In DD, a container could be used to steal, since NPCs didn't mind if you placed items in a container in your inventory, unlike taking them directly. Also, there was a bug where the weight was not updated right away when an item was placed in a container, so you could potentially carry much more than normal (though this could cause problems).
In BD characters don't care if you loot (the character AI for that was used to improve enemy AI), and the weight bug was fixed. Containers can help organize your inventory (say, if you want to carry all Raanaar manuscripts with you until you can read them), but I would try to find a low weight container to use.