Saved me from saying mostly the same thing (although Oscar is partially right), but over here in the UK a phone call isn't needed for a few reasons which I also won't go into here. We usually knew exactly what they had way before they hit the cash desk, well, in the high end casinos anyway.
Plaques are the weapon of choice on the Punto Banco tables here and jetons were phased out years ago as French roulette tables didn't generate as much revenue as "American" Roulette for obvious reasons, mainly more spins per hour.

I'm surprised plaques weren't used more in the US as they are much classier but I expect not many tables they could be used on.
Again over here, most of the higher denomination chips/plaques increase in size although not always.
Keep up the good work Oscar.