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This would be like using a pool as a wallet service, as you could send a subset of your balance to a retailer to purchase something and avoid running the Bitcoin client app.
Most pools only pay out the complete balance to your specified address, which makes this option unavailable.
Obviously, whether or not it's a good idea depends on how trustworthy the pool operator is, and the sum of BTC at risk.
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You can use an online wallet to handle all of your Bitcoins.
The reason you don't want such an option in a pool, is that in case someone steals your password, they can drain your account. This is the reason most pools have a 24h waiting period between when you change your receiving address and being able to send any Bitcoins.
In the future someone could potentially make a joined pool and wallet service that will allow you to manage your earned Bitcoins easier, but that is not yet an option (I'm slowly working on it though;) ).
"The reason you don't want such an option in a pool, is that in case someone steals your password, they can drain your account." - the same is true of an online wallet (except for one I saw recently which apparently uses your browser to encrypt the data before they receive it. Can't remember the name) – Highly Irregular – 2011-12-15T00:31:42.097
Yes, but login security of a pool might be not as big as an online wallet, simply because what you can gain from it is smaller. Compare security of an online bank to that of PayPal. Personally, my bank requires me to log in with a special number as my account name that is separate from my wire transfer account number, when I send wire transfers I get one-time passwords and so forth. For PayPal, you get your email and password, and you can pretty much do anything having those two. – ThePiachu – 2011-12-15T10:47:22.777