I have walked all day in my clipless mountain bike shoes and never experienced pain nor discomfort. I regularly shop in them, spend the first hour of work in them, spend the day at the aquarium or science center on the weekend. I guess this is another example of different strokes for different folks.

I do agree the shorter the distance of my commute the less likely I would be to switch to clipless if I had not previously. But my commutes have never been less than 11 km (~7 miles) and that short is once a week if I am lucky. I used to ride 50 km round trip and now average 35 km round trips everyday.

To run out to store in the evening it is easier to put on my clipless than tie my sneakers.

But I have gotten used to them and I would find it hard to switch away.