Here in Switzerland the smallest paper bill is 10 francs. Remember that a franc is basically the same as a U.S. dollar. So it would be the same as if we had no paper $1 or $5 in the United States.
Here's a look at the various monetary options that we have here:
From left to right - 1/2 franc, 1 franc, 2 franc, 5 franc, and then the paper money in a variety of colors and sizes. There are also 5, 10, and 20 cent coins that sometimes show up in change. There are no "pennies" - the 5 cent coin is the smallest.
The obvious advantage of this is that the coins last practically forever compared to paper money and are more convenient for machines of all sorts (for instance, at the grocery store you deposit 2 francs into a locking gizmo on the shopping cart and it releases for you to shop - when you're done and re-lock the cart to the one next to it, you get your 2 francs back...).
I like using these coins instead of paper money.
While I find it easy to like coins of the various amounts I found that I needed a coin purse to keep the jingling from getting annoying. Colored money is Great -- our Green Backs so boring 8-|<
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