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You might be a Trackable Lover


Max and 99

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New souvenir

 

Introducing the next challenge in our four month series “You might be a geocacher if…” From December 3 at noon UTC through December 31 at noon UTC, use the Friend League to individually earn points towards the “Trackable Lover” souvenir. Keep reading to learn December’s challenge below!

 

In December, you might be a Trackable Lover if…

You’re all about getting those digits; you can’t see a tracking code and not log it! You own several trackable t-shirts, bring your whole (very organized) collection to every event you attend, and take the extra moment to look up the trackable’s mission.

To earn the Trackable Lover souvenir, earn 80 points individually on your Friend League starting December 3 at noon UTC through December 31 at noon UTC. This month earn higher points for activating trackables!

The scoring*:

Action Point value
Log a Found it on any geocache 5
Log a Found it on a geocache with 10 or more Favorite points 7
Attend any event 5
Activate trackable 10
Drop off trackable you do not own 5
Edited by Max and 99
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Since this one is about Trackables, I think it's weird that "Found It with 10 or more favorite points" has more of a "score" than Drop off a trackable you do not own.

 

On the plus side,  "Drop  off a trackable  you do not own" seems (to me) the site might be trying to get the people who hold other's property hostage for month's on end to finally put them in a cache.  :)

 

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6 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

Since this one is about Trackables, I think it's weird that "Found It with 10 or more favorite points" has more of a "score" than Drop off a trackable you do not own.

 

On the plus side,  "Drop  off a trackable  you do not own" seems (to me) the site might be trying to get the people who hold other's property hostage for month's on end to finally put them in a cache.  :)

 

Also this prevents people from getting points for repeatedly dropping and retrieving their own trackables. 

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3 minutes ago, NanCycle said:

Also this prevents people from getting points for repeatedly dropping and retrieving their own trackables. 

 

That's how I maxxed out my points on a previous recent challenge!  :lol: 

Kind of a chore, though.

 

I wasn't sure if the OP was just a very enthusiastic suggestion for a challenge, or an official upcoming one, so I looked around for it.  Turns out, it's a thing:

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2018/11/you-might-be-a-trackable-lover-if/

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1 minute ago, Max and 99 said:

I haven't yet received the email about it, but the blog post announced it.

 

Yeah, and I'm sure when the email comes through, for premium members it will praise about how as a premium member we get first look! (as every big announcement recently by email newsletter has linked to the public blog already posted and sharing).  But I digress...

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36 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

 

Yeah, and I'm sure when the email comes through, for premium members it will praise about how as a premium member we get first look! (as every big announcement recently by email newsletter has linked to the public blog already posted and sharing).  But I digress...

Not this time, although I expected it!

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4 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:

... so instead they'll yo-yo trackables they're holding hostage.  Yeah, that'll make the hostage owners happy.

Yep. The scary thing is that they seem to consider this to be an improvement, when in practice it will have the opposite effect:

Quote

Earn 10 points for activating any trackable! Plus, earn 5 points for dropping any trackable you do not own in a geocache. Please note, this is an update to the current scoring where you could earn points for dropping any trackable. With the updated scoring, you will only earn points on the Friend League for dropping trackables you do not own.

 

Thankfully (in a way), most of my trackables went missing long ago, so this probably won't impact me. Some trackable owners will get lots of unnecessary emails, though.

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5 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:

... so instead they'll yo-yo trackables they're holding hostage.  Yeah, that'll make the hostage owners happy.

Easier still:

 

Take 8 of your trackables to a cache where you meet your mate, who has brought 8 of theirs.

 

Swap Trackable codes, grab each other's trackables, drop them all into the cache and then each retrieves their own.

 

Job done.

 

Of course, meeting at a cache is optional - just email each other the codes and write note one of your own caches.

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1 hour ago, Team Microdot said:

Activate trackable = 10 points = we would like to sell more trackables.

 

A more cynical person than I might imagine that the motivation behind all these challenges is just $$$.

 

I think this is the first souvenir that you actually can buy if you're desperate.

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5 minutes ago, Hynz said:
1 hour ago, Team Microdot said:

Activate trackable = 10 points = we would like to sell more trackables.

 

A more cynical person than I might imagine that the motivation behind all these challenges is just $$$.

 

I think this is the first souvenir that you actually can buy if you're desperate.

 

I think they are all geared towards numbers = bums on seats = $$$

 

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Quote

Activate trackable = 10 points = we would like to sell more trackables.

I highly doubt this was GS intention. I bet they sell a very small % of all trackables of hundreds (thousands?) available vendors.

 

There should (or maybe there already is?) be a rule that you can only get points from dropping off a trackable ONCE (per TB). :)

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13 hours ago, Team Microdot said:

 

:lol:

 

Who do you think those vendors buy their trackable codes from?

LOL I forgot the charge for trackable code goes to GS. ? Anyhow, if this promo results in more trackables released to the public, I think it's a positive thing. More things to discover and log, more fun. :) 

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On 11/27/2018 at 10:02 AM, Max and 99 said:

To earn the Trackable Lover souvenir, earn 80 points individually on your Friend League starting December 3 at noon UTC through December 31 at noon UTC. This month earn higher points for activating trackables!

