+The Hokesters Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 We are waiting for stock to come in before putting them up for sale. We are still waiting for confirmation of our changes to the proof but I haven't heard anything whilst Ali has been on holiday. We could have our coins tracked on the GC site but it would put about £1.00 (if memory serves) on the cost of the coin as Groundspeak want a handling fee for each coin tracked on their system. We decided that it wouldn't be cost effective to go down this route. Simon Link to comment
+John Stead Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 May I beg to differ as I think that £1 on the cost of a UK Geocoin to enable tracking on Geocaching.com would be well worth while as presumably it would show if a coin was in a cache apart from the interest in its movement. Link to comment
+-Phoenix- Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Id have to ask what the point of the coin is if it cant be tracked? Link to comment
+roolku Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 I agree. Without www.geocaching.com tracking the coin would lose a lot of attaction. As a compromise would it not be possible to have both (trackable and plain) versions? Or would this be too confusing? Roolku Link to comment
+Simply B Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 I'd also vote (with my wallet) to pay the extra £1 to make them trackable. I recently found a Canadian geocoin, and the pleasure was slightly dimmed when I realised I had to log it somewhere else - not a big deal, I grant you, but a noticeable one. Link to comment
60North Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 I would be quite happy to have it tracked elsewhere. Link to comment
+vds Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 We are waiting for stock to come in before putting them up for sale. I have to ask (as many others likely will) - will we in the USA be able to purchase them as well, any idea how or how-much, etc. ? Link to comment
+Mad H@ter Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 (edited) I was in two minds about whether or not to bother with these GeoCoins, but hadn't realised that tracking on GC.com was an option (in fact quite the opposite, I thought it was forbidden by TPTB). If the tracking was available it would certainly sway me to buying some, especially if they were not too much dearer than a TB. Edited April 19, 2005 by Phillimore Clan Link to comment
+Brenin Tegeingl Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 One question if they are tracked on GC are they going to be given their own Icon? Or are they just going to show up as a US geocoin. Dave Link to comment
+Stuey Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 German Geocoins have their own separate icon (but it is the same as the US geocoin icon). I'd have happily paid the extra quid to get them tracked "properly" as well. Possibly too late now though eh? Link to comment
Mittellegi Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 I too was under the impression that GC would not permit the tracking of coins other than US and MTB ones. The Germans have shown this not to be so. I too vote for the extra £1 for trascking on GC BB Link to comment
Beer Monster Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 I'd vote (and pay £1) for GC tracking too. Link to comment
+Damenace Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 afaik they bought the tracking numbers from Groundspeak and made their coins ... that's it. You can order them here (dunno if they ship abroad): http://www.geocaching-onlineshop.de/ btw.: Nice profile They do not ship here to the states. I have tried to order from that site but it was very difficult figuring out what they where asking for. Aside from that the cost is a bit on the spendy side, @ 8.49 eur that is $11.00 us. Damenace Link to comment
+welch Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Id have to ask what the point of the coin is if it cant be tracked? The other side of that coin is, what is the point of tracking something that never moves? Since some of the coins will likely be bought by those interested in collecting. Even more may be left or given as prizes and merits, or even as just a cool trade item. So you wonder how many will actually travel cache to cache vs. how many will make one/two people downline and stop? Link to comment
+-Phoenix- Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Id have to ask what the point of the coin is if it cant be tracked? The other side of that coin is, what is the point of tracking something that never moves? Since some of the coins will likely be bought by those interested in collecting. Even more may be left or given as prizes and merits, or even as just a cool trade item. So you wonder how many will actually travel cache to cache vs. how many will make one/two people downline and stop? OH boy, just what I need, a genuine limited edition 1 of 10,000 coin with absolutely no intrinsic value, sign me up, Ill take a dozen, they will take centre place in my collection of washers! Link to comment
60North Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 OH boy, just what I need, a genuine limited edition 1 of 10,000 coin with absolutely no intrinsic value, sign me up, Ill take a dozen, they will take centre place in my collection of washers! Well Franklin Mint seem to have made a business out of it! Link to comment
