A safe deposit box, also incorrectly called a safety deposit box is an individually secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions. Safe deposit boxes are used to store valuable possessions, such as gemstones, precious metals, currency, marketable securities, important documents such as wills, property deeds, and birth certificates, or computer data storage that need protection from theft, fire, flood, tampering or other reasons. In the typical arrangement, a renter pays the bank a fee for the use of the box, which can be opened only with production of an assigned key, the bank's own guard key, the proper signature, and perhaps a code of some sort. Some banks additionally use biometric dual-control security to complement the conventional security procedures.
Many hotels, resorts and cruise ships offer safe deposit boxes or small safes for their patrons.
The contents of safe deposit boxes may be seized under the legal theory of abandoned property.
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—James Thurber (1894–1961)
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