As a adjunct to the prior posting about competition for who get’s to run the currency systems; one of my favorite backwaters of that is the loyality points programs. As the cost to track a transaction falls we can expect more and more transactions to have a loyality points involved.
Most people think of IT as a tool for reducing transaction friction; but I’m starting to see it the other way around – as a way to add friction thruout the transactions life cycle. Each bit of friction designed to make money for somebody.
I’m amused to see you can collect points for drinking certain soft drinks; but you have to do the paper work! What’s next loyality points individual sheets paper? Oh dear, I can see that – a number printed in the corner of each sheet of the newspaper. Enter the number on their web site to collect points and win prizes!
Suggestion – let’s rename taxes, call them loyality point!
Today I noticed something like the idea of having points awarded for reading the paper. It was in the one of the papers they give out in the subways. They have a contest, but you can’t enter the contest until you find your name someplace in the paper.