The paper investigates the philosophy and use of characteristic soil property values in Eurocode 7. Due to the spatial nature of soil variability, characteristic property values are shown to be problem-dependent and a function of two competing factors: the spatial averaging of properties along potential failure planes, which reduces the coefficient of variation of property values; and the tendency for failure to follow the path of least resistance, which causes an apparent reduction in the property mean. The Random Finite Element Method provides a self-consistent framework for quantifying and understanding this behaviour, and for deriving characteristic values satisfying the requirements of Eurocode 7. It is widely accepted that characteristic values may be over-conservative if they do not account for the spatial averaging of property values. Conversely, this paper argues that characteristic values based only on variance reduction techniques may be unconservative, if no account is taken of the apparent reduction of the mean along potential failure planes. Simpler probabilistic methods can be effective in guiding design through quantifying uncertainty. However, further research is needed to assess when such methods are applicable, and when they are significantly in error and require further attention.