There is no reason why E* should do this except to inconvenience me to their benefit. I pay for a service and any reduction in that service no matter how small is a pain. Had they been nice, they could have made it a preference. Even the tech support guy didn't think much of it.
E* has a great reason to use this, they want to ultimately sell you more things. Of course that may or may not be a wise choice, but it is a "good reason".
Brad