Meet Tech's New Bounty Hunters

Some are called “Bird Chargers.” Others, “Lime Juicers.” Together they are the human engine powering the booming, multibillion-dollar electric scooter business.

- Lucinda Shen

AROUND FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON, well before the sun begins to set on the seaside city of Santa Monica, Mark Devlin hits the streets in search of electric scooters on life support. The wireless, dockless devices are wildly popular here, propped up on seemingly every corner of town in bright red, pink, black, or green. But humans must take them off-line to charge them. By late afternoon, there are usually a few here and there that have fallen below a functioning battery threshold. So Devlin goes hunting.

“You have to watch the Birds, see where they go, and see where they have congregated,” Devlin, 57, says. “Then I strategize what my night is going to look like.”

The real action starts after sundown. Many of the scooters, provided by at least four companies including Bird, Lime, Lyft, and Uber, deactivate at 9 p.m., when the services shut down for the night. So at 8 p.m., Devlin parks the U-Haul truck he rents for the occasion next to the largest flock he can find—to “preclaim them,” he says—and waits.

At the stroke of nine, Devlin kicks into gear. He homes in on a flock of Birds using the app on his mobile phone, tosses each one into his truck, and makes his way to the next location—only to find that another charger (or “Juicer,” as they’re known for Lime) has seized the spoils. No sweat; Devlin moves on. At another scooter gathering, Devlin sprints, successfully claiming one mere seconds before another charger. By 10 o’clock, streets once flush with scooters are swept clean.