I guess if you want to pay 100% for everything, rather than 98.5% (when there's no discounted cash option), you do you.

Credit card network operators brag that accepting their network means customers will spend more. If spend increases even 1.6%, you are on net spending more.

CC acceptance decreases "friction." Some part of it is unlinking paying with the feeling of depleting resources when you pull cash out of your purse or wallet. Maybe running low on $20 bills and having to go to an ATM makes you decide to put one item back on the shelf. Or one's bank account is nearing bottom. In younger generations the opposite ironically can happen. They feel digital numbers fully but cash is spent more freely.

Yeah, same. As a matter of policy, I don't take incentives, commissions, kickbacks, etc, for anything. My dad was super into points-related financial games, so I get it, but I don't need to give the professional manipulators of the world any more headspace than they already have.

A cash back reward is a reward for not behaving badly enough that your account gets closed (or the bank shuts down). If you want to get rid of all ability to consume things, you could stop working so you don't get paid.

Actually, I think points are more like a savings account than a consumption reward, since the best deals are on international flights you have to save up a lot of points for…

You do you, but with self control, theres no MOAR, so if you're not using the system, you're leaving money on the table.

> I find it pretty damn rational to deliberately remove CONSUME MOAR incentives like points/miles/cash-back rewards from my life.

Can you explain why is it rational to willingly pay more for things when you could pay less?

I also wish we didn't have to play these games, but we don't get that choice. But we do have a choice to pay less (with a credit card) or pay more, so take the rational choice.

It’s rational because you see these gamification schemes as distractions that trick you into bending over to pick up pennies off the ground while the banks pick your pockets. The credit card system is ludicrous. The payments system is a natural monopoly, so it should be operated as a public utility (e.g. FedNow I guess) with much lower fees for all. No more points, but lower prices and simplicity for all (especially for merchants).

I think it’s certainly rational to not bother maximizing credit card rewards. However, it doesn’t seem rational to skip them entirely.

One can capture most of the upside, with little thought, by using a cashback card across the board.

> while the banks pick your pockets

Can you expand on how is this happening?

> The credit card system is ludicrous.

We can call it ludicrous, I'm not going to disagree with you!

But what are you doing about it?

Being what it is right now, you can either pay and get nothing back, or pay the same and get something back.

In the absence of me having any influence to change the system, I'll choose to get some money back.