Let's make it simple for the Alans and Robs of the forum, who somehow don't understand the concept of becoming overcomped.

Take a fictitious national chain high-end steakhouse. We'll call it "Jon's Steaks".

Jon's Steaks has a promotion that you can earn free soup and salad every day for the current year and the next year, as long as you dine there 50 days in the year and spend at least $75 on food. per visit Once you've earned the soup and salad, you are allowed (but not encouraged) to come in, eat your soup and salad, order nothing else, and walk out with no bill.

Also, Jon's sends you offers and promotions for other free things, if they identify you as a regular customer.

Noticing an opportunity here, I dine at Jon's 50 times in the first two months of 2015, spending barely over $75 each time.

Then I start coming there every single day after that, redeeming my free soup and salad over and over. I do not spend another penny at Jon's throughout 2015 and 2016, but simply keep redeeming my free soup and salad every day.

Eventually, the profit Jon's made from me during my first 50 visits will disappear, due to my repeated free redemptions. Jon's notices this and stops sending me their other promotions, but continue honoring the free soup and salad thing, even knowing that I am costing them money overall.

This would mean I am overcomped at Jon's Steakhouse. This would also mean that I used the promotion at Jon's to my favor, and ended up coming out ahead -- I got much more out of them than I paid for.

During that same time period, Alan also ate at Jon's. He also ate there 50 times and earned the free soup and salad. However, Alan only redeems the free soup and salad when he's there to eat other things he pays for.

Alan is the type customer they prefer, as this was the spirit of the promotion in the first place. As a result, Alan receives mailers from them offering free appetizers, 50% off meals, etc.

When I tell Alan that I am "overcomped" at Jon's, he laughs at me and tells me that I'm actually undercomped, because I am only entitled to the free soup and salad, while he still gets those other offers.

I respond to Alan reminding him that I'm eating for free every time, while he keeps spending money and thereby allowing them to make further profits off of him, but he still insists that he's getting the better value here.

Ignoring the fact that I would get sick of soup and salad every day (since this is just a hypothetical example), this is pretty much exactly the difference in our two approaches, and it's mind-boggling how Alan fails to understand what overcomped means.