the ability to delete TBs off the cache if no longer in the cache. If it is eventually found and sent on its way again, they can just drop in a new cache.

Umm, they did. COs can mark TBs as missing. Many don't know they can, or don't want to do it, or aren't in the game anymore, so it doesn't get done.

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Posted in a different thread ...

 

There has been an ongoing discussion thread in "Bug Reports and Feature Discussions > Website" since November 2011.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=284690&st=0 - (System to remove "ghost" trackables from cache inventories)

 

It appears that GS sadly has NO intention of EVER doing anything to resolve the problem. It's a fairly long read, but worth the time to see where this been, gone and going ... ultimately .... nowhere ... :(

 

**********************************

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