At our house taking off your shoes the minute, you come inside is just something we did as kids. My mother is Japanese and it is tradition to take off your shoes at the door so we followed that practice.
Many times over the years I have walked by the shoe shine stand at St. Michael's, today I saw Mr. Ed's smiling face and decided to get my boots shined and I am glad I did!
This is about as dumb as it gets. Australian retailers are going to charge customers for trying on clothes and shoes. The Australian retailers association says that shoppers spend tremendous amounts of time in the retailers stores trying on clothes and shoes, and the retailers time is very valuable, just to buy it cheaper online...