>Why waste time on pennies?  Or nickels??  
> No we as humans  (and bees) know to 
> focus our efforts on the most rewarding 
> as a rule,  and move down the scale when 
> those don't pan out.

What is forgotten in the above is the hive's need to hedge its bets at all
times, and hence, the need to always dedicate some of one's forager force to
speculative investigation in a wide range of directions, so that new sources
can be discovered while they are still merely "promising".  So when quarters
suddenly disappear, the hive will need to "turn on a dime" to another
source.

In this, the foragers who have speculatively stumbled upon, and keep working
on a new "merely promising" source ( e.g. wild roses along fencelines) may
not bring home the "best" nectar, but fact that foragers have found the wild
roses before they become the most valuable source of forage allows the hive
to "turn on a dime" and refocus the main forager force on the roses when the
Tulip Poplar flow peters out.

Tom Seeley wrote a detailed book on this subject - "The Wisdom of the Hive".

Similarly in warfare, the Roman Legions developed the concept of the Maniple
(manipulus -  "a handful") a small tactical unit which would move rapidly,
probing for a weak point in the enemy's defensive line.  Highly speculative,
but occasionally very valuable. 


As an aside, the example given for  (USA currency) coins is counterintuitive
for the case of "grabbing coins":

1)  The volume of a quarter is almost precisely 2.5 times the volume of a
dime.
2)  So the "equivalent pennies per volume" are the same between the two
coins.
3)  Yet the dime is smaller, so it will randomly pack more densely.
4)  So, a hand formed into a scoop will grab and hold a larger value in
dimes than in quarters. 
5)  The same goes for a (well-shaken!) piggy bank.

As an aside to the aside, there used to be an Australian penny.  It was the
same size as a USA dime, and worked great in vending machines.  ( I was a
destitute college student, and had to live by my wits alone...)

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