The mats will wear out, Think of how often you change your blade on you rotary cutter. There are ways to increase it's life. Cutting the exact same die in the exact same place will wear it out quickest, so on every cut, try an position it in a slightly different area, for each cut. Flip it end for end, and use both sides. As far as your comment on the dies wearing out quickly, I have never heard of a die wearing out. I have some that I've used several thousand times. If it's not cutting, you need a new pad, not a new die.