Gentlemen...
I noticed one can get the same treatment when cashing savings bonds even with an account! It is true that savings bonds can be cashed anywhere, but they don’t like it because of the time involved even if you have an account. Even if not a customer, they are probably compensated tho not much, by Treasury or something. They are required yes, tho a stack of bonds can take a half hour? It’s nice to call them ahead of time, too - even tho I had an account (checking) it was still a hassle with all that. And paper bonds have no longer been issued it’s electronic ledger book entries only. It can only get worse as time goes by and they are less common. In order to purchase bonds (and notes and bills and other things like TIPS) one has to open a Treasury account. And then you can head back to your friendly bank, because it has to be done in person iirc!
The teller even put a one day hold before the deposit could be transferred to another named account? Get this, I had cash in hand, and if I had thought of it at the time I would have re-deposited some of the cash directly into the account! I was pondering a 1 day hold on Savings Bonds, I guess.
Pretty much all banks and institutions are not keen on doing anything financial unless one is a customer i.e. has an account. That’s not news.
Federal Reserve Banks receive special insurance rates on their instruments and special interest rates that no one else can get because they're ultimately backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Translation: The full faith and credit of US taxpayers.
Consequently, they are obligated by law to provide services in support of the US Treasury. If they don't like it, they shouldn't be in the Federal Reserve system, and if they can't obey the law -- which was written by bankers for the benefit of bankers to begin with -- they need to be shut down.
Your conclusion is too restrictive: Banks like to screw anyone they can, including their own customers, and even including people they're obligated to service by law. That's not news, either.