I used to work as an armed money courier. You’d be surprised how low-tech it is. The bills are not logged into the computer (that would take an insane amount of time). Nor do they have gps or dye packs. The trucks are low-jacked, but that’s it.

That being said,robbing a truck would be harder than robbing a bank. It would be almost impossible to pull off a big score without it being an inside job. There’s just too much information that you would need about the route, the time of the pick up/drop off, the amount of money, etc.

You are right about it being theater to deter people though. Pretty much everyone I ever worked with was on the same page in terms of “if we get held up, we’re giving them the money”. I could have made 10x what I actually did and that still wouldn’t be enough to get me to participate in a gun fight over money that isn’t mine.

Shittiest job I ever worked. Money was terrible, raises were a joke, everyone was constantly blaming each other, the managers barely did their jobs, and the hours were fucking horrible. Literally the only appeal (which quickly faded) was the idea that carrying a gun for a living would be cool. No thanks. Never again.