system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are we still writing cover letters or not useful stuff when we submit a paper?

I know that you have thought this in the past. I know I am not the only one. Why are we writing cover letters and stuff that nobody cares (reads)?   

I mean, we could easily write the paper, then submit it and there you go.  These are formalities that need to be removed ASAP.

So, please choose me as the future Editor in Chief of your favorite journal and I will remove this tedious part of the process for you.

Edit: I firmly believe that an abstract is more important than anything else. Usually when skimming through new/old papers, if the abstract is poorly written or not very attractive, I wouldn't even bother reading the paper.
gpt
I've found editors may only read the cover letter and based on that, decide if it goes to review or not.  So it's not a waste of time in that sense.  Editors don't have a lot of time to go through each paper that crosses their desk so they need something quick and straight forward to help them out.