The biggest advantage of point-earning and survey activities is their “ease of use.” However, this very ease often leads to many people failing to earn the expected income, feeling the effort is “not worth the reward,” and eventually quitting.
1. Extremely Poor Time-to-Income Ratio (Hourly Wage)
Since the rewards for these activities are fundamentally low, even spending a significant amount of time yields only marginal earnings.
- Accumulation of Low-Rate Tasks:
- For surveys, rewards are often only a few to a few dozen yen per survey. If answering takes 5 to 10 minutes, the effective hourly wage drops to approximately ¥100 to ¥300 (or $0.60 to $2.00) per hour.
- High-value opportunities, such as using ads or applying for credit cards, do not occur frequently, making consistent high earnings difficult.
- Effort and Time Lag in Point Exchange:
- When exchanging earned points for cash or e-money, exchange fees may be incurred, or there may be a time lag until the funds are available. This effort and waiting time are part of the real “cost of labor.”
- Cost of Missing Opportunities:
- Earning efficiently requires constantly checking multiple websites and apps to find high-reward or limited-time opportunities. This research time is an effective cost.
2. Loss of Purpose and Conversion to Consumption
Point-earning activities (Poikatsu) can inadvertently become a trigger for “spending” rather than “saving.”
- Unnecessary Spending for Point Acquisition:
- Purchasing goods or services that were not initially needed simply “because you get more points” (e.g., buying unnecessary items because it’s a “point-up day”).
- This turns saving into “spending,” leading to a negative overall household budget.
- Ambiguity of Goal:
- Without a clear goal for why points are being saved (e.g., travel expenses, purchasing a specific item), the saved points are often consumed on small, meaningless purchases, losing the opportunity for a significant benefit.
3. Risk of Personal Information Exposure and Security Issues
There is a risk of providing excessive personal information to maximize point earnings.
- Ignoring Security Risks:
- Becoming less hesitant to provide large amounts of personal and sensitive information (e.g., credit card, bank account details) for high-reward projects, especially those related to finance.
- Failing to adequately verify the security and reliability of the sites or apps used, exposing oneself to the risk of information leakage or unauthorized use.
- Increased Email and Management Cost:
- Registration often leads to a deluge of promotional and survey request emails, consuming time in managing the mailbox.
💡 Typical Failure Pattern
“I diligently answered surveys during all my daily spare moments, but after six months, I had only accumulated ¥3,000 worth of points. Feeling the effort wasn’t worth the reward, I simply stopped opening the point sites altogether.”
| Failure Factor | Specific Risk and Outcome |
| Poor Time-to-Income Ratio | The result of ¥3,000 after dedicating all daily spare time for six months indicates an extremely low hourly wage. This inefficiency destroys the will to continue. |
| Motivation Exhaustion | The expected return greatly deviates from the actual effort, leading to disappointment—”Is this all I get for all that work?”—which causes the individual to abandon the activity. |
| Lack of Strategy | The failure to adopt efficient strategies, such as focusing on high-value projects, led to time wasted on low-rate, time-consuming tasks. |
Key to Success: To avoid failure in point/survey activities, the crucial distinction is “not to treat this as a main job (or primary side business).” It should be positioned strictly as a means to earn a supplemental income (e.g., a few thousand to ten thousand yen) only during spare moments like commuting or waiting. It is essential to pursue efficiency by selecting high-value projects strategically.
