- Signing Up To Be A Bird Charger and Lime Juicer
- How Charging Works
- How Much Can You Make As A Bird Charger And Lime Juicer?
- My Experience Charging Scooters
- How You Can Make Being A Lime Juicer Or Bird Charger Work For You
- The Financial and FIRE Benefits of Charging Bird and Lime Scooters
- Scooter Charging Strategies and Takeaways
- Final Thoughts
- Comments
One of my favorite developments in recent years has been the rise of alternative transportation methods. I’ve written in the past about bikeshare systems and why I think they are an amazing form of what is essentially mass transit.
In the time since I wrote that post, bikeshare systems have started to go dockless and other forms of non-car-based transportation methods have also started to pop up. The latest innovations in this space are electric scooters made by companies like Bird and Lime. If you live in any decently sized city, you’ve probably seen these scooters around. They’ve even gone international (see my brother below, scooting around on a Bird in Paris a few summers ago).
So, first things first, I am absolutely obsessed with these scooters – not just because they provide an alternative mode of transportation that I think is good for cities, but also because of what they present in the way of side hustle opportunities (more on that later). They’re also just plain fun to ride.
There are two big players in the scooter world – Bird and Lime, but there are other scooter companies out there, including Lyft, Spin, and others.
Using the scooters is pretty simple – you find a scooter using each company’s respective app, activate the scooter using the camera on your phone, then ride the scooter around until you’re done with it. After that, just drop it off wherever you are. You pay by the minute, with rates typically ranging around 30 cents per minute.
Riding these scooters is cool, but here on Financial Panther, what we care about is how we can make money from them. Since these scooters are electric, they need to be charged every day. Bird and Lime both utilize independent contractors – i.e. regular people like you and me – to pick these scooters up at night, charge them up in our homes, and put them back out on the street for the public to use. They call these people Bird Chargers and Lime Juicers.
For the past few years, I’ve been going out and doing just that, side hustling as a Bird Charger and Lime Juicer. With a bunch of scooter charging experience under my belt, I’m thoroughly convinced that this is a side hustle tailor-made for the millennial, young professional.
If you live in the right place, this is something that you can easily do. And it can pay big dividends for you.
Updates: When I first wrote this post, Bird exclusively used independent contractors to charge their scooter fleet. In recent years, Bird made some changes, switching Bird charging to a full-time model where chargers lease scooters, are responsible for all maintenance, and in exchange, receive a percentage of profits from each scooter. In some markets, Bird still uses independent contractors, but it seems like most markets have switched over to this new fleet manager model. This post is about how to charge scooters for Bird if you live in a market where they still use independent contractors.
Signing Up To Be A Bird Charger and Lime Juicer
Like a lot of my side hustles, my brother was the one who first introduced me to these electric scooters. He told me about how these scooters were all over the city and that he was getting paid to charge them up at night. It was something I knew I had to do if the scooters ever made it to Minneapolis. And when I saw the below advertisement on my Facebook feed this past summer, I immediately signed up to be a Bird charger.
The signup process to become a Bird charger was pretty straightforward – I signed up through the Facebook ad, but most people will probably sign up to be a Bird charger directly in the Bird app. I don’t remember the questions exactly, but the signup process was pretty easy – similar to signing up for any other gig economy app. A few days later, three Bird scooter charging cables showed up in the mail.
Since I signed up before the official launch in Minneapolis, Bird held an in-person orientation session where they walked us through the app and showed us how the charging process worked. I took a bus over to the orientation session after I got off work and was surprised to see that they had free food and drinks for us. Score! I also had a nice surprise at the Bird charger orientation when I ran into my friend Krystel from AllSheSaves.com, who was also signing up to be a Bird charger. We hadn’t coordinated this, so it’s a good example here of great minds thinking alike!
After signing up to be a Bird charger, I then signed up to be a Lime charger (or Lime Juicer, as they call it) after I saw some Lime scooters sitting on a sidewalk on my way into work one morning. The process to sign up to be a Lime Juicer was basically the same as signing up to be a Bird charger – I signed up via the Lime website, was accepted a short while later, and then showed up to an orientation session that same day. At the orientation, Lime gave us four charging cables that we could use to charge up the scooters.
Now that I was signed up for both scooter companies, it was off to the races!
Note: I didn’t have to pay anything for the chargers when I signed up, but your experience may vary. It seems that Bird and Lime both charge you for the scooter chargers now. You’ll have to decide whether it’s worth paying for the chargers. I think it is, especially if you live in an area with a lot of scooters.
How Charging Works
There are a few things that go into being a Bird Charger or Lime Juicer, but basically, the process of charging electric scooters can be boiled down to three steps:
- Go into charger mode and find scooters to charge.
- Capture the scooters and charge them up at your house, office, or wherever.
- Release the scooters at a Bird Nest or LimeHub once they are charged up.
I’ll go through each of these steps below:
1. Finding a Bird or Lime Scooter to Charge
Step one is finding a Bird or Lime Scooter you want to charge. When you sign up to be a Lime or Bird charger, you’ll get a new button in your Bird or Lime app that lets you toggle over to charger mode. Here’s what it looks like in Bird, for example:
In Lime, it’s the same thing. They just call it “Juicer” mode.
Once in charger mode, you’ll be able to see all of the scooters in the area that need to be charged. In the Bird app, it’ll look something like this.
And here’s what it looks like in the Lime app:
As you can see, the scooters pay different amounts based on how long it’s been since the scooter was last charged. Generally, the longer it’s been since the scooter was charged, the higher the pay will be (I’ll go into more detail about how pay works later in this post).
Depending on where you live, scooters will pop up either all at once during the night, or they’ll pop up as they run low on battery. Here in Minneapolis, Lime scooters pop up as they get low on battery, and they all pop up at about 10 pm.
2. Capturing and Charging a Bird or Lime Scooter
Step two of charging scooters involves capturing the scooter, bringing it home with you, and charging it to full battery. To do this, find a scooter that’s available for capture using your Bird or Lime app, go up to the scooter, then scan it using your app. This will unlock the scooter. At this point, you can ride the scooter or just wheel it along with you. Note that since the scooter battery should be pretty low at this point, you usually won’t be able to ride it very far before the scooter dies on you. If that happens, you can then kick the scooter along like a normal, kick scooter.
Also, another thing to note is that Bird now limits the speed of captured scooters to 5mph. This makes it super annoying to ride them home. Lime was also not speed-capped for a long time, but they recently made the switch to speed-capping their scooters too.
Charging the scooters is also straightforward – you charge them up in a standard outlet using the chargers that Bird and Lime gave you. They basically look like laptop chargers. It takes about 4 to 5 hours to charge a scooter from 0% to 100% battery. One nice thing is that the chargers for Bird and Lime work on each other, so you can use them interchangeably between each brand of scooter. If you sign to be a charger for both companies, you’ll have a good amount of chargers to use.
