The usage of credit cards is so prevalent in the United States that people do not hesitate to swipe them to make purchases of even a few cents. Due to the absence of a minimum purchase value to use credit cards, and social stigma of using coins to make payments at points of sale, the usage of coins has been hit in the US. The vending machines in the US do not accept coins of value lesser than 10c, making all the smaller coins useless. As such, the people have huge stockpiles of "change" at home that they cannot or do not want to use.
This was a cultural difference I noticed in France - French people used coins a LOT more than Americans. Even the smallest denomination of the Euro was happily accepted as payment in most establishments, without any frowns or condescending looks by passers by. The Metro tickets and public transports required coins to buy tickets and only a few machines accepted paper bills.
Very interesting. This shows the Americans are willing to indebt themselves for even the tiniest sums while the French will not do that. Or maybe the Americans are better businessmen.
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