It's downright un-American.

You can earn points with American Express, but you can't redeem them on American Airlines.

Or can you? Yes you can! All you need is a third party to launder your points. Transfer them from Amex to, say, your Marriott Rewards club, and from there they can be redeemed for American Airlines tickets.

Conversely, you can get American Airlines points on your Visa affinity card, but you can't redeem them for the variety of trinkets offered by American Express. Or can you? Yes you can! When American Airlines completes its deal with America Online, you will be able to amass goodies galore.

It gets better. Become a points double-dipper! Buy from the online retailers who support ClickRewards, get more points by paying with your AA credit card, transfer your ClickMiles to American Airlines and . . . presto!

Little wonder the new favorite American pastime is collecting points.

But what's the point? No longer about loyalty, the notion of rewarding key customers for continued purchases, points have been relegated to incentive status - consumers can now earn points for one-time purchase, even for trial. Truth is, like the old saw about paying retail, today's savvy consumer should earn points with every purchase.

What began as a brand differentiator has become commonplace. Worse, in an era when consumers cry for simplicity, points marketers have created complexity. After all, beating the system does take time and effort.

Thus opens the door for innovation - how about a points amalgamator? If ClickMiles, for example, would permit transferring points into their system, they could become a bank. Points would be mere currency. Hopefully, this will happen - so promotion marketers will be forced to invent a new loyalty technique.

A FULL 360

This month's buzz word is three-sixty marketing, a.k.a. clicks-and-mortar, referring to activities that integrate the meat world with the ether world. A promotional application of this notion is the WebDecoder by Global Commerce Group, and it's a doozy. Textbook retailer Follett Corp. offers shoppers a free WebDecoder. To find out if they are big winners, recipients log onto efollett.com and hold the decoders against their computer screens! It's the Web site as instant-winner mechanism. Thus Follett drives consumers from retail to e-tail, reinforcing that there is but one name you need to remember when you need textbooks.