As an aside, you can get creative with where you charge your scooters – it doesn’t have to just be at your house. Along with charging scooters at my house, I also charge scooters in the bike room at my office. When I see a scooter near me during work, I’ll usually run out and grab it, charge it up during the day, then either ride it home after work or drop it off and get paid for it on my way home from work. I’ve also charged up scooters in public places. For example, on one weekend afternoon, I charged up some scooters at an outside outlet while I sat at a nearby table drinking coffee and doing blog work.
If you’re wondering, the electricity cost to charge a scooter is pretty minimal. At my orientation sessions, the Bird and Lime reps both estimated that it costs somewhere between 25 and 40 cents to charge a scooter from 0% to 100%. I’ve found sources saying that it really costs 10 cents to charge up a scooter. In my own experience, I haven’t noticed any changes in my electricity bill, so I think that the 25 to 40 cent mark is way overstated and that it’s really more like 5 cents of electricity to charge a scooter (these aren’t big batteries).
In any event, I don’t think it’s particularly expensive to charge a scooter – it seems like it’s the same as charging up any other large electronic device.
3. Releasing Your Bird or Lime Scooters
The final step in the charging process is releasing your Bird or Lime scooters. After you charge up your scooters, you have to release them in designated spots, called Bird Nests or LimeHubs. These spots tend to be clustered in high-density areas near offices and luxury apartments. Think cool, hip neighborhoods that young professionals live in.
The app for both Bird and Lime shows you how to release your captured scooters. It looks like this in the Bird app:
And here’s what it looks like in the Lime app:
To release your scooters, you first claim or reserve your Bird Nest or LimeHub. Once reserved, just bring the scooters over to the nest or hub, follow the prompts in the app, and then release them.
Below is one of the first Bird Nests I set up. Looks pretty nice!
Note that releasing scooters does require you to be an early riser. Bird says that you’re supposed to release scooters between 4 am and 7 am to receive a full payout for the scooter. If you release them late, you’re supposed to get a reduced payout. At the moment though, this policy doesn’t seem to be enforced at all, and I still get my full payout regardless of when I release them. I release birds after 7 am basically every day. When I was in DC, the release time was 10 am, which makes it way easier!
The other thing to know is that the nests and hubs sometimes fill up with other chargers using them (there’s a limit to how many scooters can go into each nest or hub). If you’re in an area with a lot of nests and hubs, this won’t matter, as you’ll have plenty of them to choose from. But if you’re looking for a specific nest or hub, you might not always be able to grab it. So plan accordingly.
The early release time can work out for a lot of side hustlers since this allows you to charge them up overnight and drop them off on your way into work in the morning. At the same time, Lime can work out pretty well too since you can charge them up during the day or after work, then drop them off in the night before you go to sleep.
How Much Can You Make As A Bird Charger And Lime Juicer?
Both Bird and Lime have similar models where they pay you a base pay of $3 to $5 for charging and releasing each scooter. This pay will vary based on how long it’s been since the scooter was charged and when the scooter became available. Lime generally starts with a base pay of $4 or $5 per scooter, with little fluctuation in what they pay for each scooter.
Charging Birds and Limes initially didn’t work out well for me since the Bird nests and LimeHubs weren’t located on my route into work. That all changed a few months ago when Bird and Lime finally started putting nests near where I live. I’m now able to gather up scooters on my way home from work each day, charge them up overnight, then ride them into work in the morning, dropping them off along the way. The money adds up surprisingly fast. And it doesn’t take me very much time.
Just take a look at some of my recent earnings with Bird:
The beauty of this gig is that I’m able to earn this money during my commute to work. I can charge 4 to 5 scooters most nights, making somewhere between $15 and $25 on my way into work in the morning. I’m literally monetizing my commute! I’ve made a lot more on some trips too – I had one Sunday afternoon trip where I made $37 for what amounted to about 15 or 20 minutes of work.
One good thing about Bird is that they’ll still pay you a reduced payout if you release a Bird that isn’t at a 100% charge. Since I don’t drive, I’m always riding Bird scooters back to their nests, which means that by the time I get to the Bird nest, the battery on the scooter will have been used up a little bit. Bird reduces the payout in that situation, but still pays me at least 75% of the bounty.
Lime has worked out even better for me lately because the LimeHubs are now all near my house (and they don’t speed cap the scooters, so I’m able to ride them at full blast). Just this past month (September 2019), I earned over $1,000 charging up Lime scooters.
So how much have I made? Over the past few months, I’ve made anywhere between $150 and $1,000 each month charging scooters. That’s pretty crazy to think about. It’s relatively small amounts of money each day, but it adds up over time. And it’s literally money I’m making while I’m going to work in the morning.
Obviously, you can make a lot more if you’re using a car or truck to pick up scooters. That’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it. I personally never use my car for gig economy stuff and only pick up scooters on foot. It works out well for me, especially since I’ve gotten really good at stacking scooters and riding them (more on that later in this post).
My Experience Charging Scooters
Now that I’ve gone through the basic background with charging scooters, I think it’s best to walk you through a typical charging experience for me.
It was a Friday afternoon and as I left my office, I opened up my Bird app to see if there were any scooters I could grab on my way home. Since I use a bikeshare bike to get to work, it’s easy enough for me to just dock my bike and grab a scooter if I happen to see one. On this day, I grabbed a Bird scooter that I saw along my route, hidden away in a quiet office park.
Since I don’t use my car, my method of getting scooters home is to ride them back. Luckily, the scooter I found had a decent amount of charge left, so I was able to easily ride it home without having to do any kicking. I saw a few more scooters that were close to my house as well and grabbed those to charge also. By the end of the night, I had four scooters charging at my house.
The next morning, I gathered up my fully charged scooters and got ready to bring them to my closest nest. It’s about a 10-minute scooter ride for me and to get the scooters to the nest, I do a thing called stacking. Basically, this involves using one scooter as my base, then stacking the rest of the scooters on top of the one scooter. I then basically ride the scooter with all of the other scooters on top.
It’s definitely funny riding this big stack. Here’s what the stack looked like once I got it set up:
From there, I just stand on this big stack of scooters and basically ride it downtown. It looks crazy, but it’s actually a lot easier to do than you think, especially once you get the hang of it.
At the Bird nest, I laid out the scooters the way the app told me to do, and that was it. See below for a picture of my nice nest.
How You Can Make Being A Lime Juicer Or Bird Charger Work For You
One of the reasons I find charging scooters to be so exciting is because it seems like the perfect side hustle for young professionals. Scooters and their accompanying nests and hubs tend to be located in high-density, hip neighborhoods (basically, the kinds of neighborhoods that you would associate with young professionals).
