Visited the local coin store today, mainly there to try to get some progress on Eisenhower dollars. They didn't really have many (they seemed to only have the silver ones, and some clad proofs which I wouldn't put in the album), but I did get a 1973-S silver business strike; last silver one I needed for the album. Didn't want to leave with just that, so I looked around, and saw a pretty decent (VF maybe?) 1909-S Lincoln, so now down to only needing 3 more to finish the Lincoln cent set! (You can probably guess which 3 I still need lol.) Also found a really nice 1967 Canadian cent to improve what I had in that set. This wasn't something I was looking for, but for 50 cents can't pass that up. Since I had my Lincoln cent album open anyway, I used the shiny 1951-S I found in circulation recently to upgrade what was in the album. I may have to settle for eBay to finish the rest of the clad Ikes I need, or find somewhat of a "lower end" coin store that will actually stock them. (One I go to most often seems somewhat upscale.) Other than a lucky find where I work, almost a year ago, I haven't seen them in circulation since the 1980's.
Once in a long while I'd see them in a teller's drawer or at a grocery. But self-checkouts and CoinStars want nothing to do with them, which makes them even more firmly "not real money" in most minds.
Some of the LCSs will have a lot of mint sets, sometimes less than $10 each. Not the same as finding in the wild, but you get a full set of UNC coins for just a few times face.
I already had to resort to buying and breaking open a 1973 uncirculated set to get the clad uncirculated Ikes from that year, since they were never released into circulation. I could do that for other years if I really have to but it feels like spending more than I have to, and also getting a lot of coins I don't need to get the ones I do. I'd rather avoid that if possible.
I might try asking a few banks if I have the spare time to do so sometime. They usually don't have any, but there's always a chance.
P.S. Three Lincoln cents I still need are: 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, and 1922 plain. Those will take a while...
