Why do many of these programs have points expiration? I would think the whole reason these corporations set up these marketing loyalty programs is to entice you to keep coming back, but nothing would upset a customer more than to have their hard earned points expire on them just because of inactivity. We don't like it, but probably expect that over time many programs are de-valued, but to have points vanish (expire) on you is shocking and likely upsetting. So why do these corporations have this in their policy? How does it make business sense? Is it very costly for them to maintain accounts on their servers?

I've had points/miles expire on me years ago, but I wasn't too bent of our shape as it was a small amount. Still I was shocked as I felt these points were sort of like money sitting in a bank, and then the "bank" decided to take my money simply because I wasn't active for 2 years.