For example, in Minneapolis, the Bird nests and LimeHubs are all located in the hip, North Loop area, as well as in the nearby downtown area, and all around the University of Minnesota campus. What this means is that for anyone who lives and works in these places, being a Lime or Bird charger is perfect. You can grab a scooter on your way home from work, charge it up overnight, ride it back to work in the morning, and then put it into a nest or hub and get paid while getting a free scooter ride.
Take my own example of putting this strategy into action. Each day, I grab a bunch of scooters on my way home from work and charge them up overnight. The next day, I bring all of those scooters out, stack them up (as I explained in the previous section), then ride them into work, dropping them off at Nests and Hubs along the way. I get funny looks from people (especially because I’m usually wearing my nice work clothes). But it’s a free ride into work and I get paid at the same time.
My brother does the same strategy in Washington DC. He lives in a hip neighborhood that’s filled with scooters and nests/hubs. For example, you can see just how many LimeHubs he has in his neighborhood in the screenshot below:
He also works at a nearby co-working space, which means that he usually rides scooters into work and gets paid to do it. Like me, my brother isn’t shy about side hustling, and during the day, he’ll often grab scooters that he sees near his office and actually bring them inside the co-working space and charge them. It’s something that draws funny looks from other people in the office.
Update: My brother’s co-working space finally told him that he had to stop charging scooters inside the building. He needs to find a spot that has a bike room with an outlet where he can plug in the scooters during the day.
The Financial and FIRE Benefits of Charging Bird and Lime Scooters
It might not seem like that big a deal, but scooter charging money adds up and can be especially huge for someone pursuing FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). There’s a tendency to underestimate the impact small amounts have over time – and I think that’s a mistake. Just look at Bird or Lime charging and how big of an impact it can have over the course of a year.
Almost everyone can make somewhere between $5 and $25 every day from charging up scooters. That’s not an outlandish sum – requiring somewhere between 1 or 5 scooters each day. I’m personally averaging around $15 per day at this point.
To put that in perspective, someone earning $15 per day charging up scooters would require a portfolio of a little over $136,000 to generate the same amount of income, assuming you’re using the traditional 4% safe withdrawal rate. That’s pretty astounding when you think about it. What’s easier to do? Save $136,000 or earn $15 per day charging scooters?
And if you can invest that income, it adds up even more. $15 invested per day over 30 years comes out to over $500,000! The point isn’t that you can charge Birds and Limes for the next 30 years. It’s that these small amounts mean something, even if it doesn’t seem like it.
Scooter Charging Strategies and Takeaways
So, I’ve already said it, but I’m obsessed with these scooters (my wife can attest to that because she’s getting super annoyed at how much I talk about them and about how often I’m dragging scooters into the house). I think my obsession with these scooters is well-founded though – there are just a lot of reasons why I think electric scooters are good and the scooter market, I think, is only going to get bigger.
I’ve got a few takeaways and strategies to think about as I close out this post:
Be a Bird Charger or Lime Juicer and Get Paid to Scooter to Work. I’m convinced that for most young professionals, signing up to be a Bird charger or Lime Juicer is well worth it. If you live in a neighborhood that has a lot of scooters and you work somewhere that has a lot of nests and hubs nearby, then you should definitely sign up to be a Bird charger or Lime Juicer. Incorporate charging into your routine, and you’ll basically get paid to ride into work in the morning. That’s what I’ve been doing.
Stacking Scooters. I hate driving, so I’m never going to go around picking up scooters in my car. If you absolutely need the money, then obviously, you’ll need to use a big car to collect the most scooters. For the non-car folks out there like myself, stacking the scooters and riding them as a big stack is key. Bird scooters stack well, and I can basically ride a stack of 4 scooters with no problem at all. My record stack for Bird scooters is 7. I’ll typically stack about 3 or 4 Lime scooters.
Free Scooter Rides. An unadvertised benefit of charging scooters is that it basically lets you ride scooters around for free. You’re probably not supposed to do this, but still…what’s stopping you? I rarely ever pay to scooter around. (Update: Bird and Lime both figured out that people were doing this and now cap you at 5 mph if you’re charging them. You can still ride them, but you’re going to move very slowly).
Don’t Underestimate The Impact Of Small Amounts. I mentioned it in the prior section, but I think it’s worth repeating. Small amounts add up over time. $10 per day worth of scooters doesn’t seem like a lot, but it adds up to $300 per month or $3,650 over the course of a year. If you invest that income, it adds up to even more – $3,650 per year invested over 30 years would come out to over $350,00. That’s all from $10 per day!
Final Thoughts
Being a Bird Charger or Lime Juicer is definitely one of the more interesting side hustles I’ve tried, and with this scooter market continuing to grow, I have a feeling that more and more people are going to be looking into this as a thing to do. For the side hustler out there, it’s a nice way to start your day – there aren’t tons of gigs out there where you can get your money-making day started so early.
If you feel like signing up to be a Bird Charger or Lime Juicer, you can do so using the links in this post. You can also use my referral codes if you want to get your first ride as a customer for free. They are below:
- Bird: Click here to download the Bird app and get your first ride free. Or sign up and use code YJOVBZ to get your free ride
- Lime: Click here to download the Lime app and get $3 in ride credits. Or use code RXA5YV5 and get $3 in ride credits.
- Spin: For Spin, use promo code KEVINHA6 to get some ride credits.
Feel free to share your experiences in the comments section. I’d love to hear if others are having success charging Birds and Limes.
If you’re interested in other side hustles, be sure to check out some of the other posts I’ve written about my side hustle experiences:
- DoorDash Dasher: What It’s Like Delivering For DoorDash
- Uber Eats Driver: Delivering For Uber Eats
- Grubhub Delivery Driver – What It’s Like Delivering For Grubhub
- Shipt Shopper App: My Grocery Delivery Side Hustle
- Wag App Review – My Experience As An On-Demand Dog Walker
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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
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More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
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- Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($900) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $900 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
how do i sign up to do this job charging these things?pls help
Which makes more Bird or Lime?
Hello,
First off I wanted to say hello to a fellow twin cities resident. I stumbled across your blog and saw this thread post about charging. I’m registered to get an electric vehicle but I don’t think I’ll see it till 2024 haha. Do you know what the battery capacity of these scooters are? I’m trying to figure out charging these scooters while I’m at work. There is a free lvl 2 charger by my work where I should be able to get about 6kwh of juice and replenish any electrons used to charge. Also is there anything against loading up a car with scooters and taking them to charge?
These scooters charge in a regular outlet. You just need the chargers, which you can buy online,
Most people load em up in cars. I don’t because I don’t find it fun that way.
Hi, I really enjoyed reading your article. It’s really cool to read about how you did the job without using a vehicle to transport the scooters. I live outside of Portland Oregon where Lime operates (along with Spin and Bolt) and I wonder if it’s permissible to take the scooters on public transit (like a light rail train) to take them home and back. I know those who rent them are not allowed to bring them on public transportation. But I wonder if it’s different for a Juicer. Thanks.
