Google asking me to pay for storage

[Andrew21]

I have almost 9,000 photographs and 200m views on Local Guides. Now Google are asking me to pay for more storage which I think is grossly unfair. I willingly provide my free services as a Local Guide*, and now they want me to pay for something I’m giving them. It’s like me selling an ice cream and then the customer ask me to pay too. That’s not fair and I’d like a reply from the Local Guides manager to see if there can be an exemption.

*For my efforts I was given some Local Guide socks a few months ago.

[ErmesT]

Welcome back in Connect after a long time @Andrew21

Well, I have more than 40 thousandths photos archived in My Google Photo storage, and more of one third of mi space still be available, and more than 7000 of them are added in Maps, so it is hard to believe that your storage is full “because of your contributions in Maps”.

However, if this is the case, it is an issue easy to fix, because once uploaded in Maps the photos can be deleted from your storage. For more details please read: Do my photos get deleted from Google Maps if I delete them from Google Photos?

Most of my storage in any case is for personal use, and honestly I haven’t find others offering the same amount of storage for free.

[Andrew21]

ErmesT,

Thank you for the reply and thanks for the link. However, if you have 40,000 photos, and if they were on average 3Mb each, then you would have 120,000 MB or 120GB. So, as I only get 17GB of storage free it would be acceptable to make this post. The help article on deleting photos on Maps is useful and I’ll start deleting lots of them to free up space.

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @Andrew21

You may also want to check how Google Photos can save space by storing compressed images.

Cheers

Morten

[Andrew21]

Morten,

Thanks. I also have to look at Gmail which also takes up lots of space.

[Limakag]

Actually I just penned that Google is so unfair by not recognizing anybodies efforts . They should be the ones paying us not the other way round. I will keep my campaign up that they should pay us for our contributions .

[ErmesT]

@Andrew21

First of all, please use @ to tag the person you are replying to. This way we will receive a specific notification. Very active members of this community receive dozens of generic notifications every day, and often don’t see if that specific response was meant for them. The tag facilitates the ability to follow the flow of conversations. Thanks

I have, like you, 17 GB of free storage. However, as mentioned also by @MortenCopenhagen , The setting for my storage is “Storage Saver”, and till June 1, 2021, storage saver was using no space, with the photos compressed to a resolution of 16 Mpx (If I remember correctly). That’s why till now I’ve used only 6.6 GB for the photos. For more details you can read: Updated storage policy for Google Photos

Follow this link (https://photos.google.com/quotamanagement ) to optimize your storage and gain space.

[mirekl]

Hey @Andrew21 ,

you can check what is taking your free storage space via this link:

https://one.google.com/storage

So you say you’ve got a pair of socks for your hard work as a Local Guide?

Lucky you! ;)))

I have not received even a pair of socks as a reward for:

• contributing for more than 5 years,
• reaching level 10 about 3 years ago,
• writing more than 1500 reviews (>1200 with over 200 characters) that gained more than 2000 likes (so far),
• adding ~20000 photos,
• having more than 151 million views.

But they are asking me to buy more storage too…

[Andrew21]

@mirekl I don’t know how they choose guides for rewards, but you sound like you’ve reached great heights as a guide.

Also, thanks for the link, which I’ve used.

[AdrianLunsong]

Hi @Andrew21

As a side note, if you want to meet other Local Guides in and around Manchester, do let me know as I have contacts there. It’s not a crazy active bunch but they meet up from time to time. It also leans more towards a social gathering rather than one geared towards the program.

[Andrew21]

Thanks for the invitation @AdrianLunsong .

PS: We have met on a Local Guide photography walk in the city centre about 4-5 years ago.

[AdrianLunsong]

@Andrew21 Ahhhh!! Would you be in this group shot then? We had a few back then and then it slowly moved to a more eating social outing!