Totally accurate advice, but I haven’t usually seen it be terribly important in a residential setting because

1. The distances are relatively short
2. The cables are often overspecced (ie, simple gigabit over 50ft of cat-6)
3. There’s often only really one viable path due to other constraints

They’re important considerations for sure, but I haven’t generally bumped up against them in the real world in typical houses.

Hey, really great work on this!

I used to run low voltage wiring professionally, and that looks pretty great. One tip for next time: You can use clues such as that nail to help connect what you see “up top” with where you’re looking down below. The wall itself will have a “bottom plate”, a 2x4 laid flat horizontally across the floor, and it’s nailed through the floor and you’ll often see nails such as that one exactly where the wall is.

There’s no 100% hard and fast rules, but you can also look for the presence of other holes for things like electrical wire, or HVAC vents as clues too. One really important thing to remember is that 95% of the time, electrical outlets will be mounted directly to a stud. You can knock on the wall or remove the cover plate and use a small flat screwdriver to probe around and determine which side of the outlet is against the stud, and which is in an open wall space. That helps you plan where to drill down below to give you the best shot at hitting your intended location. If you remember that studs are generally 16” apart, it can help you visualize that section of the wall.

Avoid running wires close to windows, doors, or corners. Studs can do some really funky things in those spaces, and you’ll have a much harder time.

Obviously it varies from business to business. Some may not want the hassle, some may see consumer sentiment against fees and not feel it’s worth the impact. Some are content to merely leave prices 3% (or more) higher.

Ultimately, very few businesses price things based on their costs…instead they price based on what they think people are willing to pay, or what the market will bear.

It’s also worth considering, at the scales of many of these businesses, accepting and handling cash is very much not a free option. If I’m a supermarket chain, I pay a card company a few percent and maintain my payment terminals and I magically get my income deposited daily directly in my preferred bank account. I’ve got some risk with stolen cards and chargebacks, but the big Chip Card and Mobile Wallet rollouts have dramatically limited my exposure to that liability.
With cash I have a substantial cost to handle, collect, count, and deposit at each location. I have concerns about counting accuracy, interval and external theft, counterfeit currency, purchasing change from my local bank (which typically has a fee assessed for businesses), etc.

Actually true, but outdated. There was a massive decade long $30b legal fight that eliminated credit card network’s “anti-steering” provisions. Those were contractual terms that retailers signed that prohibited them from offering different prices for cash and card. Some retailers have responded by offering different prices, or otherwise adding a processing fee to card transactions as a result of that settlement.

In fact, in a few certain situations you can actually purchase higher-end hardware than the pros use. UCI has restrictions on shape and weight that need not apply to non sanctioned riders, and there are improvements that are available in both aero and weight. Notably, Triathlon specific bikes are often markedly faster than UCI compliant bikes due to the aggressive aerodynamic optimization.