I pick up pennies. I don’t really want to, but sometime in my childhood I got it ingrained in me by my mother that it was bad luck not to pick up pennies. So I do, by force of habit. Then I toss them in a box and every several years I cash them in along with other random change.
As for losing something–I’d be a tiny bit bummed to lose a dime or higher. It would take at least ten dollars to get me more than a little bummed, though, unless I was counting on having the money for something (like it was my lunch money).
A penny, I go out of my way to pick them up.
I even picked up a half-penny months ago, and that’s not been legal tender since the 1980s.
A dime, going by what I will bother to pick up. There’s a nickle that’s been lying in my front hall for months, half-wedged under the wood trim at the edge of the tile floor. If it were anything larger, I would have taken the trouble to pry it out and put it into one of the many little change jars I have around the house by now.
The smallest amount I would bother to pick up is 20 pence. I sometimes throw away 1s, 2s, and 5s because they’re just worthless clutter (It would take me a loooooooong time to collect enough coins for it to be worth using a Coinstar).
I would be bummed if I lost a pound down a drain. If I lost paper money, I’d probably cry.
I’d be a bit bummed by $5, bummed by $10, and pissed by $20.
A dollar lost isn’t the same thing as a dollar wasted. Not even close. That five dollar bill I might drop down the sewer grate is, statistically, identical to the five dollar bill I might drop on a lotto ticket. The difference is intent, and to call it a huge difference is probably an understatement.
Irrationally, a loonie feels more valuable to me than an American dollar bill. I’d be slightly more upset about losing one than losing a dollar bill.
And I agree that quarters are a special case. Their worth has nothing to do with their face value. Sometimes a quarter is the only thing standing between you and a $50 parking ticket.