{"id":164,"date":"2016-01-09T07:44:55","date_gmt":"2016-01-09T15:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/milespointsreselling.com\/?p=164"},"modified":"2016-02-14T08:31:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-14T16:31:37","slug":"why-i-think-the-bluebirdserve-shutdowns-are-a-good-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/milespointsreselling\/2016\/01\/09\/why-i-think-the-bluebirdserve-shutdowns-are-a-good-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Think the Bluebird\/Serve Shutdowns Are a Good Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday there were massive shutdowns of Bluebird and Serve accounts. \u00a0In the coming days and weeks you will see a lot of posts lamenting the loss of Bluebird and proclaiming how huge a hit this is to the hobby. \u00a0As PF Digest already put it, “the golden era of points and miles\u00a0is over<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Well, if the golden era is\u00a0over put me in the camp\u00a0that says hallelujah. \u00a0I have long suspected that we were at or past critical mass in this hobby. \u00a0I am by no means an old timer as\u00a0I have only been at it for 5 years now. \u00a0However, at the rate things have happened 5 years seems like forever ago. Think of all the great deals there were 5 years ago. \u00a0Gold coins, paltry to non-existent minimum spends, churnable cards, award space, award space at reasonable prices, and the list could go on. \u00a0They are all gone now.<\/p>\n

The last couple of years has been a parade of horribles. \u00a0I would expect the parade of horribles to continue for some time as well. \u00a0During this time we have also seen massive media attention to our little hobby, more people entering, and ridiculously easy methods to meet minimum spends and earn miles. \u00a0Does anyone really believe these two things are unrelated? \u00a0When has exposure ever been a good thing for us?<\/p>\n

Everything is cyclical and we reached critical mass some time ago. \u00a0This was bound to happen. \u00a0I frankly am glad it did. \u00a0While others may think the end is over and the future is bleak, I’m happy. \u00a0With any luck the easy money days are over. \u00a0It just got a lot harder for your average hobbyist, let alone a\u00a0beginner,\u00a0to apply for 8 cards and not blink an eye at trying to meet $40,000 in minimum spending. \u00a0Believe it or not, that is good!<\/p>\n

As less people enter the fold, blogs will die (yes George this is a good thing). \u00a0First it will be the small guys. \u00a0In the coming years maybe a titan will hang it up too (MMS?). \u00a0With decreased exposure, less people entering the fold, and us hobbyists slowing things down – perhaps\u00a0we will see the frequency of devaluations slow, banks ease the belts, minimum spends stop going up, and cards becoming a bit more churnable.<\/p>\n

I think none of these things are going to happen anytime soon, but I do think they will happen. \u00a0However, something had to give first. \u00a0With any luck that something was Bluebird dying. \u00a0Maybe, just maybe, in the coming years we can return to sanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday there were massive shutdowns of Bluebird and Serve accounts. \u00a0In the coming days and weeks you will see a lot of posts lamenting the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I Think the Bluebird\/Serve Shutdowns Are a Good Thing - Miles Points Reselling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/milespointsreselling\/2016\/01\/09\/why-i-think-the-bluebirdserve-shutdowns-are-a-good-thing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why I Think the Bluebird\/Serve Shutdowns Are a Good Thing - 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