Back in the old days they were fine ... provided you had good ones. Nowadays, it's even harder to get the good, old style. Modern ones are pretty much useless.

It also depends on whether your dropouts are parallel to each other or not. My Europa (bought new in the 80s) has always given me trouble with a slipping rear wheel ... and naturally, she came with one of the old style, steel skewers. Now that she's running 9 speed gears and I've decided she always will, I've got sick of springing the hub into the dropouts (also a source of non parallel dropouts you'd think), I decided to take a deep breath and cold set the rear end. Did it and magically got the dropouts parallel at the same time - no, I don't have the funny tools but where previously, the wheel always wanted to sit crooked, now the wheel snaps straight into the dead straight position, even with a skewer and, surprise surprise, no more hassles with a slipping rear wheel. I reckon she's been wrong since birth.

Simple test. Using a wheel with a nutted axle, slide it in and tighten ONE nut. If things are lined up properly at the back, the wheel should be pretty much straight. Do the same with the other side. I'm sure this isn't as definitive as using the proper tools, but it's a good first test for the home tinkerer.