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Comment by supernova87a | Hacker News Reader

Here's what I remember:

Basically they bribed people with the biggest frequent flier miles offer up to that point in history, lost more money Fedexing cards to customers, got worked by the credit card churning crowd for all the bonuses possible, incentivized people to visit 4 airport lounges per trip and now are struggling to keep customers as travel has fallen off the face of the Earth.

So, exactly what you get when some exec says, "I just want to see a huge growth in customers, I don't care how you get it!"

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IIRC Sapphire Reserve was considered a loss leader to attract higher income folks to Chase so they can cross sell more lucrative banking products. You can see how they tried to cash in on the Sapphire brand with Sapphire Checking, which is basically rebranded Premier Plus checking.

This is true. It was a bit of a joke tbh, since everyone I know who uses Chase Sapphire is nowhere touching JPM products with a long pole (extreme customer discrimination and all).

The churning crowd is all posers, I don't know why it bothers me that much, I think its because if they put that energy onto something actually entrepreneurial that gave them real cash or assets, they could afford to do all the things they brag about subsidizing with points, and still have the points, cards and various status'.

Like, they can still subsidize flights and hotels with points, but actually have some financial freedom.

Maybe its because people with many other hobbies don't pretend they have achieved socioeconomic status. Maybe its because the terms and conditions on points say they aren't assets, debt or anything really. Hard for me to place it, its the people in the churning communities trying to replicate travel bloggers that irk me. Maybe I’m just being classist, I enjoy being around people that can afford the business-class situations they are in, and theyre typically not bragging about it as its just fact of life and a fact of their peer’s life.

I read somewhere "Chasing points is coupon clipping for middle class", and that resonated deeply for me across all three stages of that behavior.

What are the 3 stages lol?

First thinking that coupons are worth the time, then thinking that points are worth the time, and finally learning the true value of time.

That's how they got customers in the first place. Isn't the article supposed to be about how they retained them?

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