Guess I have to say "other". I do use random encounters. "Random", however, is a very flexible word. My thoughts on "random" encounters:
1) The world should not seem entirely planned out. "Randomness" feels more realistic. It need not BE absolutely random, but if every wilderness/travelling encounter is serenely arranged by the DM and served up to the players with no more "randomness" than kicking down the door to room #44 after leaving room #43 in the dungeon then you're missing a good trick. The perception of randomness and unpredictability that is transmitted to the players helps to convey the idea that the world is alive and doesn't follow predictable rules, is always geared to the PC's alone, and preparedness by the DM seems less staid and routine - even if these things ARE true.
2) Random encounters can help provide the sensation that the characters are moving through different areas and that time is passing. If terrain type, distance from civilization, time of day, and time of year are largely unimportant in your "random" encounters you're again missing out on very useful aspects of random encounters - to bring your world to LIFE. The random encounter is a tool to use to your benefit in more ways than wasting time before the REAL adventure starts.
3) "Random" encounters can demonstrate a PATTERN. Ogre encounters are on the increase - should the PC's attempt to find out why? The Laughing Bandit is once again preying on travellers to the capitol - will the PC's discover this by seeing a wanted poster, or will they discover it firsthand when they have their purses lightened at crossbow-point? Wolves are now appearing in the Fire Hills where they've never been seen before - is it something that makes the ranger go "hmn..." or is it just something that's never been noticed because so few people go there? Or perhaps wolves are attacking more frequently than they used to but there aren't really more OF them...
In fact, I've USED patterns established through random encounter charts by representing them as NON-random events. Also, I've used random combinations of encounters as being not random, but significant sequences.
4) Random encounters can simply be used to kill time but they can also be a nice diversion from routine. You get the opportunity to expose players and PC's to new, unique and exotic monsters without having to "work them into" a given adventure in some logical fashion. Or in a slow, roleplaying-heavy session it can liven things up a bit, or help keep the ROLLplayers happy.
5) Random encounters can be judiciously used to further the ends of your game in other ways. An NPC travelling with the party can display unsuspected powers or reveal suspicious behaviors during random encounters.
6) Random encounters are NOT just mindless, voracious, ruthless monsters and bandits. They can be a GOOD thing too. A passing good-aligned creature could provide a party with healing or protection right after a particularly difficult encounter on the road. Have your PC's ever met with a merchant who could RESUPPLY them with food, ammunition, fresh mounts, etc. during the trip or is every merchant they ever met only carrying bolts of cloth and furniture; stuff that's only valuable as treasure? When was the last time someone on the road hailed the _PC'S_ for news?
7) "Random" encounters don't need to be planned out or neatly prepared all the time, particularly if the purpose it's serving is largely to just be a simple, straighforward fight.
8) Encounter charts are just a means to an end, not the end of control of a campaign. They are tools, not a crutch to be despised and reviled. It doesn't matter if you use them before the game, during the game, or that you use them at all. What matters is WHY and HOW you use them.
For example, I would HIGHLY recommend their use by NEW DM's. They generally have enough to learn, and to try to keep juggling. They don't need to be burdened with fashioning gobs of finely detailed "random" encounters thorughout adventures. At the same time it helps teach them to improvise and adapt, and to familiarize them with a limited set of "typical" monsters.
9) I use random encounter charts of various types and from various sources. Sometimes I use them ahead of time. Sometimes I use them on the fly. Sometimes I use them as inspiration - a device to suggest something new and different rather than routine and predictable. Sometimes I WANT routine and predictable.
10) No random encounter is really as random as people sometimes think; or perhaps just not in the way that they think. The DM CHOSE those encounter charts. The DM decides whether or not to ACCEPT the results of the encounter charts and the dice rolls. Or else the DM MADE the encounter charts personally deciding what to put in them and WHY. The DM decides whether they want or need "random" encounters.
11) Random encounter charts don't need to limit themselves to monsters and NPC's. They can include weather, unusual phenomena, or random OCCURRENCES (such as a horse throws a shoe, ants in the rations, rain/wind/snow storm, a heat wave, an earthquake, Aurora Borealis, shooting stars, volcanic eruption, or an utterly unexplainable and disturbingly unearthly howl that wakes everyone up at night.)
12) Random encounter charts don't need to be limited to travel or dungeon halls either. Sometimes "random" encounters should occur when it truly does seem RANDOM - like when a PC is buying a new horse a griffon swoops in and attacks the stables. Why? BECAUSE IT'S RANDOM.
