Obviously having more options is good. Incidentally, the last issue of Bicycle Quarterly has a reprinted article (from 50's) on the history of carrying luggage on bikes and the panniers evolved, from a box on top of the rack, to 2 bags low on the sides. My personal situation is like OP's, I carry a lot of stuff and it must be manageable on the ground and bike. Repacking is out of question. As to bakfiets, I put a large flat box onto a folder and it works that way. The screws for the box are tripod ones and can be unscrewed with hands only, to retain the folder's transportability.
Bicycle Quarterly • Summer 2021
Thanks for the reference material. Looks like leather was the bikers choice in the 1950’s.
My own experience with plastics has taught me, or brought me to realize, that injection molded plastic would involve high capital investment (at least ten times more $ in the US compared to Asia). And then there’s different sized bikes with different geometries , different handlebars, and different colors.
I am glad CitiBike and other bike sharing groups have rudimentary plastic parts on the handlebars and over the rear wheel. It makes my job much easier when I can tell a customer (who protests my projected prices), “If you can’t afford to buy, you can rent ... from CitiBike”.
Also, my fairing/pannier system is designed to carry a rain canopy on top, so the width has to be as wide as human shoulders.