I've heard a lot of suggestions to balance the 5X spend on this card with some "normal" 1X spend, so as not to risk getting on the bad side of Chase. I'm curious if this involves mixing in many small 1X transactions, or if a single large 1X transaction accomplishes the same thing. I've got a tuition bill to pay soon, and since I won't receive bonus points for this type of spend (unless I use 5X gift cards), I was thinking I'd just charge it to the Ink Bold instead and give Chase a decent amount of 1X spend. But does this help as much as a lot of smaller 1X transactions would?

(In other words, do they make their money on a percentage, or per swipe basis?)