No clue what the rules are on your light rai, but I can’t imagine it’ll be worth it unless you’re doing it for fun.
I would also say that this is a fun way to make money
Hi sorry for thread bumping but it’s now when i found this good informative article, how is the charging market now? I live in the LA Metro LA which is flooded with these scooters. Can you still charge and drop off Lim scooters anytime you want to? Just like you i hate driving and i plan to do this just as a side hustle maybe 1-2 scooters daily.
Lime, yes you can. Bird has changed over to Fleet Managers, which is not the same thing as it once was.
I’m really looking forward to becoming a bird charger. Right now I do limes scooters, and have been for a year. But not getting as much $ as at the beginning
Too many people doing limes.
You just gotta do em all!
Interesting concept. That seems to be making you a really decent little side income also. Rental, close to passive income if such thing exists.
Hi there! Very interesting read. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on the safety of these batteries. I signed up to be a charger a bit ago but my partner was horrified as he mentions that the batteries can blow up and cause a fire at any moment since the scooters have likely been mistreated and the batteries are liable to be damaged.
I think the fear of a battery exploding is pretty unfounded. Could it happen? Sure, but the same can happen for phones, laptops, and lots of other things with batteries. Just because you read one article about that happening doesn’t mean you should think something very unlikely will happen.
So my though – no I’m not scared about batteries blowing up or whatever other crazy thing that some clickbait website wants to report about.
Felt I should chime in since your article helped me alot.
I am in San Diego market, started 3 days ago.
I applied to bird in Dec 2018, they contacted me in May 2019 by text, asking if I was still interested. I didn’t get another response til. Aug 2019 when the texted me again asked a few questions and then congratulated me on becoming a charger. They sent me 3 chargers for free. I did not pay anything. Took them almost a week to arrive. The original application asked for my driver’s licence, SSN, address and bank information. So far there are only $5 birds, period. The damaged nests are 24 hours a day. Regular nest are not lock to 4-9 here, I dropped 4 in nests last night ~ 2200 and as I’m typing this there are bird nest at 0200 and 0300. Nests never are for more than 3 birds and some are also for Lime and Wheels in the same space. Also our area now has zones that Geo fence the speed to 5MPH. Boardwalk being the most prominent. Most annoying update is when you capture a bird here it won’t go over 5mph anywhere, doesn’t matter were you are, its max speed is 5mph. So it’s almost useless to use a captured bird to get more birds.
Using your tips about checking in route to places has gotten be several birds easily. Thanks to you I’m a casual charger that’s already made over $87 in 3 days (not including the 6 I got tonight).
Also note as a beginner, my first capture confused me alot because I didn’t know about the move thing. The cpture map has blue icons that only pay $2 to just move the bird to a nest, plus you only get a few hours to move it from the time you capture it.
I live in Pacific Beach and no joke 2 days ago @ 0000 there were 300+ birds to capture just in my small area, I took a screen shot. Also you have until 1000 to deliver your birds. Oh and when I click to look for nests, there is an icon to delay deployment till next day with no penalty, full payment. This is awesome when there aren’t any nests anywhere is San Diego, possibly a glitch? I submitted a ticket about it and they haven’t gotten back to me.
Also because of your article I decided to juice Limes too! I applied 3 days ago. I also used your code to sign up for lime =)
There process was very easy only asked for SSN and address and I was accepted imediately too. The did require me to buy my own chargers as part of the sign up, $15 each, but they sent me a 50% of code in email and told me to use it. They charged for shipping. Charger purchase is required because they won’t activate juicer mode until the chargers ship, wich for me was 24 hours after I bought them. So far I’ve sent most of the day limes are $2.60 to charge until after… 2000 or 2100 then they range all the the way to $10 with alot of $7.20 and $7.60 ones out there. I got an error trying to get just 1 tonight, planed to try it with the bird charger. Hope this helps you with future updates. Uber pulled out of San Diego scooter market since they finally have rules now. So no Jump or Jump bikes.
I saw Lyft scooters tonight but according to the .gov site the only approved ones here are Bird, Lime and Wheels. I have also seen Zebra mopeds here. The electric mopeds get speed limited to 30mph and no freeways
Also those who are worried about taxes, think about this. Your running a business now, your business expenses can reduce the liability. I have used turbo tax for business Ed. for other 1099 income and it will help you find all of them. Things like your cell phone bill or if you setup a home office and such. If your not sure, buy it at Costco, then if it isn’t working for you return it. Costco is the only place I know that has no problem taking opened box software back.
This has been a helpful article on the pros and cons of being a scooter juicer. While it is dated ( due to the change and dynamics) it actually allowed me to realize 2 possible solution and thinking outside the box. If your brother have approach the co-working site manager and work out a deal then yeah it would have been a doable if he have done it after hours (when it is not an eye sore for fellow coworkers). I am actually did an email blast to the co-working site managers in the market that I will be setting up in to see if: 1) offer after hours access 2) if space for it and the ability to be in and out 3) wifi is important
I signed up to be a Lime charger {Juicer} but I will have to pay for the chargers. Their store says they are 19.95 each, but was told by some one at Bird that they come in a package of four. I asked for clarification but havent received a reply. I am attempting to sign up as a charger for Bird , am asked for my bank information but am not told if the price of the chargers that they will send me will be deducted from my account.
What about taxes? I have made $400 this year charging lime scooters all tax free. When you make so much will lime send a w-2? At what amount will Uncle Sam want his cut?
In the United States, all income is taxable, regardless of how much you made. If you make over $600, by law, Lime will send you a 1099 and send the IRS a 1099 listing what you made. So technically, you owe taxes from the first penny you make.
So, I am thinking of doing this to supplement my income, but currently the only place I have to charge them would be at home where I pay an electricity bill. Has anyone noticed a spike in their electricity bill? Any thoughts on how much it would drive my bill up if I was charging every night?
You won’t notice any change to your electricity bill. The power to charge these scooters is like 5 cents at most. The battery is about twice the size of a laptop, so basically how much it costs to charge your laptop twice – which is basically nothing.
Interesting read. I am going to try this out in Atlanta and see how it goes until there are too many chargers.
What most people don’t know is, even though bird has images of people stacking scooters onto one and riding them around town, it’s unsafe and illegal.
Wait until bird drops the price of your birds to a max of $7 and starts moving nests or stops using nests regularly like they have in the greater LA area. You’ll have to ride that mess of scooters miles in order to drop them off.
Here in LA, they’ve started only allowing us to drop say, two or three scooters into an empty nest (which later, you’ll drive by and see 10 scooters in) then, making us travel a mile or two to drop two or three more. This is particularly frustrating when you have 20 scooters to drop.
Next are the horrible app glitches which can take up to 15 minutes to release one scooter or one batch of scooters.
Bird help is basically useless. By the time they get back to you, you’ve either given up or resolved the problem within 30 minutes. Now, you’re late to work or spending more time on your [side hustle].
