I’ve been really busy with life lately, especially with the bold choice to adopt a third big dog. In the five seconds I had this weekend in between our new addition’s constant attempts to fit his sister’s entire head in his mouth, I ended up on reddit. 

I don’t really get a ton of news from /r/churning and /r/awardtravel anymore, because there’s so many different platforms and half the time I can barely keep up with the group I’m an admin of. However, a post on /r/awardtravel stood out in my feed concerning leaving the hobby.

There was a lot of interesting discussion on how things have ebbed and flowed in the game. Redemptions have changed. The tools for redemption have gotten wildly better. And for plenty of us, life circumstances have changed, too. 

It was refreshing to see some usernames I recognized from back when I was on /r/churning 24/7 (but where in the world is ‘ol Pizzy these days?) A lot of them talked about scaling back the effort – at this point, it’s pretty easy to take an enviable amount of trips each year on a steady diet of ABPs and ABGs, even with only one player. 

The most interesting part of the discussion centered around how many whales there were at the very top percentiles that are earning enough via churning that it makes sense to continue devoting significant time and effort.

The initial premise was that the amount of effort required to go from a top 5% earner to a top 0.2% earner was extreme, with very little return until reaching that upper echelon. I agree with that premise for the most part – the path from SUBs making up 95% of your take to them being a rounding error on earnings is fraught with diminishing returns. 

While there was disagreement on how many whales are actually hitting life-changing money, I think most of us here know the true answer to that one – more than a few of you reading this fit into that category. But it takes a lot of work to get to that point, and a lot of that work is exhausting. In 2026, it feels like there is a corresponding increase in mental strain accompanying an increase in profits.

Hearing a CSR’s voice change when you ask about payment options and you realize somebody beat you to a target is exhausting. Filling out KYC questionnaires is exhausting. Playing through a large deposit with minimal variance one tiny Plinko wager at a time is exhausting. Constantly needing to use the threat to sic a toothless CFPB on a shady fintech is exhausting.

I can say pretty confidently that I wouldn’t still be in this deep without the friends made along the way. While the constant chatter of Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, etc. etc. is exhausting, those spaces are also the best places to find like-minded comrades. 

Sometimes, it kind of feels like the group chats that NYC cabbies have – a monotonous day spent probing is better when you can shoot the shit with other people that get it. 

I was lucky to get to chat with Matt from MEAB over a beer earlier this year and he asked me how long I was planning on writing the blog. The answer was the same as my answer for the hobby in general – as long as it’s still fun. 

Seeing balances go brrrrr is unequivocally fun, in the same way that a lot of the admin work required to get to that point is unequivocally not fun. What’s the right balance between effort and return? I have no idea, and I’m not sure I’m close to figuring it out. 

In that /r/awardtravel post (and in most churning communities) there’s a general sense that if you’re making a ton of money, you wouldn’t waste any time churning. But what if churning is the reason you’re making a lot of money? 

If this post even has a thesis, it’s that it’s ok to feel a little burnt out on the hobby, even if you’re doing well. Both couch and street MS have taken some huge hits the last couple of months, and there’s more ambiguity than ever before. 

The boat is still moving, but it’s hard to ignore that it’s taking water. As the eponymous Billy Strings tune put it, “had enough to push us over, time to turn the wheel around.”

Aklamasion!

Pictured: a group of fuelers and money transfer enthusiasts going down with the ship