麻豆约拍

To some people, spare change is considered an irritant weighing down their pockets.

It is also an expensive form of money. In the US, it costs more than 2.4 cents to mint the penny and governments have to dilute the copper content of their coppers to stop people melting them down. Payments are also increasingly being conducted using a plastic card or mobile phones.

So why aren't small coins removed from circulation? The 麻豆约拍's Howard Mustoe went to find out.