Isn't there a chance of reduced treasure when you use an item to smash open a container, though?
No, although I really wish there was. It doesn't even appear to impact Lucky Find.
Yeah I recall the older TES games you could bash stuff but it reduced loot (plus damaged your weapon).
I would like it if the game encouraged warriors to bash, rogues to use lockpicks (that don't break every time) and mages to use OPEN spells. But in a classless system it's easy for everyone to just default to bashing.