Yesterday, some folks came over from the adjoining state to look at a Grand Cherokee we had for sale. Before they came over, we discussed the sales process, what they needed to bring and made sure that they knew that we only take cash. There was a branch of the bank that they do business with here in town, they had more than enough funds to cover it, so they came over.

They liked the vehicle and we were set to do business, UNTIL they went to the branch of their bank to cash a check for $6,500. Cashing the check would not have been a problem except that the bank had ran out of cash. That's right, the bank had ran out of cash. There had been so many people running in there to pull the cash out of their government handout, that the bank did not have that much cash. And neither did any of their nearby branches.

When was the last time you heard of a bank running out of cash? The folks had the money, but their bank couldn't give it to them. What a system.

To be expected.. people are short on food and other supplies and they wanted cash ASAP

That's the problem with credit banking. I'd bet this happens more often, but limited to a single branch.

I thank GOD we've not been adversely affected by this whole "process". Still working part-time, wife is working from home. We'll be OK.

Now, are you holding the Cherokee for them?

The local Credit Union I deal with had a different problem because of the stimulus checks, their system got overwhelmed by so many direct deposits hitting at once that it crashed their system HARD. No transactions at all could be done for the better part of a day. Not sure how this affected auto payments, ATM's etc, etc. but the local branch had to close until they sorted it out.

In an email that went out to customers, they said they normally handle about 5000 tax refund direct deposits from the government in a 'season'. When 9000 stimulus checks hit in ONE day, it flat-out overwhelmed the system.

I'm not one to carry cash except maybe a dollar or two, but have been carrying a little extra since this incident.

So what would have been wrong with a cashiers check?

In my small town, one bank has no more than 20K in cash; another one I have accounts at carries about double that.
Found that out when I needed to raid accounts to cash-buy a car.
The smaller bank asked me to give them a couple days' notice next time so they'd have cash delivered.
Probably since most transactions are electronic, checks, or bank drafts, they don't need to have cash on hand.
I think cash on hand is also static, as opposed to earning money for the bank.

Wait till the paper checks hit the mailboxes.....there WILL be a cash shortage,

A lot of people don’t understand banking. A direct deposit to your account doesnt move any cash anywhere....it’s just numbers on computer. Those numbers then get transferred around—debits, credits, loans.

However...a person walking out of a bank with a wad DOES move cash, and that cash doesn’t exist in amounts to cover it if everybody did it. These checks hitting the populace are going to aggravate the cash system.

“it’s a wonderful life” tried to teach people something about banking...but so few got it.

What does an angel getting his wings have to do with banking?

That many people to cause a cash run on the banks, only days after the start of the IRS direct deposits, IMO is a pretty bad omen to state of the financial affairs of the US populace, unless you live in a severely overextended or depressed area, during the greatest economic boom of all time.

We are not holding the GC for them, they didn't want to leave a deposit. It is 50/50 whether we will see them again. They very much wanted the vehicle, but it was unclear when they could make the drive again and if they want to. They did not want to travel with that much cash and didn't want to go to the trouble of getting a cashier's check in case they didn't want the thing or negotiated a different price. Everybody has their own way of doing things and it seems to me that a lot of people don't really know how to conduct business, especially out of town and when it comes to larger than daily outlays of cash.

We have ran into people not being able to get at their money evenings and weekends and the like, but this is the first time that we have ran into the bank not having the money.

Probably like a lot of you, I have bought the majority of my Mopars on weekends and for cash. Often, out of state. So, I got used to keeping cash around. But especially the last few years with interest rates so low, we only keep enough money in the bank to conduct certain business. The rest is kept handy in cash. Of course, everything has certain risks, but it is crazy that a person can only get their money between 9 and 3 Monday through Friday. That is, IF the bank even has the cash to give.

This whole weird economic situation we are in WILL be used to move us yet another step toward a cashless system.

You can bank on it!!! You will also hear many people talking even more about emergency cash and liquid assets in the event of SHTF. More preppers than ever in that regard.

Cash, silver, gold, ammo, They all have their place. Banks are too easy to shut down, this event should teach us that! Imagine the panic if banks were shut down. Months ago many would have said “it’ll never happen”. I think far fewer would say that today.

Now, I am suspicious to whole premise, basically "all the banks were out of cash".

Were you at any point able to verify this yourself directly from the bank?

If not, sounds more like to me the buyers account was the only one "out of cash".

If the S truly hit the fan, and ammo really became a necessity, would money of any kind, even gold, have any real value? I can't think that anything you couldn't eat, drink, wear, or burn would be worth much.

It's like if that mountain-sized asteroid were coming in. Would you rather be right under it and have all your problems be solved, or would you rather be on the other side of the planet and try to live through the anarchy?

Cash, silver, gold, will only have value if we collectively agree it has value....the same as right now. Your asteroid example is a good one, so is the Titanic. Yes there are scenarios were it would be worthless, but that is unlikely, and would be an evolution...... it would likely take time before it would be worthless.

I don’t think that would happen immediately by any means. But the first value to disappear would be numbers in a bank account accessible via computer. Next paper money value.

All these checks hitting the mail and requiring people to walk into their bank (and then faced with the simple decision to deposit OR walk out with cash) is going to be very interesting.

The other lesson was that old men in nightgowns is just wrong.

Zuzu likes this.

hmmmmmmmm: 1929

It has happened in Florida when a hurricane is coming. People worried that they won't be able to access their money when the power is out or won't be able to use their cards.

It's not a shock that a major chain type of bank didn't have enough cash on hand.

At one time I was banking with US Bank a fairly large chain style bank with locations all over the United Sates.
I wanted to pull out $10k to take to the Mopar Nationals to buy stuff.
US Bank said they didn't have that much cash on hand all the time and that I needed to contact them in advance to take out that large of a sum of cash. We had to go to multiple locations to pull out $10k on a Wednesday.

Ive had it happen to me on several occasions over the last 25 years or so.
1st time I wanted 25k , all cash. Was traveling to upstate NY to look at a car. My bank branch didnt have it.'
asked me to come back next day and all would be good

Last time was about 3 or 4 years ago. I went in to get $5k. , again didnt have that much cash on hand. ( different bank chain entirely this time versus 1st time )

I once asked a family member whom is a vice president of a bank chain.
He told me once the amount of actual cash on hand depends A LOT on the branch itself

If it were me and the buyer was in front of me,,,, standing in a bank I would have asked to do a wire transfer and sold the car.