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[ÆNEMA]

I was wondering how safe deposit boxes might work insomuch as privacy. I know everyone in the feds will know about a bank account. And I know the bank will tell me what requirements are neccesary. But when I was a child my father would pull up to the bank and bring me to sit in the lobby, then he would go in this back room with a door 3 foot thick and stay in there for an hour. Afterwards he would come out with these heavy sacks of gold coins, for god sakes I thought he owned the damn bank (he must have had the largest safe deposit box they had) and make me carry them to the car, I barely could make it.

Does the IRS, FINCEN, FBI, US dept. of Treasury or any other alphabet soup know of the existence of SDB's? Is it recorded the same as bank accounts? Are the same SSN requirements for a bank account? Anybody experienced with SDB's much ?

[Roy J. Tellason]

The biggest problem I see with the use of these is the fact that most of them are in banks.

Harry Browne wrote in one of his books some time back (1970s!) that this could be a very bad thing if for some reason the feds decided that things were getting too out of hand and declared a "bank holiday" to put the brakes on whatever sort of panic was going on.  He suggested that if it were desirable to have such a box that one might seek out a safe deposit company,  one that wasn't part of a bank.

I've never seen such a place,  myself,  or any indication that they even exist.

OTOH,  there was a bank up the road that closed,  due to a merger in the past several years,  and that building is now occupied by some lawyers.  I'd imagine that the mergers that seem to keep on happening in the business might present the opportunity for some enterprising soul to pick up a building like that for not a whole lot more than commercial real estate costs in general,  and hopefull the safe would still be there and such.  One would have to deal with staffing,  and time lock nonsense,  and perhaps an armed guard or two,  but it seems like a viable business opportunity to me.  You'd just be renting out boxes for people to put their stuff in,  no more,  so I'm not thinking that any banking laws would apply,  though that probably wouldn't stop the "officials" in any given area from trying to apply such,  I guess a lawyer would be a part of the startup expenses too.

And it'd be one hell of a sturdy facility,  too.  I can still remember tv footage that was on right in the aftermath of Katrina where the reporter was standing in what was left of this bank in Gulfport, MS (?),  but the safe itself was doing just fine...

[TheDUDE]

OTOH,  there was a bank up the road that closed,  due to a merger in the past several years,  and that building is now occupied by some lawyers.  I'd imagine that the mergers that seem to keep on happening in the business might present the opportunity for some enterprising soul to pick up a building like that for not a whole lot more than commercial real estate costs in general,  and hopefull the safe would still be there and such.  One would have to deal with staffing,  and time lock nonsense,  and perhaps an armed guard or two,  but it seems like a viable business opportunity to me.  You'd just be renting out boxes for people to put their stuff in,  no more,  so I'm not thinking that any banking laws would apply,  though that probably wouldn't stop the "officials" in any given area from trying to apply such,  I guess a lawyer would be a part of the startup expenses too.

And it'd be one hell of a sturdy facility,  too.  I can still remember tv footage that was on right in the aftermath of Katrina where the reporter was standing in what was left of this bank in Gulfport, MS (?),  but the safe itself was doing just fine...

Sounds like just a variation of the modern day self-storage units business, only with smaller units and beefed up security.  I doesn't seem like any banking regulations would apply.  Could be a good business idea, I could think of a few things I wouldn't mind safely storing away.

[Pereldan]

Harry Browne wrote in one of his books some time back (1970s!) that this could be a very bad thing if for some reason the feds decided that things were getting too out of hand and declared a "bank holiday" to put the brakes on whatever sort of panic was going on.  He suggested that if it were desirable to have such a box that one might seek out a safe deposit company,  one that wasn't part of a bank.

I've never seen such a place,  myself,  or any indication that they even exist.

There was a company in Metairie, LA that was a safe deposit building, it was owned by a bank, but only contained lockboxes....the building was accessible 24/7 via a keypad by anyone renting a box (or a designated gopher with the pin, of course). If I recall rightly, they only required a name, address, and telephone number where you could be reached in case of emergencies.

Pereldan

[ÆNEMA]

Who are they Peralden? Can you provide a little intel, possibly PM? Is it underwater, still?

[Pereldan]

Who are they Peralden? Can you provide a little intel, possibly PM? Is it underwater, still?

Well, I can't recall the name of the company, and i left the area two weeks before Katrina, so I'm not sure how bad the flooding was in that area...on Veteran's Blvd, it ranged from almost no water, to over 15 feet in places, but the building is near the corner of Veteran's Blvd and Clearview Blvd, if you're familiar with Metairie......the name of the building it's in is, I think, Commerce Building....there may also have been other offices in there as well...I'm not sure.


