Tending to My Nest — What It’s Like to Be a Bird Scooter Charger.
Love them; hate them — everyone has an opinion on the mysterious motorized scooters that seemed to pop up in their town overnight. From those who worry about safety to those who are Bird Enthusiasts for a myriad of reasons, I think I have heard it all. Personally, the scooters both terrify me and intrigue me, but that is neither here nor there as my garage (and sometimes bathroom) lends itself as a safe charging zone to worn and weary Bird Scooters.
I live in Ann Arbor which is a good size town outside of it being a larger college town. The university is the not the only home to potential Bird riders, but also the growing tech community and downtown scene provides plenty of possible consumers. From busy game days to small town one ways — Bird Scooters create efficient pathways in a town that can grow twice its size in a night. However, the community has not embraced Bird for all the transportation issues it may or may not solve and has impounded a few, limiting the amount within the area. Yet, plenty (100+) still remain, needing to be charged.
Signing up to be a Bird Charger is easy. If the precious cargo has descended upon your town or city, then you might be eligible to be a charger. The form here asks for your basic information, etc. — nothing special. The timeline of when you become a charger is a bit ambiguous. I ended up receiving a text about three weeks after signing up. The text stated that they would send me three chargers (free of charge, originally there was a shipping fee) and so three chargers I was sent. The chargers themselves are akin to laptop chargers. In addition, no printed instructions came in the charger shipment; however, my Bird app did change to have a “Charger Mode.”
My first night was filled with confusion, frustration, and excitement. The app has tutorials on how to catch, charge, and release — but it is up to you to figure out how the charger side of the app works, and most importantly, how to get to those tutorials. In charger mode, the map will change to a bounty hunt for Birds after 9:00pm. It is a little difficult in the dark — so please have your phone fully charged and carry a flashlight. I have a Ford Escape so I am able to haul a few before the clunkiness of the Birds consumes my entire backseat. You can click on a Bird’s location and use Google or Apple maps to navigate to the Bird; however, it is not guaranteed that you will be the first one there (trust me, I already have had a run in with my “competitor” and it’s week 1). Once you locate the Bird — which isn’t always exactly where the app says it will be ; people will often “park” their Birds in bike racks and similar locations — you will “capture” the Bird by scanning the QR code or manually entering the code on the Bird. The bounty amount usually goes up in the passing hours of the night; however, I have found more success in more quantity where I can find the Birds then the late night stragglers.
If you are “catching” many in a car, you will find yourself starting the best tricep and bicep workout. Birds are clunky to lift, carry , and try to fit in your vehicle. Unlike my fellow 90’s babies’ Razor scooters, Birds do not fold and are heavier. Technically, they do “unlock” to be able to ride after capturing them so you can ride to your house or car, but if on low battery, the power jolt is nothing more than a light push forward.
Once loaded up in my car, I bring my Bird babies home for a goodnight’s charge. I typically charge 3–4 a night since I have only 3 chargers. I could order more, but right now, I am in this for the experience and the little bit of discretionary income. Charging does not take long. I have plugged 3/4 of the Birds in about a hour ago and it will soon be time to switch one of them out to charge the 4th I decided to pick up.
Releasing Birds is not as fun as capturing them. When I am in capture mode, I am truly buying into the gamification setup they have for encouraging captures. I feel like I have competition, I feel like I have purpose. Birds need to be released by 7:00 am to a nest. Thankfully, nests can be reserved for 30 min but usually there are no more than 3 per nest. To drop off, one must navigate to the exact nest location, be within 16ft of the nest and then take a photo of the dropoff. I usually wake up at 6:00 to do this and I am home before 7 — although it does not take an hour, putting the clunky scooters back in your vehicle can take longer than expected, especially when tired. Since property managers or security are usually on grounds in the morning, you will get odd looks and possible questioning as you awkwardly setup up your scooter display on some corner.
In summary, I make between $20-$50 a night charging Birds. It takes about 30 min to capture and about the same amount of time to release. There is no pressure (except your own inner competitive self) to go out and capture Birds if tired, etc. You do not have a daily quota. In addition, there are some positive externalities to charging Birds that I am starting to notice such as getting into a routine, waking up early to workout (I run after dropoff), and being more conscientious at happy hour (no drinking and birding). I have noticed a few bruises and the annoyance of not finding the Bird on the app when it is supposed to be RIGHT HERE; however, all in all, it has been a great experience so far charging.
If only I were better at riding too … :)
