I seem to recall reading an article on HN a few weeks ago about how banks are pulling out of the safety deposit business now that their new branches don't really need vaults for cash, and it's not clear that any replacement for those services is emerging with the same geographic reach as the retail banking system.
Also the main point of the article was that the safety deposit boxes aren't even safe.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box...
Re:I Miss Microsoft Encarta
by thaumasiotes on Monday August 19, 2019 @08:35PM
(#20742933)
I've been in a bank recently to get penny rolls.
Why do you think "safety deposit box" is a "safe deposit box", just because of the name and branding?
Give this a try, go open and put some rock in your safe deposit box, then call the bank and tell them you placed a C4 explosive in the box and will detonate it if they dont deposit gold under a park-bench in 2 days time.
Then watch how safe your safety deposit box is.
Don't have a safety deposit box with precious metals and jewels inside?
Many, many people do - among other items (guns, cash, drugs, etc).
While "brick and mortar" banks may not exist, something of the same nature will - some kind of high-security place to store stuff like that, away from home. Maybe it will also be combined with some kind of networked backup storage for data as well...
To an extent, places like this do exist - private vault companies; always have.
I guess my point is that physical banks offer other services which can't be replicated virtually.