I’ve gone to my bank to withdraw would I considered fairly small amounts of cash (2-$5,000) only to be told I needed to let them know in advance so they could ensure they had sufficient cash on hand. I explained to them that calling in advance was a horrible idea from a risk management perspective, and don’t people cash checks at the bank anymore? They eventually gave me the cash, but not without a lot of complaining.
It is actually an inventory issue. Vault cash is not earning. Also it is a lure for robbers. Line tellers don’t keep more than 10K in their vaults.
They have cash. I am on the supervisor board of a local credit union and quarterly I show up one day and do surprise cash counts, review reports and accounts etc...
Last time I did a reconciliation this little old credit union had a little over $350,000 in cash on hand. The bank is just being bitchy because your taking a chunk of cash out of their vault. If it falls on the first of the month aka mothers day for the SSI check drawers, then the bank might have to make arrangements to borrow cash from another bank which they have to pay interest on.