From: "Tim" 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: Secure storage of documents
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 09:15:24 +0000 (UTC)

"anon" wrote
> Suppose you went into a restaurant and the first thing they
> wanted you to do was to sign a form agreeing that they
> would not be liable if the meal gave you food poisoning.
>
> Same with the bank.

Hardly! - Losing some papers and food poisoning are *not* the "same".

"anon" wrote
> If they apparantly think the risk of my envelope
> coming to harm is too great for them to be able to
> take responsibility, then how can I trust them with it.
>
> It seems that the risk of fire or theft should be pretty tiny.

It's not always the size of the *risk* that matters, but the size of the
potential *outcome*.

For instance, would you be willing to double any Jackpot I won on the
National Lottery, if I gave you £25 beforehand?
The odds that you'd need to pay out are very very small - but if, by some
chance, my numbers came up;  how would you manage to pay me?!