# Why do bank robbers rob banks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355 "2011-05-26T21:10:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/21 "2011-05-27T05:07:46Z")
> [@ecoaster](#): > > Why not rob bars at closing time? This is what Harold S. Long suggested in his book [Successful Armed Robbery](http://www.loompanics.com/CrimeScience/crime_book21.htm). Actually, he suggested robbing the owner/manager of a large night club while they dropped the evenings proceeds off at a night deposit box. About 2 years after this book was published these types of robberies skyrocketed for a short time. Another good target is a [Drug Dealer](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/087364283X/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books) according to Rex Feral (AKA the same house wife who wrote [Hit Man](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Hit_mancons.jpg) ) The First Amendment is good, but committing robbery is bad, mkay? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/22 "2011-05-27T05:23:45Z")
> [@samjones](#): > > It’s where the money is. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Dammit, **samjones**! :mad: > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You could at least credit Willie Sutton for that. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I came in here to say just that. Shoulda known this place would beat me to it. > > Apparently Willie Sutton [never said that](http://www.snopes.com/quotes/sutton.asp) though. Still, it is a good quote to keep on hand. Play it again, **sam**! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/23 "2011-05-27T05:33:28Z")
In every cash handling job I’ve ever had, there was always a drop safe, a place for cashiers to put money in, which they couldn’t get out again. Only managers could get the money out again, and the managers always had at least one other person as backup, usually another manager. When the places were quite busy, a manager would make a bank run during the day, and sometimes several runs in a day. In places like grocery stores, where there are several cashiers, you’ll occasionally see a manager taking money out of a register so that there’s not a tempting amount in the till. The goal is to have enough money to be able to easily make change, but not so much in the drawers that the consumer or the cashier starts thinking that nobody would miss it very much. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/24 "2011-05-27T06:20:26Z")
> [@samjones](#): > > It’s where the money is. Exactly the first thing that leapt to my mind. Accompanied by a mental image of a vault filled with big, bulging sacks with dollar signs on their sides. Which makes me wonder how many real-life bank robbers are influenced by all the cliched bank robberies in movies, TV, comic books, etc. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/25 "2011-05-27T06:44:03Z")
My bank experience, altered by memory and the fact that not all banks have the same policies: Top drawer of my personal cash chest could have up to $2000. This was the standard one that had slots for $1, $5, $10 bills etc. Middle drawer was coins. Bottom drawer was extra bundles of cash. The entire chest could only have $10000 max. We had lockers in the back for storing extra cash. The total of all our money (chest plus locker) was $50000, although that amount depended on your experience. If you exceeded $10000 in the chest, you were to immediately put up your sign after the customer and put it in the back. If you exceeded $50000, you were to immediately close and sell it to the machine or the vault. In other words, a quiet robber would likely get up to $2000, or $10000 if neighboring tellers were not observant. But then reaching in the bottom drawer puts you close to the alarm. If you got robbed, you probably wouldn’t get fired. But if you got robbed of \>$2000 from the top, it is more likely that they would fire you as you violated procedure. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/26 "2011-05-27T06:58:10Z")
In the movie _Pulp Fiction_, the character Pumpkin (Tim Roth) convinces Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) that coffee shops are better places to rob than liquor stores, which is what they’ve been doing up to then: Pumpkin: Why not? Nobody ever robs restaurants. Bars, liquor stores, gas stations… you get your head blown off sticking up one of them. Restaurants on the other hand, you catch with their pants down. They’re not expecting to get robbed. Not as expectant anyway. Honey Bunny: I bet you could cut down on the hero factor in a place like this. Pumpkin: Right, just like banks, these places are insured. Manager? He don’t give a fuck. He just wants to get you out the door before you start plugging the diners. Waitresses? Fucking forget it! No way they’re taking a bullet for the register. Busboys? Some wetback getting paid a dollar-fifty an hour, really give a fuck you’re stealing from the owner? See, I got the idea, last liquor store we held up, all the customers kept coming in? Honey Bunny: Yeah. Pumpkin: And you got the idea of taking their wallets. Now that was a good idea. Honey Bunny: Thank you. Pumpkin: Made more from the wallets than we did from the register. Honey Bunny: Yes, we did. Pumpkin: A lot of customers come into a restaurant. Honey Bunny: A lot of wallets. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/27 "2011-05-27T07:08:21Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Of course this has been changing as time goes on. With electronic currency taking over there is less need for banks to keep as much cash on hand as they used to. I was thinking the opposite. That with more debit cards and the like, a lot of businesses probably end up with a lot less cash at the end of the day then they used to, so banks are probably one of the few targets that still have a lot of cash on hand. ---
