Why does their price in RC’s have to skyrocket?

Because everyone will be claiming them to sell them, the more an operation is used, the more it costs.

If there is no financial incentive for trading the token, how do they become valuable??

offer /demand: there is an incentive for people to acquire tokens from others, it creates a market.

Turning people away due to lack of ACT’s doesn’t look good is all I am getting at

yeah I agree, there could be a middle ground like allowing transfer but with some cost like burning hive or with a bit timeout