+The Hokesters Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Re: GC.com tracking. We had to make a decision on this very recently. When we started this venture our initial emails on the subject were ignored - possibly because various national GeoCoins have been tabled for many years and Jeremy and the gang do not have the time to answer lots of queries on the subject. Recently one of the Groundspeak team got in touch and said they could track the coins on GC.com but with certain restrictions which would have required more changes to our design plus the additional cost. Whilst many of you feel the tracking charge is affordable we have to remember that not everyone would. We believe that there would be a psychological price barrier and the extra fee would breach that barrier and put the coin out of reach for some folks. In addition to this it was very late in the day and Teasle had already completed the tracking code for our website. We had to make an executive decision I am afraid. Link to comment
+The Hokesters Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 (edited) We are waiting for stock to come in before putting them up for sale. I have to ask (as many others likely will) - will we in the USA be able to purchase them as well, any idea how or how-much, etc. ? They will be available in the States. We intend to fulfil UK requests then we will either be taking US orders or using a US agent. We would like to get our hands on some coins (which is taking considerably longer than we would like) before making too many promises Edited April 20, 2005 by The Hokesters Link to comment
+-Phoenix- Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Seams you have a dilema, you either put the cost out of reach for some folks, or remove the desirability for most folks, hope you got your math right, it sounds an expensive gamble. Link to comment
+John Stead Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Re: GC.com tracking. Teasle had already completed the tracking code for our website. Sorry I had missed the point that they will be trackable even though not on the GC.com site which means that they would not have an icon against cache descriptions. Just like Canadian Geocoins then and in view of what had now been explained I think you made the right decision. Link to comment
+Pengy&Tigger Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 I also think the right decision has been made. Groundspeak should have replied in the first place if they wanted to make money out of this. As it stands, if most of the hard work on the tracking site has been done, there seems little point in going with Groundspeak, especially since the cost is so high for the administration of one tracking number. Bearing in mind that Teasel has been working on the code, it's safe to assume that we will be able to search for which caches the coins are in, and how many you have 'bagged'. T Link to comment
60North Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Whilst many of you feel the tracking charge is affordable we have to remember that not everyone would. We believe that there would be a psychological price barrier and the extra fee would breach that barrier and put the coin out of reach for some folks. In addition to this it was very late in the day and Teasle had already completed the tracking code for our website. We had to make an executive decision I am afraid. Sounds like common sense prevailed to me. Link to comment
+The Hokesters Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 We are also hoping to have a little bit of code for cache setters to place in their cache pages which will let visitors know there is a coin present or that a coin has been there before as the Canadian Geocoins do. This will depend on you guys religiously placing the code in existing and new cache pages Link to comment
60North Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 We are also hoping to have a little bit of code for cache setters to place in their cache pages which will let visitors know there is a coin present or that a coin has been there before as the Canadian Geocoins do. This will depend on you guys religiously placing the code in existing and new cache pages It sounds like a lot of work has been provided (for free) by a dedicated few and I am sure that the rest of the community will join me in thanking everyone involved for their excellent efforts. Link to comment
markandlynn Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 We are also hoping to have a little bit of code for cache setters to place in their cache pages which will let visitors know there is a coin present or that a coin has been there before as the Canadian Geocoins do. This will depend on you guys religiously placing the code in existing and new cache pages Where can you get the canadian coin code ? Link to comment
Mittellegi Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 We are also hoping to have a little bit of code for cache setters to place in their cache pages which will let visitors know there is a coin present or that a coin has been there before as the Canadian Geocoins do. This will depend on you guys religiously placing the code in existing and new cache pages Where can you get the canadian coin code ? Here Link to comment
+The Hokesters Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Add Canadian GeoCoin Code Link to comment
