That's a good point about the merchants. Not to mention the fact that many of them may have registers that don't have a slot for an additional coin.

I wonder how British merchants feel about it. They don't have a bill until the £5 note, which is worth over $9. That means virtually all small purchases require nothing but coins. I imagine it saves the government a lot of money in replacing small bills, though. Coins can easily have a lifespan of fifty years. I don't imagine bills generally last for more than ten. I guess that's less important in Britain, though, since they change their currency about every four weeks.