The hidden cost of chasing loyalty points, nobody mentions

[Pete]

Loyalty programs are designed around a genuinely clever psychological trick, the promise of points makes ordinary purchases feel like they're earning you something extra, which quietly nudges spending habits in directions they wouldn't otherwise go. The actual hidden cost is the premium a lot of these programs bake into pricing itself, or the extra purchases made specifically to hit a bonus threshold that wouldn't have happened otherwise

Points also frequently expire, get devalued through program changes, or require redeeming through specific restrictive options that quietly reduce their actual real world value compared to what they looked like when earned. The time spent tracking multiple programs, checking balances and researching the best redemption options is itself a real cost that rarely gets counted alongside the supposed rewards

None of this means loyalty programs are worthless, plenty of disciplined users genuinely come out ahead. Curious whether people have ever actually calculated the real dollar value of points earned against the extra spending or premium pricing that came with earning them

[BrightRunner]

Did this math once for an airline program and the actual per-point value came out lower than I'd assumed the entire time I was chasing status

[ParallelSelf99]

Still think this works out fine for people who'd be spending the money anyway regardless of the rewards program, the trap is specifically changing behavior to chase points

[Inlet]

Spending extra specifically to hit a bonus threshold is the trap I've personally fallen into more than once, the math rarely actually works out favorably

[GradientPiston]

Time spent tracking multiple programs is honestly underrated as a real cost, that's genuine mental overhead most people never actually account for

[Cole75]

The devaluation point is real, watched a hotel program quietly reduce redemption value multiple times over just a couple of years