no i am coming from a feature phone, just went from old phone to new phone. they did it for me at the vzw store, using backup assist.
i don't need them in gmail, its just phone numbers, no e-mails.
The benefit of syncing them with gmail is that you will never lose them again as they will automatically sync with any android phone you sign into. Here is what I would do.
1) Sync your contacts with the verizon backup assistant
2) Go to the people app, menu>Import/Export>Export to Storage
3) Connect your phone to your computer
4) Copy the file with your contacts to your computer
5) Log into gmail and switch to Contacts
6) At the top, click the button that says "More">Import
7) Select the file you copied from your phone
8) Let gmail upload the contacts
9) On your phone, Settings>Accounts & Sync>tap your gmail account>make sure contacts is checked as synced
10) Let gmail sync your contacts to your phone
11) Disable Verizon backup assistant
12) Enjoy (Profit?)