NM5K snip, snip and...

Besides, I've never really
worried about it much. I don't think it would have any effect on how I
build my short verticals.

Good for you :-)
Granted, we are close to optimum with mobile verticals.
If I understand how and why things work, I can do better job on optimizing and
maximizing the performance of the antennas, especially when it comes to more
element loaded arrays. You would see significant difference in
designing/optimizing say 3 element loaded beam. Modeling software uses currents
in elements and calculates mutual interaction between the elements. If the
current distribution and magnitude are off by 50% then we have major problem.

Yuri