something very strange................., page-26

Sorry - I have to step in here... I generally have a critical sympathy for the pessimism expressed in these gold threads - but this has gotten ridiculous.

I worked at a westpac branch for a time - so in this case I really do know what I'm talking about.

If you walk into a branch and ask to withdraw 100k in cash they'll tell you to go jump. They'll get annoyed if you even ask for 2-10k - though you might get lucky.

Do they tell you to go jump because they're worried about a run on the banking system? No.

Branches try to keep as little cash on premises as possible. The reason for this is pretty obvious. Security. If they get robbed - they lose less. simple. How much cash they keep on the premises during the day is largely determined by the estimated needs of the branch in servicing the local community. From memory - our branch rarely had over 100k on hand at any one time.

Money pours out considerably faster than it comes in from deposits. so the branch orders what it thinks it will need for the day. If it gets it wrong - it can't get more cash that day - because it's hard to organise. You gotta make sure the security guys can do it - and you gotta find it from somewhere - treasury tells you go jump... but sometimes other branches will help out. But everyone gets shitty that you didn't organise your cash properly.

So if a customer comes in asking for 10k - this puts a severe strain on the branch to meet its needs for that day.

So can you all please stop using the fact that the bank won't give you all your cash at once as a sign of impending collapse? Think a little harder about the logistics of what you are demanding.