These days, with my truck, I’m averaging 20 scooters per night as it’s supposedly, the maximum allowed (Some people claim to be able to charge more per night). I had to purchase all but 6 chargers which were provided free of charge.
The biggest drawback I’ve seen is the reduction of price from a max bounty of $20 per scooter, down to $7, and the $7 birds are rare. So your basically collecting $3 $5 or $6 scooters. I’ve collected all over LA county and in San Diego, Ca. You will definitely need an SUV or truck.
I cannot believe I see people trying to cram these things into a Honda Civic or Prius. It makes me think of how desperate these people really are, having to do this.
Most people don’t take into consideration, this is a 1099 position so, you have to save about 1/3 of what you make in taxes and pay for your gas.
Wait until tax time! You’ll be pleasantly un-surprised unless your doing it en masse.
Sure, if you want a quick payout of a few extra bucks per month, this is s good gig. It’s what happens when you incur any other charges and, tax time that will have you thinking differently.
I believe the key here is volume but now you have to be careful your side hustle, doesn’t become a regular job.
Yeah, I need to update this post to account for some of the changes Bird made over the winter. They dropped out of my city, but there are a lot of reasons why Bird isn’t as good as it used to be.
Out of curiosity, why do taxes surprise you? Under federal and state law, all earned income is taxable. Just with 1099, you get the advantage of being able to take advantage of a Solo 401k and save much more in tax-advantaged accounts compared to a W-2 position. Even better, having to pay taxes means you can take advantage of credit card signup bonuses and hit some minimum spends. But maybe that’s beyond the scope of this post.
If it too good to be true, it probably is. Wait til you get a 1099-K for the income earned.
Yes, under federal and state law, you have to pay taxes on all earned income. Not sure why taxes are something that makes you think something is “too good to be true.” If you want to play it smart and reduce your tax liability, set up a Solo 401k and save 100% of your side hustle income.
Excellent article for an recent new Lime juicer and now I’ve applied to bird after reading your article.
Awesome. Bird didn’t get the permit to come back to my city for 2019, so I’ve only got Lime to work with now. I tried to get in on Spin but they rejected me after they said they were done hiring chargers. Check out Skip if they’re in your city also.
arent you going to be paying more for electricity? Im guessing this type of gig for residents living in apartments
The electricity cost is something like a few cents per charge, essentially the same as charging up your computer or phone. In other words, it’s pretty much negligible. My electricity cost never changed and I was charging up a pretty decent amount of scooters each day.
I’m located in Miami and the charge for lime and bird . I recently noticed that I only see birds priced at 5 dollars maximum even for scooters that have been missing for days or even weeks . But in every post or blog I read they say that can be price up to 20 dollars . Did something change from the time this article was written and now ? I do see that likes prices have reached up to 8 dollars
Yeah, I wrote this post last summer and things have changed in the Bird landscape over the winter. To stop hoarding, they’ve apparently capped all the Birds now to a flat rate model – something low like $3 to $5. Bird has been out of my market since the winter and my city didn’t grant them permits to come back, so I’m going to have to update this post since things have been changing out there.
Hello Im in cincinnati i see on the map by the university alot of uncharged bird but they look like they are in houses. i want to start charging but how do i get the ones at 0 percent ?
If they’re in houses, it means people are hoarding them. Just avoid those ones, because it’ll be a waste of your time to try to get them. The more you do this, the more you’ll learn which scooters are actually there and which aren’t.
Thanks for sharing your experience and information. One of my concerns is liability. Both agreements require service providers to (1) charge the equipment and (2) immediately report any mechanical issues.
Scenario: Juicer charges the equipment and returns it, noting nothing out of the ordinary from an operational standpoint. The next rider that uses said equipment, a brake line malfunctions and the rider gets injured. Injured party sues Lime and everyone that came into contact with the scooter (which means the Juicers).
Plenty of indemnification for Bird/Lime throughout the agreement, however, as an “independent contractor” the service provider is exposed and on their own. Doesn’t this concern you? I’m sure you’ve given this consideration, especially with your legal background.
Curious of your thoughts. (yes I live in California and unfortunately need to be alert of these types of things)
As with anything, you’ll have to weigh your own risks. Remember that you can be sued for anything, so it’s up to you to decide if doing anything is worth it. My own thoughts are that the risks are so low that I’m really not too worried about someone suing me claiming I cut the break line or something.
Bird now sends 3 chargers to start and $10/per charger to start!
It’s not an “up front” deposit though. It will be deducted from your earnings as you go.
So, you won’t start making any profit until you have reached $30.
Location: Nashville, TN
Good to know. Still, $30 to get started isn’t too bad.
Is the deposit for the chargers taken out of my bank account?
Thanks for the post btw
I just applied to be a Bird charger and it says the deposit will be taken out of your earnings.
Do you need a driver license to be approved? If so, can I use my friends license?
Yeah, I think you need a drivers license or some sort of ID. Not sure if you can use your friend’s license. Most likely not.
I am going to try to do this in Louisville, KY. I have applied with both Bird and Lime. We live in a hip neighborhood with loads of hubs. Thanks for the suggestions.
Sweet! Let me know how it works out for you.
So I received my chargers, but there are very few scooters available to charge. There are over 50 scooters within mile of my house, but folks are not riding them and most are fully charged. Scooters just hit Louisville last year. Does it take awhile to take off, and will it improve as weather gets warmer?
Yeah, things will pick up as the weather improves. But, to be fair, this charging game is also getting harder as a lot of these companies keep tinkering with stuff.
My Lime chargers will be here tomorrow. Can I still pick up a Lime, and change during the day?
Yeah, you can charge limes anytime. Actually, you can charge Birds anytime too, but you can only release birds between 4am and 5pm. Limes let you charge them anytime and release them anytime.
I didn’t see if you ever mentioned how exactly you get paid ? Do you give your bank info or check by mail or what ?
You put your bank info and you’re paid daily via direct deposit.
BTW, if you’re in a small market like I am, it appears both Bird and Lime are throttling the release of chargers. After waiting 2 months after applying to be a charger/juicer and seeing no progress, and watching the same 4 or 5 trucks/vans stack up scooters to the roof every night downtown, I got impatient and contacted both Bird and Lime for an update.
Their responses were both essentially the same: That they would send out chargers when they determined a need for more changers, and there was nothing I could do that could escalate that process.
How do they pay you and do you have to report in on your taxes?
You get paid via deposit into your bank account. And yes, by law you have to report all income you earn in a year on your taxes.
I applied for Lime and Bird this past weekend. Nothing heard yet. I live in the Atlanta area. No email response, no text response, no charging adapters by mail, nothing, nada. So…when I tried to apply again, both said I have an active account. I live about 20 miles from the center of Atlanta and I wonder if the physical address caused my name to go in a “not able to approve” folder. Any help is appreciated.
