Collecting Circulating Coins

If there are any wishing wells around your area, wait until everyone leaves and jump in and take all the coins you want free. If you are in a large city area, take a cup, fill with pencils, stand on a corner and wait for coins to be dumped into the cup. Find those coin changing machines that take bills and give you change. Just make sure you have lots and lots of bills. Follow Brinks trucks and hope they drop a bag of coins. Ask everyone you know if they have any coins and you will pay them for them, maybe. Bartenders, waitresses, cashiers, etc all have great access to coins so just start asking.
I've found that many banks have $50 bags of cents (pennies) and if you are nice to them they will go to the vault and get you one. The nice thing about those bags is that they may have sat in that vault for years. Worth a try. It works around here. I get them from one bank, go throught the coins, take them back to a different bank.
If you know anyone that owns a laudromat or just works in one, ask if you could look through their change. I used to know a guy that owned 5 of them and he would get every possible type of coin ever made on Earth in his machines.

G'day from Oz,
I recently returned to collecting, afrer a long absence. Building your collection from circulation is the cheapest way to go: no postage, shipping, freight, insurance, etc.
As I see it, some coins that I might have taken out of circulation 20 years ago, will now cost me a lot. So, if I hang on to today's coins, I'll be in front 20 years from now.
Secondly, although one occasionally gets a really shiny new coin, most coins taken from circulation are ... well ... they're circulated. I have a system: I put anything interesting to one side. When I get a stack, I sort them, together with those I have previously saved, and only keep the best examples. I try to keep no more than six of each type: a couple for my collection; the rest are for swapping later. Then I spend the surplus. So my hobby isn't a financial burden.
Now, I know other collectors have some good techniques. The best is to cultivate people who have access to lots of cash. In oz, many clubs have coin-operated gaming machines. The clubs keep large amounts of coins on hand. I know some people, who a re friendly with the manager, go through several thousand dollar coins, twice a week. They buy what they want, at face value. That's quick way to find the good ones ... AND no outlay.
It can, however, be interesting to try and persuade family that you are spending several hours each week in gaming establishments, for a purpose other than gaming. They'll assume that you're there for an assignation. No-one understands or believes how far we numismatists will go for our hobby ...
The other trick is to cultivate people in a bank. They're good for getting rolls or bags of new stuff.
And remember: always look at your change; AND, if it doesn't seem rude, look at other people's change. My friends accept my eccentricuty, and if swapping a coin for another of the same value makes me happy, they generally see that as a very cheap gift to me, and they feel good too. I always offer the courtesy of an explanation of why I like one of their coins.
Some say that these techniques are just a matter of luck. The funny thing is: the harder I look, the luckier I get.
Peter in Oz

Zeeple,
The $25 box is just pennies. You could ask for $25 in another denomination but it wouldn't come in a box. Nickels come in boxes of $100, dimes in $250 and quarters and half dollars in boxes of $500. Whether or not it's common at a bank probably depends on if other people are doing what you are. When I first asked for coin boxes at the bank the teller looked at me and said "What?" in a very confused manner. I've gone back to the same bank at other times and had a different teller and they said "I don't think we do that." I had to explain that I've done it here before. I get lots of funny looks, especially on the half dollars.

Depends on how closely you look through them. I can go through on in a few hours. I sort by year then take the best ones out for my album. I also pull out wheaties, foreign stuff and anything that looks odd. Other people take the time to examine everything...I don't have that kind of patience...I've probably let a lot of little errors slip through my hands.

Not being in any hurry, when I get a $50 bag of cents, I just dump them out on a table, take my time going through them one at a time. What's the hurry. I've gone through such bags in a few days to many weeks. Just no hurry. I keep a copy of Looking Through Lincoln Cents handy for any wierd looking ones. If practically new, in one pile. Wheat cents in another. I just take my time. There is always tomorrow, I hope.

I recently asked at my local branch about coin boxes and they said that they do not order coins except for quarters, so any rolls of pennies nickels or dimes they have are from customers. Then I asked (because I was making a small withdraw, if he had any interesting coins in his drawer. He said, "Oh no. If we get interesting coins we buy them immediately and take them home."

Double whammy. I was bummed.

That's a terrific idea. You are a good uncle (er.. I guess you could be an aunt I do not know what j stands for).