Bird Is Quietly Luring Contract Workers Into Debt Through a New Scooter Scheme

One Bird Charger estimates that he took on $40,000 in scooter debt

By the time that Daniel got a surprise call from someone at Bird this spring, things seemed dire for the dockless scooter industry. A 35-year-old former jet engine mechanic for the military, Daniel had been supporting his family of five by charging dockless e-scooters in San Diego, California, earning an average of $500 a day in the summer months, with the help of a sprinter van and generators he purchased so that he could collect and charge more scooters simultaneously. But payouts from the scooter giants Bird and Lime suddenly dropped late last year. Then, Lime left town in January, and the Covid-19 crisis hit shortly after, tanking demand for the scooters that remained. Now he was barely able to pay his bills.

The Bird salesman complimented Daniel on his work ethic and said he had a special offer. If Daniel would agree to buy his own fleet of scooters from Bird — worth thousands of dollars — Bird would finance the entire deal upfront at no interest. In exchange, Daniel would get to run his own e-scooter business.

“I would buy scooters, they would finance scooters for me, and basically [they were] telling me that I would have my own area,” Daniel…