Hmm…not sure. Maybe just keep messaging them?
I had the same result in my market, which is much smaller than Atlanta– it appears both Bird and Lime are throttling the acceptance process for new chargers. I applied 2 months ago, and after watching the same 4 or 5 trucks & vans stack up scooters to their roofs every night downtown, I contacted Bird and Lime for an update on my application.
The response from both was essentially the same: That they will make more chargers available when they determine a need for more, and that there was nothing I could do to escalate the process.
I’m in Atlanta and just got lime chargers about a week ago after applying over 2.5 months ago. I also applied to Bird and received no contact after numerous attempts to contact them on a status update. I finally got a message from Bird saying that they basically have enough chargers right now and won’t be activating me until something changes. Who knows how long that will be. I dont even know if there is a waiting list and where I am on it.
What is the most efficient way to charge them all without catching your place on fire? I was reading the orientations for Lime and Bird, and it seemed like you could use a power strip if you didn’t daisy chain another power strip. Otherwise, I think there’d be a few all over our apartment. Thanks for your input!
I just have them strewn about my house. Some are in my office. Some are in my dining room. Some in my living room. It annoys my wife a lot, haha. I don’t use a power strip at all.
How often does it pay?
Every day.
I have to say, hearing a lawyer/financial planner blatantly admit to having no ethical concerns is just so sad. “Technically” you are supposed to pay taxes (wink-wink, get away with tax evasion if you can). Charge your scooters up using someone else’s electricity! (Ummm, technically stealing). Scooters are supposed to be returned between 4-7 am, and TOS says you will get docked if turn them in later, but if they forget to dock you, just take advantage! Sheesh. I could cite about 3 other examples, but you get my drift. Doesn’t anyone have morals anymore??!
I was thinking about blocking your comment since it’s my blog and I don’t have to let trolls post here, but decided to leave your comment (trolling and all) just so I could address it.
First, I in no way hold myself out to being a financial planner. I’m also an attorney, but I’m not YOUR attorney.
Second, I’m not sure where you read my very basic comment that technically, all income is taxable income as a suggestion to evade taxes. Don’t even know how to respond to that besides saying that I nowhere say to not pay taxes, and indeed, I made it very clear that, technically, all income is taxable. So…
Third, I’m not sure where you get the idea that using electricity in places that you have a right to use the electricity constitutes stealing. I’m not stealing electricity when I charge up my phone or laptop at my office, nor am I stealing when I charge up items at a coffee shop where I am a customer. If a business doesn’t want you to use their electricity, they simply can tell you that you cannot charge that particular item, which is exactly what my brother’s coworking space told him after he brought in too many scooters to charge.
Fourth, what does the TOS saying you have to turn them in between 4-7am, but you turn them in later than that, have to do with morals? Again, very confused…
I’m glad you read this explanatory and fun post about my own experience charging up scooters, read through dozens of comments, and then felt the need to apparently criticize my ethics and morals and call me a thief. Bravo.
May I ask, what is the current limit for Bird and Lime Chargers as of November 23, 2018?
Like the total number of chargers you can have? I don’t think there’s any limit. I have 13 total chargers – 4 from Lime, 9 from Bird. But I just got 2 chargers confiscated cuz I left them in the bike room at my office and I think some janitors took them. So I guess I only have 11 chargers now.
Do you really get paid the same day and if so what time?
You get paid the next day. The money hits my bank account in the morning it looks like. Friday payments don’t hit your account until banks open up on Monday.
Sounds like a nice gig for college kids, but the idea of giving out your social security number is scary.
You fill out a form W9, which is a standard IRS form that you use in an business-independent contractor relationship. You can read more about what a form W9 is on the IRS website or even wikipedia.
If you make over $600 in a year, by law, the business must send a form 1099 to both you and the IRS. Saying that is “risky” to put your social security number on a form W9 is like saying it’s risky to put your social security number on a form W2 so that your employer can pay you and withhold taxes required by law. Or “risky” to put your social security number on a credit card application or a bank account application or loan application.
Have you never filled a form W9 before or a form W2 before?
Awesome post.
Thanks
I just started as a charger for Bird and I’m not happy with how it is going so far. I drove around for 30 min and this was my experience; 3 birds not located, found 1 bird not on the map but not available for charging, found 1 bird on the map but not available for charging (not sure why it would show no the map if not available!) I could see how this might be easier on bike or scooter, but not crazy about riding in the dark.
I did notice a lot more Limes than Birds, so i may switch and see if the experience is any better.
I enjoyed your post.
Sorry to hear about that Paula. Like anything, there is a learning curve, but you get better at figuring it out over time. Glad you enjoyed the post.
Hey… wow you wrote a very comprehensive document here.
I wasn’t looking to be a charger, but rather wanted to see how this works. I started noticing Lime scooters in/near my neighborhood few months back. I haven’t even rented them to see how the stuffs work because I was scared of injury LOL. Then I see an ad on Facebook about charging them as a gig. I got curious and went searching for this information and sure enough running into your article. You don’t just love doing this work, you put your heart into it. Enough to write an article this well. Hats off to you!!!
Thanks! Hope it was helpful!
This article was fantastic! Thank you so much for this. I am going to sign up for both right now as I can always use an extra hustle. I am especially interested in using extra income like this for investing but do not know where to begin. Have you written anything like this to help people in my situation? Thanks in advance.
Thank you!
I wrote this post once that I think is good for beginners, but I should probably write a post for the newbie investor to get started.
Best part of reading this was picturing you riding that stack of scooters lol
I need someone to film me on it. I’ve had random strangers film me in the street when they see me on a stack, so maybe there’s some footage out there.
Great article Kevin! Do you know if we have to report this income + pay tax on it?
You technically always have to pay taxes on ANY income you earn. So the short answer is, yes, you have to report and pay taxes on it.
The longer answer is that if you earn over $600, you will get a Form 1099, which shows what you were paid by Bird or Lime. That form also gets sent to the IRS. So in that situation, you absolutely have to report it, because the IRS will know about it.
First of all, thanks for such a great article. It is very helpful for a beginner like me. After reading your article I am going to sign up for the bird. Thanks Again for this amazing Idea.
Nice article. I signed up to become a bird charger about 2 weeks ago and didn’t hear anything back from them until this morning. Which is ironic because i signed up to be a lime juicer last night….Do you know how many chargers both companies start you with?
Maybe five minutes went by then i get an order confirmation from bird showing a 3pk power supply.
Hey JD. I got 3 chargers to start with Bird and 4 chargers with Lime. They’re interchangeable with the other, so I have 7 total chargers.
So drop off 4am’7am. When can you pick them up? Can you not do the pick up and charge during the day? I’m on the road a lot during the day and could easily pick up and charge between locations.
You can pick them up anytime you see them on the map. For Bird, if you pick up during the day, you can drop it off same day by 5pm. Lime lets you drop off anytime, so if you grab a Lime, you can drop it off any time during the day or night.
