Location, Location, Location!

You will not be able to become a Bird Charger if you are not in one of the locations found on the Map

 

 

1. You need to request Bird Charger cords.

You may already be a Rider inside of the Bird App, but not until you signup for the Charger program will you be given power adapters. Upon signing up to become a Bird Charger you get three charging adapters on your first order. It costs $30 but that is simply deducted from your earnings, there is no Credit Card required to be a Bird Charger.

2. Buy forward and rear facing lights

If you plan on riding the bird home, you will need lights! The charging mode on the birds turns off the lights and only a few models of the Bird Scooter let you switch them on with a power button.

3. Wait until 9pm

Seriously, do not waste your time hunting during the day! Almost all of the large bounty birds and anything left past 10:30pm are either in someones car/garage/house or the location on the map is incorrect.

4. Switch to Charger Mode in the App

There is a toggle on the pull out settings tab to look for birds that need charging.

5. Find the closest Bird

When you spot the bird you want to catch on the map, remember the first two letters, this will come in handy later. Use the navigation app of your choice (see my earlier post on saving Mobile Data) to make your way to the Bird.

6. Capture Bird

Capturing a bird at night is a bit easier than during the day. Bird gives you a helping hand by letting you set an alarm on the bird. This is not terribly loud, and when the city quiets down at night you can hear it better.

Here is what it looks and sounds like.

If you don’t need to set off the alarm, you can instead use the first two letters you read from earlier to identify the correct bird. Once you open the QR reader, you will be greeted with a black screen, as the camera does not have the flash enabled. Here are two tricks: First, it is easier to only read the last two letters and manually type them; Second, if you are too lazy for that, turn on your flash with the lightning bolt button and tilt your phone so the camera light does not cause a glare on the QR code. That last part is SOOO essential, reading QR codes at night is very difficult with the flash on if you try and shoot the QR code perfectly square.

 

Shortcut to open the QR reader. When you use this method, you must press the RED “Capture” button after the scan is successful.

7. Ride to your next bird

Before you get going, attach the front light to your bird, turn on both your lights and set off to the next bird. You need to be safe as a Bird Charger, if you get hurt you won’t be making money, so be smart and safe.

8. Stacking Birds

You can’t walk to each bird you want to charge; someone will pick it up before you make it there, someone will always be nearer to that bird than you are. So you need to stack them up on top of each other. GO SLOW at first, don’t do more than two birds at a time. Here is a picture of how I like to stack them.

 

When riding you can place your back/butt on the handlebar behind you to get added stability. Please check out How To Ride a Bird Scooter to learn more tips for being safer on the road at night.

9. Drop off one Bird(s) at home

You can request more charging units from Bird at $10 a piece. My apartment is pretty jammed with 3-4 birds charging up, and most apartments won’t be able to hold more than that. Even though you might have space, there needs to be an outlet also some types of carpet do not work with the kickstand. Start with three, don’t order 6 chargers before you get to see how many birds fit in your living space.

10. Repeat from step 7

Until you either can’t find any more, or have no room left in your living space. If you grab Birds with the most charge first you can charge more Birds with less chargers. 😀

11. Recharge the Birds

It is best to start with the newer birds, they charge faster and hold their charge better. If the bird has a power button, Unlock the Bird Scooter using the App. Next, hold the power button down for 4-6 seconds and then let go.  Now that bird will charge in 2 hours or so. With the blinking tail lights and the led floor lights the battery will not be 98% in the morning so do not turn the Birds on until you drop them off. Now that those are charged plug in the older models which have the larger base. I prefer to route all my cords on top of the birds and place the square pack on the bird which is charging. The light is RED to indicate charging and GREEN to indicate full battery, there is no need to check the battery in the App or the Bird Scooter Mini-Display.

 

Pro Tips:

You can pick up scooters sometimes around you during the day; this Bird can now be driven around to search for other Bird Electric Scooters in your area FOR FREE.

More than 2 Bird Scooters stacked together starts to become a hazard for pedestrians and cars. You will also quickly reach the scooter weight limit and can break any number of things doing so.

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Now you have to release them tomorrow morning between 4-7am. And some of your Birds will be damaged, here is how to deal with broken Birds.