Comment by Stratoscope

> Regular branch banks have stuff go missing from the safety deposit boxes shockingly regularly. The locks aren’t particularly secure and various people are able to access them.

My late wife had a safe deposit box in the Almaden Valley (San Jose) branch of US Bank. Her key to the box was nowhere to be found. So I had to get the box drilled open.

This would normally require a hefty fee. But the branch was moving to a new location, so they invited customers to make an appointment to show up a Saturday with proper ID for a lock drilling party.

I showed my ID and the death certificate, and we went into the safe to have the lock drilled.

But there was no real drilling involved. The locksmith had a little handheld gadget that she pushed into the lock, gave it a little twist, and the door came right open.

The ironic part? All that was in there were a few pieces of costume jewelry, worth maybe $50 in total.

She was paying more than that per year for the box rental, and if I'd had to pay for the "drilling" it would probably be more than that.