Pereldan

[Not a TMM member]

 

[ÆNEMA]

Good Info. bucctoo,
It seems to me like the best method of safeguarding & stashing something is the old fashioned "bury it in the ground" method. Like pirates did. Could one utililze a handheld GPS, stashing in different locations, so as to not put all your eggs in one basket, recording the coordinates and coding them somehow, clearing the coordinates from memory in GPS, hoping no one can decode or even find them, also hoping no one is playing around in the woods at night with night vision. There goes your life savings.

If only Jose Gaspar had a GPS. ($30 million still missing)

[Bear]

While I think the GPS idea is basically sound, keep in mind that they have a circle of error, depending on the
number of satellites it can find that day. Once you get to the cache site iteself, it would be handy to have some
physical reference for finding the exact spot: "half way on a line from the back door to the garage side door", or
the intersection of two lines.... etc., so you don't have to a lot of digging if you end up coming back a LONG time
later.

Bear

[Joel]

This article from Bellaciao's blog is total hearsay.  But I read it on the internet, so it must be true.

Homeland Security To Confiscate Bank Safe Deposit Box Contents
(snip)
During these last two days, the workshop included members from the Homeland Security Office who instructed them on how to field calls from customers and what they are to tell them in the event of a national disaster. She said they were told how only agents from Homeland Security (during such an event) would be in charge of opening safe deposit boxes and determining what items would be given to bank customers.

At this point they were told that no weapons, cash, gold, or silver will be allowed to leave the bank - only various paperwork will be given to its owners.

[purple kitty]

This article from Bellaciao's blog is total hearsay.  But I read it on the internet, so it must be true.

Homeland Security To Confiscate Bank Safe Deposit Box Contents
(snip)
During these last two days, the workshop included members from the Homeland Security Office who instructed them on how to field calls from customers and what they are to tell them in the event of a national disaster. She said they were told how only agents from Homeland Security (during such an event) would be in charge of opening safe deposit boxes and determining what items would be given to bank customers.

At this point they were told that no weapons, cash, gold, or silver will be allowed to leave the bank - only various paperwork will be given to its owners.

Even if it's not true, why would we want to put our valuables in the bank anyway? Whether they have an "official" policy on the matter or not doesn't matter, all it takes is for them to declare that they're gonna do it and start doing it. And I would be surprised if they didn't confiscate anything of value from safety deposit boxes when the time comes.

[Roy J. Tellason]

A book I read a LONG time ago (1970s?) by Harry Browne had him pointing out that if things ever did get really hairy the feds would probably "declare a bank holiday",  which may only last for a few days or it may last longer,  depending.  Not my idea of a good place to keep important stuff either...

[unstructuredanew]

"Ok.
No SDB's are not a good idea."

Look up "Know your Customer".

There is no box in a place where you have no control that can be good.  Many folks would rather just give there goods up to the Feds for free than keep them in the Fed controlled banks.  Just my opinion, but there's truth in it.  Say you get a little lawsuit or subpeona, do you think the bank will want to risk their Patriot Act compliance?  Shy away from them unless it's a last alternative.  One might be better off storing valuables in a trusted office building and telling noone it's there.

Peace and Good Day

[Ted Nielsen]

One might be better off storing valuables in a trusted office building and telling noone it's there.

Good point. Some banks transport valuables(cash) in POAs(Plain Old Automobile).

Are you going to stick around this time? I think you've posted more in the last few hours than I've posted in the last two months.

[Power Privacy]

There is no box in a place where you have no control that can be good.  Many folks would rather just give there goods up to the Feds for free than keep them in the Fed controlled banks.  Just my opinion, but there's truth in it.  Say you get a little lawsuit or subpeona, do you think the bank will want to risk their Patriot Act compliance?  Shy away from them unless it's a last alternative.  One might be better off storing valuables in a trusted office building and telling noone it's there.

Many people who don't trust banks -- and you shouldn't if you believe the North American economy may be teetering on the edge of major problems, given the housing market bubble and peak oil, etc. -- have come to think that burying valuables in a watertight/airtight container is a good idea. And that's generally sound advice ... but if you're going to be secreting your assets in the form of gold bullion buried in the yard for when the revolution comes(!), bear in mind that anyone with reason to believe you have buried assets will likely be smart enough to come equipped with a metal detector.

Consider misdirecting any pursuers with steps like these:
-Trench somewhere on your property 3 or 4 feet deep to where you might plausibly want a water source for irrigation or other purposes. Dig deep with a commercial digging tool. Bury your gold in the trench during the night.
-The next day, run a galvanized pipe off your existing water system to a riser and faucet at the end of the trench. Backfill the trench. Landscape around it.
-Maybe plant a bush or two, or a couple of small trees at the end of the run to justify the existence of your new watering outlet.

Metal detectors will find the pipe, but anyone digging in the area would plausibly conclude the pipe set off a false positive.

We're working on a report for our subscribers, scheduled for March 21st, on innovative non-traditional places to hide things. Anyone else have good ideas for hiding valuables, particularly of the precious metal variety?