Every afternoon at 4 pm, Brandon, an 18-year-old high school graduate in Los Angeles, who only wants to be addressed by his first name, goes on a "bird hunt" after school. He drives to his minivan and on the drive home he roams comfortable quarters, picking up about 13 Bird electric scooters and throwing them in the back of his car.
"I have a whole system," he says. "I go home and put the thirteen I initially caught on the chargers and they charge for about three hours until about 7:00 pm or 8:00 pm." "Then I go out again."
Over the next few hours, Brandon circles his neighborhood in Santa Monica, California, collecting as many scooters as possible. He recovers his bounty and sets it up neatly while his parents sleep, stacking it overnight.
The next morning he wakes up early, eats breakfast and takes them in groups of three on their way to school to the designated Bird Nests, designated collection points for scooters. To provide this service, Bird Brandon, a contract laborer, pays up to several hundred dollars a night. On a particularly successful evening, Brandon brought $ 600 home.
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Bird is a scooter-sharing company founded in 2017 called the Uber of Scooters. The goal is to alleviate congestion and provide people with an easy way to travel fast on short distances of just a few kilometers. Drivers can find and unlock scooters with the company's smartphone app. After paying the US $ 1 unlock fee, 15 cents per minute will be charged for use.
Birds are available in a growing number of American cities, including Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Scottsdale, Arizona; Washington, D.C .; and Atlanta. The scooters are all battery operated and without dock, so they can be picked up or dropped anywhere.
But when night falls, most drivers do not realize that the scooters themselves are burdened by contract workers. These people are known as "bird hunters" or "chargers" and are increasing exponentially in number.
Registration as a charger is not difficult. Unlike Uber or most rides, Bird does not require a background check or complicated registration procedure. There are just a few simple steps to take, including registering your address and providing personal information, tax information and bank account details for direct payment. If your application has been approved, Bird will send you three recharge packages within a few days to get you started. Charging a bird does not require a ton of electricity, so charging some scooters overnight, minus labor costs, is essentially free - especially if you live in a large home and can do this in your bike room.
As Birds and similar scooter-sharing services continue to expand, charging for students, students and young professionals has become a popular way to earn easy money.
Bird makes its first big step outside the US. The scooter-sharing startup announced today that its riders will be taking to the streets of Paris and Tel Aviv for two pilots who, according to the company based in Santa Monica, California, will be their first outing to foreign markets. Bird also has other cities in mind to take advantage of the electric-powered two-wheel business.
The pilots in both cities will initially be limited, Bird says, ranging from 50 to 100 scooters and then from there. On Wednesday, Birds e-scooters will be available in Paris in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd arrondissements of the City of Lights. In the coming weeks, a pilot program will begin in Tel Aviv in cooperation with the University of Tel Aviv.
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