Wonder what happens when someone comes up and drops off their laptop bag, coat, purse off for valet, do they get snubbed?

Another possible solution would be to check small bags for free when pax are already paying to check a large bag.

Example: A few weeks back I flew TPA-LAX, SEA-TPA with a family member. We each had a full sized bag and a roll-aboard. On the outbound we checked the full-size (free as an FO) and carried on the two smaller bags (saved $25/bag). On the inbound we were upgraded and thus had SP so we checked all 4 bags.

Although I know there are exceptions, most of the time it seems the number of bags to be gate checked is minimal, so if you could proactively check ~15 small bags a flight, you would put a big dent in the problem.