Millions of people are signing up for incentive programmes being offered by airlines, banks, car hire schemes, hotel chains and retailers who want to rein you in as a loyal customer.
Discount retailer Clicks this week announced that it has already signed up 1,4 million members for its club card and has an additional 30 000 people joining every month.
But the schemes are not without their critics. Bart Hogendoorn, general manager of new product development at Absa, this week told Personal Finance that many people were being encouraged to join the schemes and pay a membership fee, with little chance of ever qualifying for a reward because they are unlikely to spend enough to meet the criteria for the rewards.
For example, you need 17 500 air miles to qualify for a return air ticket between Johannesburg and Cape Town on both SAA's Voyager and Sun Air's AiRewards programme.
This means you have to spend R87 500 on your credit card to qualify for this reward on both programmes. You can, of course, also collect additional air miles by spending money on goods or services supplied by any of the partners of these two airlines, which range from associate airlines to car rental companies and hotels.
In January next year, SAA will be putting up the number of miles you need to qualify for the reward to 20 000. So you will have to spend an additional R12 500 to qualify for a free domestic flight.
On Standard Bank's Accolades programme you have to get 8 500 points for a free flight, but you have to spend R10 to get one point. This means you have to fork out R85 000 to qualify for your reward.
First National Bank will phase out its Values scheme, which is based on cash rewards, by the end of November this year and has linked up with Sun Air in its AiRewards programme.
Absa will be one of the last of the big banks to offer an incentive scheme and it plans to launch its scheme in January next year.
To develop the best scheme, the banking group looked at the shortcomings of other schemes, says Hogendoorn.
While Hogendoorn's comments have been slammed by his competitors as "holier than thou", his research indicates that the present schemes have problems.
He criticises institutions for not being honest with you about qualifying for rewards on their incentive schemes, claiming that 40 percent to 50 percent of people on some schemes will never qualify for a reward.
When Absa launches its loyalty programme next year it plans to tell its customers whether they have any hope of qualifying for a reward.
Peter Abbott, assistant general manager, Standard Bank Card Division, says more than 170 000 customers had joined its Accolades scheme since January last year.
So far, 50 percent are in a position to redeem their points and about 1 000 members redeem points every month.
Hogendoorn points out that if you are one of the individuals who will not qualify for a reward, you are indirectly paying for somebody else's prize through your entrance fee.
Lapse periods on points collected are also a problem. Another gripe that has emerged is the delivery time of prizes. Clients are disgruntled at the length of time some loyalty programmes take to deliver a prize.
Hogendoorn says credit card loyalty programmes encourage people to spend more money on their cards, which could result in greater debt. He says banks should question whether it is moral to encourage spending, as it could lead people into financial difficulty.
First National Bank, however, says it has made it clear to its card holders that they should not incur extra debt but should use their credit cards as an alternative payment method.
Abbott from Standard Bank says the redemptions on its programme indicate that cardholders are behaving more responsibly and are planning their spending better.
Salome Hurter, manager of Voyager Relationship Marketing, says the biggest problem they have is that members want to redeem their miles for the free flights during peak periods.
She says there is a false perception that you can never get the flight you want when using your award.
"This is not true." As long as you are willing to be flexible and alter your schedule slightly or pay an additional amount, you can get a seat on any flight of your choice, Hurter says.