For my basic monthly "churn" involving WM, Chase GC's, AP, etc. I figure I earn about $250 worth of points, and probably spend 4-5 hours not counting time driving to/from WM. This doesn't count time spent trying to teach WM employees what can and can't be done, although in general they are getting better.

I think this stuff is very annoying though. To be honest, when I get my 10 Chase GC's every month, it only takes about 5 minutes to open them and throw away all the junk other than the cards, and 10 minutes to call in and get the PIN's, but it's a hell of a lot less enjoyable than 15 minutes spent playing bridge online (my other hobby).

For an entirely new card, the return is much higher. I just add it to my AP mix, and one of the first things I do is pay the minimum spend, so I know that as long as I have a credit balance I still haven't met it.

There are also, though, the occasional low-hanging-fruit bonuses. Last month both my Airtran card and my wife's had a promo, spend $1000 and get 4 extra credits (which will eventually morph into $80 worth of SW points). Or the USAir "Spend $750 in each of 3 months and get 15K points."

For me, one of the most annoying parts is tracking when to cancel.

So I guess it's neither as simple nor as complicated as it could be.

A lot will change, as I am probably moving to a location that's 20 miles from the nearest WM. It's not going to be worth it to go there just to load onto my BB.