+The Southseakers Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Sorry to come to this discussion late, but I have only just got around to reading through the thread. First I would like to say thank you to all those involved in getting UK coins this far, I think the coins look fantastic and you can put me down for at least five . I am slightly disapointed that the coins will not be trackable on geocaching.com, I for one would have willing shelled out the extra quid. We have found some canadian geocoins (yawn) on our travels and they tend to get treated just like any other swap (I think we still have one in our swaps bag somewhere), I am aware that this propbably bad etiquette , but the reality is that we just keep forgetting it. We have not yet managed to pick up a US (trackable) coin as they seldom stay in caches around here for more than a few hours, with people driving miles to get to caches they have already visited in order to claim them and move them on. I know this game isnt about the numbers (well maybe just a little bit ) , but the draw of that extra icon on the stats page seems to appeal to people! I realise the descision has already been made, but does this mean that there is no way UK coins will become trackable (on geocaching.com) in the future? Could we pay an extra 'registration' fee to Groundspeak to have our coins tracked? or how about a different 'trackable' coin for those who want to pay the extra? Once again, thanks everyone who gave their time to make it happen, I'm really not being ungratefull .... Link to comment
+The Hokesters Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 [snip]I realise the descision has already been made, but does this mean that there is no way UK coins will become trackable (on geocaching.com) in the future? Could we pay an extra 'registration' fee to Groundspeak to have our coins tracked? or how about a different 'trackable' coin for those who want to pay the extra? [snip] Some good comments and I will discuss with the rest of the team. The last thing we really want to do is have two types of UK coin and making them GC.com trackable in the future would devalue the non-GC.com trackable. In honesty I would err toward the current path but may re-visit the tracking issue when Ali gets back. Link to comment
+welch Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Id have to ask what the point of the coin is if it cant be tracked? The other side of that coin is, what is the point of tracking something that never moves? Since some of the coins will likely be bought by those interested in collecting. Even more may be left or given as prizes and merits, or even as just a cool trade item. So you wonder how many will actually travel cache to cache vs. how many will make one/two people downline and stop? OH boy, just what I need, a genuine limited edition 1 of 10,000 coin with absolutely no intrinsic value, sign me up, Ill take a dozen, they will take centre place in my collection of washers! I don't see how a Groundspeak trackable washer would be greatly more valuable than a non-Groundspeak trackable washer. But I guess thats something that will be left to each person to decide how desirable these will be, and if the want any. Holy Cow, are you guys really doing 10,000 of them!!? Link to comment
+John Stead Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 This just gets better and I would add my thanks to all concerned for the hard work. That was the first I knew of the Canadian code and look forward to seeing the UK code to add to cache pages. As for anyone who still wants to be able to use GC.com tracking - you could always attach a standard travel bug tag to a coin (as I have done with a Texas Geocoin whose tracking site has gone down) - seems a bit pointless to meif we have our own tracking system but it could be done! Link to comment
+klaus23 Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Simon, I say stick with the current plan. If Groundspeak were slow off the mark in actually talking to you, then leave them be. Regarding the German geocoin, well, faraway hills are always greener. All of the motions to have the coin tracked on gc.com is coming from newer members. Track them on your own site and keep the costs down. Link to comment
Mittellegi Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 (edited) What would happen to a UK GeoCoin when it leaves the UK. Would it still be trackable on the UK site? All of the motions to have the coin tracked on gc.com is coming from newer members. Not True. My stats may be low, but I've been around since Nov. 2002. Longer than you! As for anyone who still wants to be able to use GC.com tracking - you could always attach a standard travel bug tag to a coin. So that means you add £4 to the cost, rather than just £1. No thanks. And it is bound to cause more confusion and erroneous logging. Edited April 20, 2005 by bexybear Link to comment
+Stuey Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 All of the motions to have the coin tracked on gc.com is coming from newer members. Oh come on...... I've been called some things in my time, but a "Newer member"? I've had problems with an Alabama coin that I own which is tracked with Travelertags (terrible site!). I'm sure that the UK guys have done a better though, so we'll have to wait and see. Link to comment
+Mad H@ter Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 All of the motions to have the coin tracked on gc.com is coming from newer members. What counts as a new cacher Link to comment
+welch Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 All of the motions to have the coin tracked on gc.com is coming from newer members. What counts as a new cacher Isn't that a 'if you have to ask its not for you' things? Link to comment