Thanks for the info. I found it to be very helpful. I signed up for Bird a few weeks ago but still haven’t received chargers and my attempts to get any feedback have been unsuccessful. There are multiple nests near my home so figure I could throw several in my truck on way home, charge in garage over night and drop off on way to work. But still nothing. Here in San Antonio most Lime scooters are near downtown which isn’t that far so I decided to sign up as well. I received my notification to order chargers for Lime yesterday. The only thing that turns me off is the $60 for 4 chargers. I know it will be made up fairly quickly but still not a big fan of that. I believe Bird is$20 but no up front cost. They deduct from your earnings when you start. I’m gonna start the Juicing for Lime but really do wish Bird would get back to me. Thanks again for the info!
Glad it was helpful! I’m going to update this post soon to reflect some of this new information. When I signed up, Bird and Lime had both just launched, and they didn’t charge me anything for the chargers.
How do you ride them for free? I am a charger but can not figure this out.
It should unlock once you scan them. Otherwise, what do you do? You carry them around?
I have applied with both Lime and Bird. Lime has accepted me but they won’t have an orientation here fore a while. Bird is now calling each applicant and asking a few questions like “What about Bird excites you .” I haven’t heard from Bird yet, so I can’t start charging/juicing till I receive my chargers. Lime is now charging $20.00 per charger and you own it. Bird now charges $10.00 deposit that is refunded when the charger is returned in useable condition. I am curious what happens during inclement weather, ice and snow. Also Friday night and Saturday morning I noticed the scooters not returning to the nests/hubs. What is up with that?
Hi! I just started as a Bird Charger this week. I love it! I live in a city with a big University that’s literally downtown. I have found it very easy to find plenty of Birds (even the higher valued Birds.) They’re literally everywhere near the school campus. I’m assuming students ride them to class, their dorm, to shop & eat etc… then they dump them anywhere that’s convenient for them! At this point there are more scooters on the streets than there are people to charge them so that works in my favor! They say you can’t get rich being a scooter charger, but averaging $100 plus a night, I’m fine with being a lot less broke!
Dang, nice job! You are killing it! I live near a college campus too, so my system is set up pretty perfectly now. I basically can ride them into work, drop them off along the way, and get paid at the same time.
I investigated becoming a charging contractor, but decided against it because the scooters do not use interchangeable batteries in a locking bracket. This would allow scooters to remain on the street and increase their availability to be rented.
Interchangeable batteries would also:
1. Give charging contractors more flexibility instead of requiring them to work overnight and return the scooter to the street between 4 and 7 am.
2. Allow someone with a bike and a cargo trailer to reach scooters that are not in areas accessible to motor vehicles.
3. Markedly reduce the carbon footprint associated with charging by using the aforementioned bicycle to transport replacement batteries to scooters with dead batteries.
4. Allow the use of centrally located wind and/or solar powered charging lockers for batteries so that charging contractors have a way to get more batteries for the scooters, and to reduce the charging contractors electric bill.
From my perspective, the people who came up with the scooter programs seem to have only thought about the scooter that they put on the street, and did not think of ways to make sure that the scooters were always ready and available when a customer needed them.
Yeah, I would love if they do interchangeable batteries. The thing is, part of the charging is putting them back into designated starting locations, since scooters move around during the day, they end up in random places that isn’t necessarily conducive to people using them in the morning. (i.e. you’d want scooters starting off near where people live so they can take it to work in the morning – a scooter in a random park somewhere isn’t useful to anyone).
As to your points:
1) Yeah, the 4am to 7am thing sucks. It’s better if you’re a miracle morning type person and already up and on your way to work at that time. But, note that you can also still drop the scooters off after 7am. It’s just more annoying because the scooters lock up after 7am for Bird. Lime scooters never lock up, so you can just ride them around forever.
2) Why aren’t you using a bike and cargo trailer. Or even better, using a scooter to pick up more scooters. I don’t even own my own car, so I’ve never used a car to pick up scooters. I’ve already got a post planned out about how stupid it is for gig economy people to use their cars for anything. Use your bike!
3) Again, use your bike anyway. I’ve never used a car ever to pick up scooters. And I never plan to. Cars are stupid. But again, picking up the scooter and placing them in certain locations is sort of the point, because the scooters need to start in certain locations so that people can actually access them in the morning.
4) Yeah, some sort of central charging location would be cool. That’s an infrastructure play. Long ago, gas stations didn’t exist. Now they’re everywhere. I imagine one day, we’ll never even know a world without electric charging stations everywhere.
I wanted to know if you had tried a lime charger on a bird and if it actually worked and wasn’t dangerous? I am a lime juicer but just got approved for bird to be a charger. I haven’t received my chargers yet from bird and wanted to go ahead and start charging with the lime charges but didn’t want them to blow up!!
So I just want to double check something. You said the lime chargers and the bird chargers are interchangeable? Have you tried it and is it safe? I am a lime juicer but just got approved to be a bird charger but have not received my shipment yet. I am ready to capture my first bird and try it out, but didn’t want it to explode bc I used a lime charger, so wanted to see if you had actually done this?! Thanks
Yep. They’re literally the same plug. It won’t blow up!
Thanks!!
great article, thanks Kevin. I dont think a crowd-sourced redistribution business model called contractor charging is going to work well in the future. You can already hear about Cities clamping down on service issues and a tonne of issues with chargers and juicers. Since your positive on the future of scooter sharing, the company you want to watch who are expanding rapidly in Europe and quietly in USA do their own system + service management (with internal employees or franchise operation partners) and is called http://www.efloater.com. Check out their funky futuristic self-balancing 3 wheels which allows you to carve and “ski” through the streets which is a hell of a lot more fun than all the rest. Oh yeah – and they are even 5 cents cheaper per minute!
I love the article, I saw a coupe Birds in my apartment complex and how no idea I was looking at a money making opportunity:) I live in an apartment on the top floor so my question is how much would you say the Bird scooters weigh?
Depends on the model of the scooter. The older ones are light – like 15 to 20 pounds I think. The newer ones are behemoths that weigh like 40 pounds. My market doesn’t have the big scooters though, so I haven’t actually seen them in person.
No elevator in your apartment? What do people with bikes do? Just carry them down a bunch of stairs?
Why do you need to enter a credit card to sign up to be a charger?
I didn’t have to when I did it. You do?
Thank you for your article! I just started this past week as a charger, and I was looking for articles to get more efficient and strategize better. To my happy surprise, I find that your article is about more than charging – it’s about SIDE HUSTLES. That is exactly what I love about this endeavor – I can fit it into my normal life but it can help achieve some of my financial goals. I am happy to see that your blog is about side hustles and the different things we can do to make money while we sleep. This is great and I look forward to getting more ideas.
