Originally Posted by PaulRivers

I currently own mountain bike shoes (clipless). I walked a mile home this summer due to a flat (long story, my dad wanted to fix the flat at home rather than where we were for some reason) in mountain bike shoes, and it was uncomfortable. Doeable, but uncomfortable. There's no way I'd walk any significant distance in them. I've gone grocery shopping in them - they worked ok, a little slippery. And I've used softer soled clipless - they gave me more knee pain as the cleat squirmed around (that part may not happen to everyone), and they're not as useful as clipless with a stiff sole for power transfer either. They also have a fashion problem sometimes, depending on what else you're wearing.

I can't be sure since I don't live in Europe, but it seems like wearing clipless being a fashion item (which seems to be most of the people going for pro-clipless for a 4 mile commute in this thread) is a fairly american thing. Whenever I see videos of people commuting in Europe, in the countries where bike commuting is a regular source of transportation rather than a niche racer-oriented thing like it is here, I don't think I ever see people wearing clipless (people who aren't racing).

There's a reason - because clipless for speed isn't useful at all for short distances. It's debated whether it actually improves your speed on long distances for racers even. (Not weighing in that it does or it doesn't.) It certainly isn't going to improve your speed if the max distance you ever ride is 4 miles. I guess you could debate whether you prefer the "connected to the pedal" feel of clipless, but I just can't imagine it being worth the hassle if the longest you ever ride is 4 miles. It doesn't seem like in countries where bike commuting is common, that people there are claiming clipless is at all necessary if you're not racing.