The picture say it all - loose loads look great, until you accidentally knock a car off a cliff. Then you have a big mess to clean up. It will probably take me more time to clean up this mess than it would have taken me to make a simple balsa-wood insert for the car and glue some copper ore on top, years ago when putting the car in service. My train layouts are full of examples of "short cuts" that I took while constructing them, which I'm now paying for in unintended (or in this case, predictable) consequences.
Another issue with open loads is, if you put your finger(s) in them by accident, well, they look kind of weird. Here's an example, this time with a standard gage car in aggregate service:
I like the way the load exposes part of the rusty slope sheet, which would be harder to do realistically with a solid load. And, in a way, I like the "plot tension" associated with operators handling loose loads in their trains, making sure they don't have a derailment, or worse. But on the other hand, to empty them out involves picking them up, turning them upside down and re-railing them back in place on the layout. With a removable load insert you can usually take them out without having to pick up the car.
Yet another example of the many trade-offs involved in an operating model railroad!
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