Should retro RPGs with random encounters have given you the option to avoid them entirely at your leisure?

I know some RPGs like Chrono Trigger more or less do so since the monsters are actually present in the map and can thus be (for the most part) avoided, but I'm referring to the more common encounter system where they are entirely random and cannot be seen or avoided. One could, of course, argue the encounters are present precisely to add an element of danger to dungeons and the overworld, but I find this is not often done in a way that is satisfying. In many cases, after a while, it just gets monotonous and annoying, and I find myself just running from battles.

Granted, this may be mostly an issue in the later gen RPGs, where the encounters are rarely challenging, whereas at least in the early RPGs, you actually have to go into dungeons prepared, stocked up on items, and being careful not to waste said items or your MP/spell charges frivolously. That is perhaps where the random encounter system is probably the best.

In any case, if the choice was there to somehow turn the encounters off, how much would you have made use of it? It would certainly make dungeons traversing a hell of a lot quicker, but of course, it also makes bosses more challenging, since you won't get experience from battles and you'd have only the dungeon loot to rely on for income. It might have made for a neat little New Game+ sort of option for replays, at least.

What do you opine?