 

"Higher" points - in fact, the highest point award is given if you activate a new trackable.  Points for moving trackables are more generous than previous promos, but still the same as finding a cache, and attending an event.  You get more points for a favorited cache (which, granted, may be a TB hotel giving you an opportunity to earn many points in one stop!)  So, we are being enouraged to incorporate TB activity, but you can still earn the souvenir without doing anything with TB's.

 

Again, I will earn this with my normal (for this year, at least!) COTD activity.  I likely WILL move a trackable or two, as I typically do.  But if I don't make any special effort (other than finding that COTD for my own personal goal) I will earn this souvenir, as I've earned all the others.  It all seems a bit lame to me, to run a promo highlighting the different aspects of this geocaching hobby, and awarding souvenirs that you can earn without actually participating in any actvity connected to those highlighted aspects.

 

Then again, I rarely look at my souvenir page(s) except for new states I may earn...and I look at other people's souvenirs even less than that.  If this helps GS to sell more TB's and they are happy with the outcome, all is good. 

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On 11/29/2018 at 4:16 AM, EggsTheBest said:

LOL I forgot the charge for trackable code goes to GS. ? Anyhow, if this promo results in more trackables released to the public, I think it's a positive thing. More things to discover and log, more fun. :) 

 

I'm not sure the promotion will result in more trackables released to the public..

 

You earn the points by activating them.. you get nowt for dropping them other than disappointment when they go missing.

 

I have half a dozen or more beautiful coins which I haven't yet activated.. so that's 60 points sorted.  They won't be going anywhere though.. they will sit in my collection like the rest of my most recent coin purchases.  I'm not releasing them to be stolen a few months down the line.

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47 minutes ago, Team Microdot said:

 

But what does it contribute to the pastime of any worth?

 

Where's the real investment?

 

I had some TBs to activate.  So this promotion may remind me to get that done. If I hadn't activated them a couple of months ago.

 

If this Souvenir encourages people who have been meaning to drop a TB or two that they've held for a while, that's pretty cool.  I tend to relax a little when someone who seems to have forgotten about my TB places it in a cache.

 

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17 minutes ago, kunarion said:

 

I had some TBs to activate.  So this promotion may remind me to get that done. If I hadn't activated them a couple of months ago.

 

If this Souvenir encourages people who have been meaning to drop a TB or two that they've held for a while, that's pretty cool.  I tend to relax a little when someone who seems to have forgotten about my TB places it in a cache.

 

 

Not sure what that has to do with the question I asked.

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1 hour ago, Team Microdot said:

 

But what does it contribute to the pastime of any worth?

 

Where's the real investment?

 

 

Trackables are an additional revenue stream for Groundspeak to help pay for servers and switches and bandwidth and employees. If it boosts the bottom line for the month, that is added worth.

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1 hour ago, Team Microdot said:

But what does it contribute to the pastime of any worth?

 

Where's the real investment?

 

Kinda agree. 

If the goal is just to sell more trackables (and can see some releasing new just for "points"... ) it wouldn't seem (to me) to be more than that.

Most my non-government job's year-end bonuses were based on sales ...

 

But I see  "Drop  off a trackable  you do not own"  as a possible attempt to get the trackable side-game back on-track.

Including this issue in a game, rather than negative actions probably a good thing. 

Further similar attempts ("visiting" forever maybe ?)  might make that part of the hobby fun again.   :)

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3 hours ago, CAVinoGal said:

It all seems a bit lame to me, to run a promo highlighting the different aspects of this geocaching hobby, and awarding souvenirs that you can earn without actually participating in any actvity connected to those highlighted aspects.

 

Everyone gets a trophy.

 

 

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4 minutes ago, igator210 said:

Looks like there is a minor issue with getting points for activating trackables. I decided to activate two trackables that I've had for awhile, but only got credit for one them. Maybe there is a lag, maybe there is a bug. Shrug.

Maybe I'll wait before activating mine! Thanks for the heads-up.

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2 hours ago, Harry Dolphin said:

Three days to get the souvenir.  Blah.  Well, I just retired, and geocaching/hiking is my daily exercise.  I have several unactivated trackables.  But they are meaningless because trackables disappear quickly.   Disappointing.   So, I seldom bother putting them out anymore.

Yeah...

Our sig geocoins have been placed in nice caches (or given to kids on trail) unactivated for a while now, rather than see someone swipe one that we'd like to keep track of.

The couple Travel Bug tags still in their baggies, I'm thinking of using as FTF prizes (if a landowner we're working on ever lets me place there).   :)

We were lucky to get one of the duck tails ones, and that still hasn't left the cache I placed it in yet (in June).  Go figure... 

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8 hours ago, Harry Dolphin said:

Three days to get the souvenir.  Blah.  Well, I just retired, and geocaching/hiking is my daily exercise.  I have several unactivated trackables.  But they are meaningless because trackables disappear quickly.   Disappointing.   So, I seldom bother putting them out anymore.

 

You could always just activate them and keep them in your collection / take them to events for others to discover. 

 

You score the points for activating - you would get anything extra for *dropping* them because you only earn points for dropping trackables which you don't own.

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