Aussie shoppers left outraged after Kmart shopper's gross act

"Seems Kmart is now a Swap n' Go!" one commenter quipped after seeing the sneaky move. 

An Aussie shopper was recently wandering through the aisles of Kmart when she came across a 'gross' discovery in the shoe section. 

Perched innocently among the footwear was a pair of sandals that had clearly seen better days - and plenty of them. 

They had worn-out soles, deeply engrained toe prints and even holes in some places. 

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Image: Kmart

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The sneaky Kmart sandal swap

It didn't take long for her to piece together the puzzle: a previous shopper had switched out their old pair for a new pair of the same style, exchanging their well-worn ones for spanking new ones right off the rack.

They'd even gone to the trouble of putting them neatly back on a hanger, thinking that no one would notice the sneaky swap. 

Taking to a Kmart fans Facebook page, she shared a photo of her find.

"Seems Kmart is now a Swap n' Go!" she captioned the post, which now has over 4.5k likes and nearly 900 comments. 

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"Maybe it's just the vintage look"

Comments ranged from utter disgust to discussions about the current cost-of-living crisis. 

The 'ewww' crowd were loud and clear, with responses like, "How disgusting" and "So feral."

Then some witty commenters saw the lighthearted side of the situation.

"Cheeky bugger!" one quipped. Another remarked, "Hahahah some people have no shame! But it's not the worst idea, to be honest."

"Maybe it's just the vintage look," joked someone else.

And then this person appreciated that "at least they're worn in!"

"This happens more than you think"

Then a few commenters pointed out that this likely wasn't a one-off incident. 

"This happens more than you think. Most of the time they just ditch the old ones on the floor," said one, while another shared, "I work at Kmart and this happens regularly."

Then some tried to step into the shoes (sorry) of the mysterious sandal swapper. 

"Not that this is okay, but with the cost of living at the moment, I almost don't blame people for doing this sort of thing anymore," one empathetic commenter wrote.

Another said: "Those poor people. To get to the point you're swapping out and stealing Kmart shoes just to keep something on your feet... It's not like they're stealing $300 shoes for a glamorous party - they're stealing crappy slip-on sandals."

Originally published as Aussie shoppers left outraged after Kmart shopper's gross act