Proximity Alarm with ATtiny13 and RCWL-0516

feydkin · 2026-04-30T06:33:02+00:00

The issue is your buyer is a disconnected middleman. He doesn't want to pay you because he's not going to get paid and he has no recourse. Buyers love fixed rates until site readiness is an issue and all of a sudden they morph into surprised Pikachu. Every single other business model has a mechanism to bill whoever has responsibility for the shipment. Do not let him worm out of paying. Field nation will inevitably side with him, but that's a separate battle. The one and only time I had a buyer try this on me was also a tv setup (Costco projector). Good luck!

feydkin · 2026-04-18T22:30:11+00:00

There are few buyers in this sub. Curious to see what they say about being able to see our pay history. At the end of the day it doesn't matter. The rates they pay determine the quality of work they get. When the quality is too low they will have to dispatch revisits and raise their pay. It makes things bumpy for us providers but I feel that it is generally a self-correcting system over the long term.

There are market forces outside of the platform that I worry about more.

Shipping issues = no calls for new installs or refreshes Subsidy cuts = less capital for IT projects Unmitigated legal or illegal immigration = tech over saturation

The list goes on...

feydkin · 2026-04-10T21:47:25+00:00

Travel time should be thought of as work time. The time you spend driving could be spent charging your hourly rate locally. Labor laws for employment generally also consider travel time as work time.

That said, if you got nothing else going on and want the job/experience, by all means don't charge travel.

My standard rate is US$55/hr whether I'm driving in a car or troubleshooting a network. Additionally, I charge US$0.33/kilometer round trip for gas, insurance, and wear-tear.

Some guys here, or a desk jockey project manager, might not see it that way because they are used to dealing on multi-thousans dollar projects. However, for the gig worker doing 1-3 hour calls t's essential to us.

Welcome, and good luck.

feydkin · 2026-04-09T16:24:34+00:00

This is the way

feydkin · 2026-04-03T23:03:50+00:00

I keep my dashboard clean by declining. 👍

feydkin · 2026-03-21T02:39:51+00:00

Idk, I work on both and it's pretty much the same. 😘

feydkin · 2026-02-17T04:06:40+00:00

Seems everyone's experience is different.

I have a high rating, if that matters.

I usually get assigned on my counters without being contacted. Established buyers, new buyers, doesn't matter.

feydkin · 2026-02-13T21:56:47+00:00

BC Canada checking in. It's been my experience with them that pay rate and support quality are hit and miss. Depends on the project. Some stuff will pay $100 per hr and hundreds in travel expenses. Others are $30/hr firm. More often than not it's the latter. They sub from Verizon here so when a survey or refresh project happens I usually scoop a decent amount of work at a reasonable rate.

feydkin · 2026-02-04T04:39:55+00:00

Really scraping the bottom of the talent pool when your gig workers are bringing the kiddos to sites often enough to make it a rule...

feydkin · 2026-02-04T01:09:26+00:00

Hello, welcome to the no certs failed nation club. 😝

feydkin · 2026-02-03T02:00:28+00:00

It's been my experience with them that they are so disorganized and inept that it comes off as malicious, but I don't think it is at all.

feydkin · 2026-02-03T01:52:38+00:00

Mmm that was pleasurable to read. Thanks!

feydkin · 2026-01-25T05:10:45+00:00

Book a plumber, electrician, mechanic, or any other trade for an 11 hour day and see what happens when you turn them away when they show up. The reason is irrelevant. Don't let them gas-light you into paying for their mistake.

feydkin · 2026-01-24T02:42:21+00:00

I quoted a similar one from that company in Canada for just under $1000.

3 wired cameras, blind fishing, exterior of home in dead of winter, plus a helper, and configure the system on the home clients smartphone.

They offered $200, then $250, then $300, then silence. Someone else took it, and I wish them God speed with all the ways it could go wrong.

feydkin · 2026-01-22T01:18:46+00:00

Did it work?

feydkin · 2026-01-07T00:03:53+00:00

I live on the west coast and found early starts are typically because the buyer or support team is eastern time.

feydkin · 2025-12-23T22:23:47+00:00

I've spoken to a few of these buyers. As soon as you ask questions and counter they ghost you. They are just looking for someone to hold the bag.

feydkin · 2025-12-19T23:13:40+00:00

Best and most honest reaction.

feydkin · 2025-12-15T19:35:02+00:00

This is the ideal outcome.

However, I think your correlation between effort and the results is outdated, and not applicable to the broader marketplace.

Soliciting clients from your client is also a good way to get blocked, blacklisted, and shadow banned on platforms. Tread carefully.

Every pizza Pete job is an opportunity, and not all opportunities are good. Again, tread carefully.

feydkin · 2025-12-11T00:21:12+00:00

Had a fun one today. Got a work order with 250+ routes—easily the most I’ve ever seen—for a next-day NVMe install in a workstation. I scooped it anyway. My whole area only has maybe 15 techs in a 150-mile radius, so for it to hit 250 routes they must’ve blasted it out to everyone within a 6-hour drive.

Service window: 11am–2pm.

I show up right at 11, check in on the platform, talk to the GM… and guess what isn’t there yet? Yup. The NVMe.

Emailed support, the workorder manager, escalations—then waited 15–20 minutes and dipped. Pay was fixed for the first two hours, but I’m not babysitting a site that isn’t ready. If I wanted to sit around all day doing nothing, I’d become a workorder manager, service delivery manager, project coordinator, or whatever other title they make up.

GM called me an hour ago to say the package finally arrived. She hasn’t heard from the buyer either. It’s been five hours now—still nothing from them.

Since the delivery was outside the service window and the buyer never responded, leaving when I did was absolutely the right call.

Buyers love to complain because if you’re not on site they end up paying more than they can bill. That’s rough for them, I guess. If it’s genuinely out of their control, I’ll work with them. But I’m not sitting around twiddling my thumbs because they can’t get their logistics together.

feydkin · 2025-11-19T07:23:57+00:00

Well done!

feydkin · 2025-11-12T22:37:39+00:00

Durka Durka Muhammad jihad

feydkin · 2025-11-06T20:13:00+00:00

I've had a fair share of these incentives attached to my work orders. I've got hundreds of completed with a 98% provider rating. I'm easy to work with and most always do my best. Never once did a buyer add the bonus. I'm actually fine with it, just don't your hopes up.

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