There's no escape: the pieces of plastic and dog-eared cardboard clutter up our wallets and purses and even overload our keyrings. It is 30 years since the UK's first high street-backed loyalty store card – Sainsbury's Homebase Spend and Save – was launched. But it wasn't until the arrival of the Tesco Clubcard in 1995 and the Boots Advantage card in 1997 that they started to gain mainstream popularity.
This month Nectar, the UK's largest loyalty programme with 18.5 million collectors, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a series of launches – including new partnerships – which will not only reward holders for hitting the shops but also for their "green" behaviour.
One announcement is a tie-up with Oxfam, allowing Nectar cardholders to cash in reward points against its Unwrapped range of aid gifts. These include helping to fund community education programmes, building farms and providing fresh water in developing communities. Eligible gifts start at 1,000 Nectar points, the equivalent of £5 cash in line with its standardised reward points.
A pilot scheme with Birmingham City Council, offering residents points for recycling (using barcoded boxes), is being evaluated with a view to rolling out elsewhere at a later date.
Another trial is with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, offering points for paying council tax online. British Gas customers can earn points for switching to paperless billing, and at Sainsbury's (one of the four original launch partners) points are given for reusing carrier bags.
James Frost, Nectar marketing director, said the move was key to a shift towards "rewarding for interaction, not just transactions. We know our collectors are hugely responsive to partnerships and opportunities they truly believe in, and we are confident this latest partnership will be positively received".
The Nectar card has attracted three million new holders in the past three years; one is swiped 24 times a second in Britain, and in 10 years the scheme has given back almost £2bn of rewards, including money off shopping, travel and general merchandise. And, as new technology forces the drive away from basic plastic and cards, more than 1 million consumers have downloaded the Nectar app on to a smartphone.
The American Express Nectar credit card is one of the fastest ways to collect points as it allows "double dipping". If you use it and the loyalty card at the same time, members can collect twice as many points.
American Express announced this week that it is giving new Nectar credit card members the chance to receive "many happy returns" of their own with 10,000 bonus points, worth at least £50, up for grabs. The offer is only available until 7 November and will be awarded when a member spends £1,000 within three months of joining.
And the banking arm of Sainsbury's has launched a credit card linked to the Nectar scheme, aimed at regular shoppers. It pays five times the number of points normally earned on Sainsbury's shopping for the first three months. It says this is the equivalent of up to an extra 5% back.
Nectar has grown from a business being solely associated with rewarding loyalty points, to a tool which enables companies to better understand their customers, from identifying how retailers should organise their aisles to which promotions they offer. For example, Nectar has helped Sainsbury's organise its wine aisles by country rather than grape.
But although Nectar claims to be the biggest reward scheme, Boots Advantage card is widely recognised as the most valuable. It gives four points for every £1 spent, and one point is equivalent to 1p when redeemed.
In other words it is a 4% discount card. Sign up for the parenting club and you earn 10 points for every £1 spent, although only on baby goods such as nappies.