"3) you arrive there and the box was already unlocked (drilled) while NOT in your presence"
No. I was actually brought inside the safe room where the boxes were and that is when they did the deed on my box, pulled it out, and it was handed to me.
I was then escorted to a small cubicle among a row of cubicles outside of the safe area where I could inspect the box (the little cubicles were normally where people would "privately" add/remove items from their boxes so I was familiar with that process from years ago).
It was actually fascinating to see what it looked like inside the safe (plus the locksmith guys and their tools)!
Any remaining boxes not claimed by the deadline, were drilled and removed, and contents supposedly destroyed. They gave plenty of notice to those who were still paying for boxes, but conceivably, some could have been out of town payees (perhaps maintaining it for relatives local to that branch, and might not have been able to make the trip to claim the box).
I think for my small one, it was eventually something like $60/year.