What started with frequent flier miles is nearing the level of an epidemic. You can now get reward points for almost anything. I can get points for receiving e-mail, sending e-mail, buying things, traveling, staying in hotels, listening to the radio--you name it.

Recently my credit card just up and turned itself into a reward-points credit card. I got a nice letter from the letterbot at the credit card company announcing that I was now a rewards cardholder, and would I please look through the pretty catalog to see all the wonderful things I could get with my points?

What adds to the confusion of it all is that some points are transferable. So when I rent a car, for instance, I need to choose whether to apply the points I'll earn to the rental car company's rewards program or to my frequent flier program. Also, my credit card will be awarding me its own points for just paying for the car, which I can use toward a flight or a car. What to do?

Managing loyalty points is getting more complex than managing real money.

Now I'm not saying these programs are a bad idea. I've flown free many times based on frequent flier points. And the frequent flier program works in the airlines' favor. I've occasionally paid the $5 or $10 extra for a fare so that I could get points from an airline I fly more frequently.

But the advent of so many loyalty programs threatens to undermine the effectiveness of all of them. Here are a few things that I think companies should do to make their programs easy and more effective. It will help them stand out from the loyalty crowd.

Make my points automatic
Don't make me reach for a 12-digit number or go to a special location or carry 500 cards to get my points. Make it automatic. When I buy the ticket, rent the car, or pay for the piece of fruit, I should get the points instantly. Don't make me work for it, or I won't use it.

Make the points easy to redeem
Airlines make it difficult to redeem your points because I suspect they really don't want you to redeem them. Blackout dates, restrictions, and complicated grids make it necessary to have some sort of experience with multivariate analysis to understand just which flight you can get. Starwood Hotels does it well. You can use your points for any hotel, anytime, as long as a room is available. Perfect.

Give me something valuable
Companies just getting into the game haven't quite caught on that you need to offer something worthwhile to make me want to participate. Some radio stations get you to listen for long times and build up lots of points only to offer you a "chance to win" when you redeem your points. I don't want to redeem my points for a lottery ticket. I want something tangible. Like a pony.

Some loyalty point ideas
While I may seem to express dismay at the proliferation of points programs, I do have a few ideas of instances where I think they could be implemented to great benefit.

Voting: Every time you vote (and maybe even every issue or candidate you vote on) earns you points. The main objection would be people voting blindly, but that's already a problem, isn't it? Points could be redeemed for parking tickets, tax breaks, or civic appointments.

Doctor visits: Want to make sure everyone gets a regular physical and gets checked for all the things they need to be checked for? Give them rewards points. Then allow people to redeem them for pharmaceutical samples. They're free anyway, right?

Dental care: Every time you floss, you get points. Dentists will stop giving away the flimsy plastic toothbrushes with their office name on them and start letting you redeem your points for silver-plated luxury brushes.

Using a turn signal: Cameras pick up the license plate numbers of people who actually use turn signals before changing lanes, then let them redeem the points for carpool lane passes or discounts off of license fees.

Getting up in the morning: Come on, we need some kind of reward for this--in addition to coffee.