The truth is I'm a bit surprised to see the community relying the storage to private companies
Nobody here is storing Bitcoin in any private companies, because bitcoin is stored on blockchain and hardware wallets are only keeping keys offline with no direct internet connection.
Nobody here is promoting hardware wallets, they are just simple and better way for holding coins than using regular hot wallets.
I found the offline (original) wallet method to be the most reliable and after reading you, correct me if i'm wrong, it still is. I'm referring to having and offline PC or liveUSB with your cold wallet there.
For most people it is not enough because they are sloppy, they make mistakes with offline wallets and they don't care about privacy at all, but you can do as you like.