PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification

For those of you who have gone down the road of acquiring the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification, were there any subsequent tangible professional advantages in doing so? Did your current employer ratchet up your compensation? Is it a truly useful asset when sitting across the table at an interview? Or did you just do it because you could punch out of work early to go "study for the PMP?"

We have a Focus Community member that is looking for some help with this - any insight?

http://www.focus.com/questions/operations/pmis-project-management-p...