+The Hokesters Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 (edited) Holy Cow, are you guys really doing 10,000 of them!!? Not at all - not sure where that comment came from. We will be ordering an initial batch of between 300-500 - gauged on previous interest and 99.9% of the commentators have put in a request for coins. After the initial batch the design may well change as discussed at length before (please, please don't start offering ideas for new designs at this stage - this is a LONG way off). All this has been costed in to the cost of the initial batch. Any profit will go into future designs and any surplus will be donated to charity. Edited April 21, 2005 by The Hokesters Link to comment
+The Hokesters Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 What would happen to a UK GeoCoin when it leaves the UK. Would it still be trackable on the UK site? It would still be trackable but I am not sure how many interative maps we are likely to have. I think Teasle has enough on his hands as it is! This will be discussed further. Link to comment
Mittellegi Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Any profit will go into future designs and any surplus will be donated to charity. Don't mention the "T-word"... I seem to recall some discussions earlier in the year following the events of 26 December 2004...isn't "charity" frowned upon by TPTB??? Link to comment
+The Hokesters Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 (edited) This ain't their game we are talking about We are a non-profit organisation unlike Groundspeak so we must disperse any funds accumulated through charities. Also charitable giving is neither a primary or secondary aim of GeoCoins.co.uk so they can have no objections. Edited April 21, 2005 by The Hokesters Link to comment
+Nurse Dave Posted April 21, 2005 Author Share Posted April 21, 2005 Holy Cow, are you guys really doing 10,000 of them!!? Not at all - not sure where that comment came from. We will be ordering an initial batch of between 300-500 - gauged on previous interest and 99.9% of the commentators have put in a request for coins. After the initial batch the design may well change as discussed at length before (please, please don't start offering ideas for new designs at this stage - this is a LONG way off). All this has been costed in to the cost of the initial batch. Any profit will go into future designs and any surplus will be donated to charity. I'm part of a group that will be order 100 of them. Link to comment
+Nellies Knackers Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 If tracking on gc.com is so important you could always drill a small hole and attach a TB tag to it, and it'd be far more likely to not get lost. Link to comment
+harold1066 Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 The Hoksters Not at all - not sure where that comment came from. We will be ordering an initial batch of between 300-500 - gauged on previous interest and 99.9% of the commentators have put in a request for coins. Nurse Dave I'm part of a group that will be order 100 of them. I showed interest in the original discussion; are there going to be enough to go round Geo Link to comment
60North Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 I showed interest in the original discussion; are there going to be enough to go round Geo It looks like "no intrinsic value" will shortly become "extremely sought after"! Link to comment
+Alibags Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 I am now back from my holidays, but have not ventured near my emails yet (insert scary twilight zone music). All this talk of tracking on GC.com is a bit of a red herring. We know that it is now possible. HOWEVER, after various emails to gc.com, we have never been given the information we require to go down this route. There may be many reasons why the team are slow to respond, and I am not slagging them off, but in the absence of such information as cost, numbering format requirement and coin design requirements, it has been impossible to decide upon this course of action. To avoid indefinate delays we took the pragmatic choice to track the coins ourselves. We have taken on board the criticisms that we personally have, and others have made, of other tracking sites, and hope to avoid those pitfalls ourselves. Link to comment
+Nellies Knackers Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Surely the 'chunk of code' approach on cache pages should tie it in nicely to the tracking site anyway, just have to encourage as many uk cache owners as possible to add it to their pages. Would a mail out from geocache-uk be ok for this or would it be considered spam? They have access to gc.com's database so it should be possible. Also is geocache-uk going to add an icon on their site for these? or rather could it be done? Link to comment
+Shop99er Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 The Hoksters Not at all - not sure where that comment came from. We will be ordering an initial batch of between 300-500 - gauged on previous interest and 99.9% of the commentators have put in a request for coins. Nurse Dave I'm part of a group that will be order 100 of them. I showed interest in the original discussion; are there going to be enough to go round Geo Are we gonna have to start over on another thread to try go get one? Link to comment
+Alibags Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Are we gonna have to start over on another thread to try go get one? No We are going to gauge interest, thanks to those who have already emailed me, and order enough. If there is sufficient demand then we can always go for a re-mint. Link to comment
+Nellies Knackers Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Do we know the costs yet? Sorry but I'm too lazy to read the whole thread! Link to comment
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