In the case of WDW, profit and costs are first and guest satisfaction is somewhere below that. At the end of the day, the company has to please shareholders and that's done by producing a profit. Since fewer people will be traveling this year (not even counting the DVC, Cruise Line, movie industry hit), the best way to achieve profit is through cost reduction and efficiency gains. So I definitely agree with you that most of their decisions are driven by cost, with COVID being the cause of them having to cut costs. I don't think COVID safety is why they stopped with the luggage handling.
I don't agree that charging for DME is forthcoming though. DME is operated by a different vendor than the luggage handling (Mears), and I think they've had an ongoing contract for quite a while. Plus, charging for DME will likely drive some people to off-site lodging, which will hurt the resorts division's bottom line. They really can't afford that with so many resorts closed currently. The loss from the resorts division will likely exceed any profit earned from DME charges. I am sure they've modeled this and decided its not the best choice, at least not at this point.