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Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

nytimes.com

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Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#151

Post by mechanical_bear »

twblalock wrote: post #58
chairmanwow1 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an absurd take. What would you have them do aside from call out a publicly bad actor explicitly? Seems like you are bending over backwards for a bad take.

In the media you don't get to "just" call someone or a company out. It inevitably makes the readers imagine comparisons in their mind. It is a status play: by lowering the status of one player in an industry, you implicitly raise the the status of the others. Everyone who works in the media industry knows that will happen -- and I know some people who work in that industry. Even teenagers do this on social media all…

You didn’t provide any real evidence in your comments, you just made some potentially specious claims, multiple times.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#152

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

dmoy wrote: post #88
smaili wrote: post #43

Are there any actual alternatives? Keeping your valuables at home or places like Public Storage aren't the safest of places either.

No it's like democracy - safe deposit boxes are the worst form of security for small things, except for all the others. If you have land in the middle of nowhere you can bury shit in the ground. But that's not a realistic option for most people.

Burying stuff is a decent option is there's something you want kept safe for decades, but if you want regular access to the stash, it's completely infeasible.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#153

Post by ghaff »

mdip wrote: post #125

> Banks increasingly regard safe deposit boxes as more of a headache than they’re worth. They’re expensive to build, complicated to maintain and not very lucrative. I think this article answers the question as to "why". I remember about 15 years ago the bank by my house opened up and passed on an offer that people who opened one of their high-deposit checking accounts would get a Safe Deposit Box for free. At the age…

As the article says, they're sort of a legacy thing. Some people may still use them for jewelry they wear to their annual gala or, as in the case described, valuable collectibles that they don't want to get rid of but don't want to keep around the house either. But historically people would have things like bearer bonds, paper stock certificates, gold coins, or just a lot of cash that they needed to put somewhere safe. And that's a lot less common these days.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#154

Post by yellow_lead »

randerson wrote: post #149
yellow_lead wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Common causes of damage are fire, water damage, chemicals, explosives, damage caused by animals (including consumption of the currency) or damage from extended burying of the currency [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutilated_currency

Surprised mold isn't on that list. I make sure to add silica gel packets even to my indoor safe these days due to the poor ventilation.

I think mold or fungus could be one of the biggest causes of issue within the "buried money" category

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#155

Post by Enginerrrd »

ghaff wrote: post #141
crazygringo wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's harder to find a good spot than you'd think, and good spots are more predictable than you'd think Now you've got me curious, can you elaborate?

I assume that if you bury a box of any size, you disturb the ground quite a bit. You also probably don't bury it in a random open field but near some landmark you can easily locate.

Yeah pretty much exactly this.

There are signs and landmarks. Trees, stumps, rocks, corners, etc.

Sometimes people make a mark to make it more recoverable, like a notch in a tree, or a topped tree.

Especially when a big part of my job is figuring out what the terrain and vegetation looked like before disturbance for restoration work. I can see 30-100+ years of history on a forested property just by looking around or occasionally reading old surveyors descriptions and stuff.

Beyond that, after you've seen a few, you start to get an eye for the type of spot people like to choose. People are very bad random behavior generators.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#156

Post by ananonymoususer »

Wistar wrote: post #53
ananonymoususer wrote: post #50

Nothing is 100% secure, but I have opted for a high-quality gun/fire safe that's bolted to the foundation of my home (in a gated community), and protected by multiple monitored alarm systems and cameras. The safe has a lot more room than any bank's box would, it's cheaper in the long-run, and IMHO (especially after reading the fine article) more secure. Also, it's got a S&G spin-dial lock that I trust a lot more than…

Where in the house is the safe located? I saw a video some years ago that made a fairly compelling case for locating the safe in a pantry or laundry room or anywhere other than the master bedroom, master closet, master bath or home office.

Mine is in the smaller of my (two) garages.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#158

Post by LastTrain »

OJFord wrote: post #142
LastTrain wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your time would be better spent preparing for the day you will be hit by a meteorite.

It does depend who you are of course, but yes I think we're in agreement?

I think people that require that level of security don’t run around talking about it. I could be wrong…

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#160

Post by mulmen »

jtbayly wrote: post #123
mulmen wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“There’s money in the banana stand.” Don’t take your cell phone with you when you do the burying. And only tell your family about it with hand written notes. And make sure they know not to look up any information related to the caches. And that they know to never speak of the caches near an internet enabled device. Also, don’t disturb the ground in any visible way. Just comparing google maps satellite imagery is enou…

Better take some sort of GPS device, though. Otherwise you may never find it again. Who was the British chap that buried a bunch of silver before WWI and never found it?

Sure but you can never reconnect that device with the internet directly or indirectly.
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