L.L. Bean's marketing department has some interesting approaches. They obviously don't know their own products and policies too well. How else can you explain giving away $6 (or the like in GoldPoints) for someone who makes a $1.25 purchase?
The Upromise thing isn't my sort of deal (which is maybe why I'm miles-rich and cash-poor). I'll be interested to hear how that one turns out, though. Upromise seems to have T&Cs that would allow them to reverse any "contributions" (as they put it) that they decide were based on abuse of their program. Given that, and the extremely long time they suggest it takes for one to actually receive the funds, it seems a little dicey.
Back to Goldpoints and martino, the best values now seem to be using the points for hotel stays.