diff --git a/catalyst-uploader.go b/catalyst-uploader.go
index f8e6601..b1f588c 100644
--- a/catalyst-uploader.go
+++ b/catalyst-uploader.go
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ func main() {
 func run() int {
 	err := flag.Set("logtostderr", "true")
 	if err != nil {
-		glog.Fatal(err)
+		glog.Error(err)
+		return 1
 	}
 	// cmd line args
 	describe := flag.Bool("j", false, "Describe supported storage services in JSON format and exit")
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ func run() int {
 	}
 
 	if flag.NArg() == 0 {
-		glog.Fatal("Destination URI is not specified. See -h for usage.")
+		glog.Error("Destination URI is not specified. See -h for usage.")
 		return 1
 	}
 
@@ -48,19 +49,19 @@ func run() int {
 
 	output := flag.Arg(0)
 	if output == "" {
-		glog.Fatal("Object store URI was empty")
+		glog.Error("Object store URI was empty")
 		return 1
 	}
 
 	uri, err := url.Parse(output)
 	if err != nil {
-		glog.Fatalf("Failed to parse URI: %s", err)
+		glog.Errorf("Failed to parse URI: %s", err)
 		return 1
 	}
 
 	out, err := core.Upload(os.Stdin, uri, WaitBetweenWrites, *timeout)
 	if err != nil {
-		glog.Fatalf("Uploader failed for %s: %s", uri.Redacted(), err)
+		glog.Errorf("Uploader failed for %s: %s", uri.Redacted(), err)
 		return 1
 	}
 
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ func run() int {
 	if glog.V(5) {
 		err = json.NewEncoder(stdout).Encode(map[string]string{"uri": uri.Redacted()})
 		if err != nil {
-			glog.Fatal(err)
+			glog.Error(err)
 			return 1
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/core/uploader.go b/core/uploader.go
index b1ca96f..df95b1a 100644
--- a/core/uploader.go
+++ b/core/uploader.go
@@ -29,15 +29,15 @@ func (bc *ByteCounter) Write(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 
 func newExponentialBackOffExecutor() *backoff.ExponentialBackOff {
 	backOff := backoff.NewExponentialBackOff()
-	backOff.InitialInterval = 200 * time.Millisecond
-	backOff.MaxInterval = 5 * time.Second
+	backOff.InitialInterval = 10 * time.Second
+	backOff.MaxInterval = 1 * time.Minute
 	backOff.MaxElapsedTime = 0 // don't impose a timeout as part of the retries
 
 	return backOff
 }
 
 func UploadRetryBackoff() backoff.BackOff {
-	return backoff.WithMaxRetries(newExponentialBackOffExecutor(), 3)
+	return backoff.WithMaxRetries(newExponentialBackOffExecutor(), 7)
 }
 
 const segmentWriteTimeout = 5 * time.Minute