**Author:** ![Curious\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Curious\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curious_Mike)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/28 "2011-05-27T07:24:38Z")
I know from my days working in a bank that grocery stores made huge deposits through the night drop. Especially on holiday weekends. I would think that doing a little homework to find the store with lax proceedures and tailing them would make for an easy mark. At the bank where I worked we had a rash of drop bags being stolen from the drop box. The way they did this was to first have a key (probably obtained by a legitimate business) that would open the automatic door. Instead of putting in a drop bag full of cash they put in a large fish hook on a thin line. When the door shut they could ‘fish’ until they hooked a bag then pull the bag up to the bottom of the door, reinsert key and viola. I once helped to apprehend a bank robber that pulled into a parking lot next to me to dump the dye pack. I was talking to police on my cell phone and he looks right at me. Strange feeling! As for getaway plans I have always thought that an offroad motorcycle would work well in a suburban area. Plan your route so that if you are being followed you can go into some of those large neighborhoods and cut through yards into adjoining neighborhoods where the police cant follow in their cars. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/29 "2011-05-27T10:48:50Z")
Why do bank robbers rob banks? The simplest answer is that they wouldn’t be bank robbers unless they did. Why do criminals rob banks? Much of the reason can be laid at the door of the old adage: one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb. In other words if you’re going to risk a substantial term of imprisonment for armed robbery then why not at least rob somewhere which has the biggest return for your efforts. Of course, the days of a Dillinger vaulting athletically over the bank counter and cheerily wooing the female customers as he empties the vault are long gone. Banks are a little harder to crack these days and the smartest bank robbers are those who go nowhere near the bank but siphon off millions from it by means of a laptop and a little ingenuity. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/30 "2011-05-27T12:22:34Z")
> [@ecoaster](#): > > Is it that bank robbers are just stupid and greedy or is it because robbing a bank is way more justifiable to the robber than robbing a business? I vote for stupid. As others have pointed out, they don’t give intelligence tests in order to qualify to become a criminal. Also, no criminal expects to get caught. They think that others get caught, but they have come up with a cunning plan, so they’ll get away. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/31 "2011-05-27T12:54:47Z")
I used to work in an Irish bank, and I can confirm that most robberies are of small amounts. If they get anything, they get away with whatever was in the cashier’s drawer - maybe a few thousand. Often they get indelible ink on their hands as they dash out the door, if they are handed the right bundle. Many Irish bank branches have less physical cash than you might think, because customers are moving to non-cash transactions. Indeed, one bank has gone entirely cashless. What cash there is mainly stashed in a safe with a time lock. The cashier can’t open it, no matter how much you threaten her. So, the movie cliches are largely a myth or based on criminal life a century ago. You can’t run in the front door, and escape with millions. There is not a big safe full of cash which you force the manager to open. There is not even much cash to steal. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/32 "2011-05-27T13:07:18Z")
I think the short answer is that most criminals are stupid, and their teeny little brains won’t go any further than “Bank has money, I want money, I rob bank”. If they were capable of figuring out ROI on their time and effort, they would concentrate on something more remunerative, like working a minimum wage job. If you average out the takings over a lifetime, you do better working for minimum wage than robbery. Read the chapter in _Freakonomics_ on why drug dealers live with their mothers for further insight. Crime does _not_ pay, at least not very well, and the stories of criminal masterminds and their glamorous girlfriends and big houses are rare exceptions. Criminals don’t realize this, because, as mentioned, they’re mostly stupid. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/33 "2011-05-27T13:16:51Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > … but they have come up with a cunning plan, … Baldrick? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/34 "2011-05-27T14:03:54Z")
