I know quite well that mass photo storage isn’t easy or cheap, even as storage costs continue to decrease. Still, I was surprised that Ofoto decided to take the step of telling inactive customers that they were going to delete their photos if they didn’t order something. I received a series of reminder emails warning me of the policy. I checked the site, saw that I had copies of everything there and said… whatever.
From the email:
If you’d like more information about our storage policy, please visit our Help department:
http://smile.ofoto.com/659468.50917.0.9394
Annoyingly, that URL just dumps you at the general Help index page, rather than details about their storage policy. Basically, any order, of anything, resets the clock for a year.
Even knowing the costs, I remain startled that annoying a possible customer is worth the savings in storage. Yes, I haven’t bought a print in a year (or more). Deleting my data (with plenty of warning, to their credit) isn’t likely to get me to buy more prints. Business is about choices, and they made theirs. I’ll make mine: go elsewhere.