You can definitely do that, but most people that use paid service providers for email usually own their own domain as well, so they will reconfigure their dns records from Google Works info to the new provider
If you don’t have a domain and only want to get rid of gmail forwarding is the way to go




Putting all of those eggs in the same basket will come back to bite you in the ass the same way andy just did
I wouldnt want my mail man cooking my food, wiping my ass and doing my taxes while on their regular route, at best that will just result in them sleeping with my dog