I actually think banks are easier to rob than a lot of the other options. Bank tellers are taught to just hand over the relatively small amount of money in response to a simple note, let the guy go and either chase him down then or use the cameras to chase him down later. Other kinds of robberies require brandishing a gun, and have the very real possibility of getting shot by a very invested owner. Banks are so easy, people tend to get addicted to them and keep robbing banks, until they end up getting caught due to bad luck. Usually a police officer nearby. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/35 "2011-05-27T14:31:25Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > College bookstores, actually, aren’t a bad idea. Some of them are tucked away deep inside buildings, which could make it harder, but on book buy-back day at the end of the term they might have thousands of dollars in cash on hand, and many states prohibit concealed carry on campuses. If anything went wrong, they’d throw the book at you. Possibly many books. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/36 "2011-05-27T14:32:38Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > This is what Harold S. Long suggested in his book [Successful Armed Robbery](http://www.loompanics.com/CrimeScience/crime_book21.htm). Actually, he suggested robbing the owner/manager of a large night club while they dropped the evenings proceeds off at a night deposit box. About 2 years after this book was published these types of robberies skyrocketed for a short time. > > Another good target is a [Drug Dealer](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/087364283X/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books) according to Rex Feral (AKA the same house wife who wrote [Hit Man](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Hit_mancons.jpg) ) > > The First Amendment is good, but committing robbery is bad, mkay? > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > In every cash handling job I’ve ever had, there was always a drop safe, a place for cashiers to put money in, which they couldn’t get out again. Only managers could get the money out again, and the managers always had at least one other person as backup, usually another manager. When the places were quite busy, a manager would make a bank run during the day, and sometimes several runs in a day. > > In places like grocery stores, where there are several cashiers, you’ll occasionally see a manager taking money out of a register so that there’s not a tempting amount in the till. The goal is to have enough money to be able to easily make change, but not so much in the drawers that the consumer or the cashier starts thinking that nobody would miss it very much. //harmless anecdote// Brings back the old days. Late 60’s, me as the night guy at the gas station, night deposit. There was a guy knocking off stations locally - his pattern placed him my area in the next couple of weeks so all the local stations were staked out by police. I leave at closing ('68 Chevelle, 327/4 speed, modified north of 300hp). Police told me later that the guy followed me but couldn’t keep up 😃 on my way to the bank drop. Next day, he approached the station on foot (actually a better day as Wednesday was double Green Stamp Day). Cops recognized his driver / accomplice as having outstanding warrants. All of a sudden all sorts of cars/pedestrians/folks from nowhere converge and arrest the duo. Very cool and movie like. //harmless anecdote// ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/37 "2011-05-27T16:34:31Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I always had the fantasy of robbing the restaurant at the top of a ski resort - at the time, everyone paid in cash, there were tons of customers, everything was expensive, and best of all, it wouldn’t raise any eyebrows if you were wearing a face mask. Get away would be simple, also - just ski down the hill, and change your clothes on the way. > Regrettably, I’m I was too honest (and chicken) to do it. You can change your clothes while you are skiing down a hill?! :eek: You must be a very talented skier! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/38 "2011-05-27T16:39:54Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > You can change your clothes while you are skiing down a hill?! :eek: You must be a very talented skier! James Bond could do it. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/39 "2011-05-27T18:19:31Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > You can change your clothes while you are skiing down a hill?! :eek: You must be a very talented skier! Oh, I could easily strip off my ski jacket while skiing pretty fast… ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355/40 "2011-05-28T07:45:12Z")
> [@](#): > > WAG: rock cocaine is the precipitating factor in most bank robberies. Rock makes you invincible, omnipotent, and bulletproof—at least for five minutes. And you need a minimum of $3000/month to supply a daily habit. Well over 50% of all people arrested for immediate-gain property crimes have controlled substances in their system, and different crimes are correlated with different abuse profiles. Burglars, for example, are generally found to have either opiates or benzodiazepines in their system as opposed to stimulatory drugs such as cocaine or methamphetamine. Yes, I was going to say that. The reason drugs are illegal isn’t b/c of some high and mighty moralistic stance, but b/c they create behavoirs like thinking robbing a bank is a good idea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-bank-robbers-rob-banks/583355.md?page=3)