Well I fly for EZY and regularly fly visual approach's and often take the first stage of flap at 10 miles or less if conditions permit.
However IAW SOP the gear is down at 1500 AAL and I am fully configured at 1000 AAL (usually fully stable) and stable at 500'.
You can still fly your aircraft within the SOP, enjoy your day out, be fuel efficient and safe.
Stable approach's are now a basic tenant of SOP and safe flying. They allow the other crew member to intervene, based on objective parameters, in order to prevent a potentialy dangerous situation. They prevent arguments on the flight deck about what is or is not acceptable and as we can see from this thread there are many diverse views on that.
Companies must pay insurance premiums so if the insurance companies measure risk in a certain way then the airline will do much the same in order to reduce its premium. Nothing wrong with that.