The US style? I much prefer the Japanese style instead (where €5 would be a coin instead of a note). When our largest coin is too small to buy a drink at a vending machine we've got a problem. ATMs don't turn over €5 notes anyway, so their existence is painfully awkward.
I miss seeing machines that would bend a 12oz can of soda for 25¢. Those were the days.
I sometimes go to coin-op car washes, it sucks having to punch a fist full of quarters into the machine for a quick wash.
A bending machine?
The main reason I don't use more cash is that it is so inconvenient. I don't want any coins back as change, and always telling cashiers to keep the change when the smallest bill is €5 is just too much for me.
Which is why it'd be better if they weren't all nearly zero value in today's money. Coins of tiny value really suck, I agree. What am I going to do with nickels and dimes, really? So useless.
I also agree bills made from that plastic material seem to hold up better and scan better by machines than the "paper" used in USD, so that's less of a concern.
Although on second thought if there were larger coins in circulation then vending machines would be more lucrative targets and the increased vandalism and theft would lead to even fewer vending machines being around.