A New Way To Use Challenge Coins

Breaking the Mold With Trackable Coins

If you take a quick look around your house or between the seats of your car, you will most likely be able to find a small, tarnished penny somewhere gathering dust. Take a look at the mint date and see what you find. It’s not hard to find pennies from as far back as the 1950s or even 1940s sometimes. What has a coin like that seen in all that time? How many hands have exchanged just one coin, and how many times has it been lost, tossed over the shoulder, left in a jar or flipped in someone's hand? If you really think about it, a penny, or any coin for that matter, could have so much to say, but there’s no way to hear its story. 

Not until now, at least. We are always on the lookout for new and interesting ways that our customers are using challenge coins, and one idea that definitely breaks the mold is trackable coins. These types of coins usually have unique markings or numbering added to the design so they can be registered through an app or website. Users can then log on and follow a coin as it travels along. 

We may not make United States currency, but we have years of experience making one-of-a-kind coins. Making a trackable coin is one of the more innovative ways our customers are getting people interested and involved with their designs. Traditionally, challenge coins are awarded for excellent service or to honor a team in some way, but after that, they pretty much stay put. What makes trackable coins so interesting is their pay it forward quality that keeps the coin moving. A great example of how this works is through geocaching.

What is Geocaching?  

Geocaching has been around for about as long as GPS technology has been available to the general public. It’s a sort of adventure game that gets people exploring the natural world around their homes, and anywhere else they find themselves. All you need to get started is a phone and a simple app that helps you locate hidden “caches” all over. These caches are usually small boxes or hidden containers that hold different things. There is always a log book for geocachers to sign, and sometimes people leave little prizes for others to take or share. This is where challenge coins come into play. 
Custom coins, or geocoins in this case, are left in hidden caches as something like a calling card from the person who made them. Whoever finds a coin is supposed to take it and carry it with them until they find another cache to leave it in. The idea is that the coins are always changing hands as they move around to different caches located in state parks, mountain trails and even in urban settings all around the world.

The coins are tracked through the geocaching app, and people are encouraged to take pictures with the coin and write down messages and stories from their time with the coin. Over time, more and more stories are posted through the geocaching app, giving that coin a voice. The person who left the first coin will watch as more people come in contact with their design and add to the story. And for everyone that finds the coins, they get to look back and see where the coin has come from.

Trackable Coins for More Than Just Geocaching

If you are not into geocaching, there are still ways to create trackable coins. Our team had the opportunity to help the Gratitude Professor and the Tampa Bay Lighting Foundation create a unique coin used in a special pay it forward program of their own. The idea is to award a coin to a friend, family member or even a stranger with a personal message of gratitude, and to challenge that person to pay it forward, awarding the coin to someone else. 
They created a simple tracking system of their own that allows people to post their stories of gratitude with pictures so that everyone can follow one random act of gratitude spread and grow over time as it changes lives for the better. 

Train Our Troops is another charitable organization that creates trackable challenge coins for a similar program. The numbers around the edge of these coins are used to register the coin on the Train Our Troops website. Once that is done, you give the coin to another veteran and ask them to share it with someone else they think could benefit from the free courses available on the website. Over time, more and more people interact with the coin, and you receive email updates on where the coin has been and where it's going. 
Making a trackable coin is a unique way to get people involved with a challenge coin program of any kind, and creating a design is easier than you may think. The only things you need to make sure are included are sequential numbers to differentiate each coin and information on where to find the coin online. For the Tampa Bay Lightning coin, you can see the website address minted along the rim of the coin. Depending on how the coin is tracked, the design could point towards a specific facebook group or website, or even include a unique QR code that takes people directly to the source when scanned. 

The design is entirely up to you. Numbers, QR codes, website address and all sorts of other information can be worked into a unique design however you want. Our art team has experience creating unique artwork for all kinds of different groups, so just send us your ideas and we will be happy to get started.

Using Challenge Coins in New and Exciting Ways

The only limit is your own imagination when it comes to finding new uses for challenge coins. We have made custom coins for fundraising, for replacing business cards, for employee recognition programs and for all sorts of other things. Trackable coins are definitely a unique idea, but there is so much potential for other kinds of challenge coin programs. If you have a unique idea in mind, give us a call and tell us your story. Whether you are making a trackable geocoin or a personal coin to hand out to coworkers, friends and family, you can be sure our team has all of the tools necessary to bring your ideas to life.