Awesome! Glad you find the blog and hope you can learn something. This scooter charging is legit if you’ve got a nest that’s on your route to work. If you average $5 per day every single day with scooters, that’s $1,825 just to commute to work. Double that and average $10 a day and you’re getting paid $3,650 each year to commute to work. A regular person making $50k a year just increased their income by 7% just by understanding how to incorporate these scooters into their everyday life!
Be sure to check out my side hustle reports if you’re looking for more ideas – I fit a lot of stuff into my daily routine.
These things are trash id never sell out like this.
Why do you say electric scooters are trash? The way I see it, I’d rather have a city covered in scooters than in cars.
And what do you mean by “sell out like this”? I’d respond, but I don’t even know what that refers to.
After our chat at Camp FI I walked into work today and literally noticed like 30 of these scooters along the way haha. Just signed up to be a charger as this seems too easy! Plus I’ve been looking for motivation to wake up earlier and getting paid may just be the incentive I need. Will let you know how it goes and was great meeting you at camp!
Great to meet you also at Camp FI. Sign up to be a charger! We already know your route to work. And yeah, it’ll get you to go to work earlier or wake up earlier too, which is a benefit. They added some Bird Nests on my route to work now, so I’ve been riding these stacks of scooters to work lately, haha.
Thanks for this. Portland, Oregon has been inundated by scooters and I was wondering how the charging thing happened. This post gave me a very clear picture.
Happy to share this side of the scooter world. There’s a whole world of scooter charging going on behind the scenes.
I’ve seen these around downtown Minneapolis, I had no idea that you could sign up to be a charger! I live in the western suburbs though so it would be less feasible for me. However, SO COOL that you are also from Minneapolis. I am brand new to this FI community and so its really nice to see others from this area. We’ve started a blog too so we’ll be following you!
Welcome to the community! Be sure to join the Rockstar Finance forums. We set up fairly regular meetings there with other Minnesota bloggers and are always looking to connect with other bloggers.
Awesome, I will join the forum. Thanks!
I hadn’t heard of this before, but it’s very interesting. I love side hustles like this that basically anyone can do. Just a few days ago I was in Washington, DC and saw a lot of people riding these scooters (I don’t know what company it was). I can definitely see it getting more popular… I was actually wishing I had one because I did a lot of walking.
DC has so many scooters – Bird, Lime, and Skip. These scooters are legit. for real!
I was introduced to Birding a few months ago from another FIRE hustler. We went out for an hour or so, riding around on scooters for free while he picked some up to bring home to charge. It was so fun! They actually just started releasing them in my city, but I haven’t jumped on the charging wagon yet. Enjoyed your chat with Gwen yesterday!
Oh man, who’s this other FIRE hustler doing Bird – I gots to know! Also, FIRE hustler, I like that term – can I steal it?
Thanks for tuning in to our chat. My first time talking on camera like that, but it was real fun.
Lime is coming to my city and I am SO excited! Unfortunately, we do not live in a hip area (downtown – too expensive right now, sad face) AND I live on the 3rd floor of an apartment… (walk up).
Still, I have a super old Prius hatchback car AND I have a coworking space downtown, so I think I might just pick them up on my way home, charge them overnight (luckily no carpet in the main areas of the apartment) and then release them on my way to coworking the morning…
Definitely would like to get a slice of the pie before it becomes cut-throat like in some parts of Cali!
I think there’s enough room everywhere for people to at least make a few bucks charging scooters – obviously not full-time money or something, but say you make 50 bucks a week charging scooters. That’s $2600 a year – not too shabby at all.
Your situation sounds perfect to just make a few bucks for basically going home from and going to work. Even better is if you’re close enough to work that you can ride them back and get paid to do that.
So for example, leave work, grab a Lime and ride it home. Ride it to your coworking space in the morning (for free, of course). Charge it up a little more in your coworking space while you do other stuff, then drop it off.
This was super informative, thorough and outside of the box thinking — all that I’ve come to expect from you. I am still delighted and intrigued regardless. I will look into this opportunity in my metro area and sign up via your links. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks. These scooters are seriously only going to get bigger. Bird is valued at 2 billion now and is the fastest startup to ever reach that valuation. Might as well grab a slice of it while it’s there, especially if we can have some fun too.
I was afraid to sign up since the Bird charger application makes you say you’ve had an electrician certify your outlet. I also only have an apartment to charge and it said it works best on a concrete floor with no carpet. Now I think I’ll give it a try after reading your post.
So, yeah, you just plug it into a normal outlet. The charger cord literally looks like a laptop charger cord. They probably just put that electrician thing there to cover themselves just in case.
Concrete floor thing also doesn’t mean anything. I mean, I guess if you have carpet, you risk it getting dirty since the wheels on the scooter could be dirty. Probably just do the same thing as you’d do with your bike when you bring it into an apartment.
Charged my first Birds last night and released them this morning. It went fine, but I did report one as damaged because the back wheel would not turn well, which made it harder for my husband and I to get it home when the battery died. We were out for an evening walk and collected Birds. I stacked them and released them by myself so the non working wheel wasn’t an issue in the morning.
Sweet! It’s like playing a real-life Pokemon Go, isn’t it?
I’ve never played Pokemon Go, but we were unable to find the first 2 Birds we went after. They were red and yellow colored on the map, worth $20 and $14. They appeared to be inside buildings. Apparently people “hoard” Birds to try to get the bounty up. I’ve also heard people use Birds as traps to lure people to possibly get mugged, but I don’t know how common that actually is. It wasn’t a big deal that I didn’t find them because we were out walking for exercise anyway, but I now just go for the green Birds worth $5-6 and I have been able to locate those easily.
The chargers use 80 watts and a full charge for 5 hours I figured only costs about 7 cents which is nothing. Your typical space heater or hairdryer uses 1500 watts while on (that’s about 19 chargers all plugged in at once) so worrying about plugging in too many into one outlet really isn’t going to be a factor.
I’ve been a Bird Mechanic for a few months but I just started juicing a few weeks ago and juicing per hour is much more lucrative. However the heavy competition plus being up for most of the night are two big drawbacks. The problem isn’t always just harvesting but waking up at 2am to discover that there are very few serve hubs near where harvested and now I have to drive 6-8 further miles just to serve 🙁
What I’ve learned with Lime is that if you’re finished charging early you can serve them at any time before 7am. You don’t have to wait until 4am which is great. Also from what I understand everything harvested after 2am doesn’t need to be served until 7am the following day. Great article.
That’s what makes Lime really good – I can basically charge up 4 Limes during the evening, then drop them off at the Hub next to my house before I go to bed.
One strategy I do is that if a hub is full, I will check out the scooters as a rider and then them a short distance out of the hub. This opens the hub spaces in the hub that you can then drop off scooters at.This is really only cost-effective though if you have Lime referral codes that makes the unlock free – otherwise it’ll cost too much to do that.