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Comment by barkingcat | Hacker News Reader

The fact that you bought your own for $2500 means their business model is a failure.

If you spent $2500 on Bird subscriptions and rides then that means that the business model is successful at least in your case.

Your comments directly prove the previous poster's thesis.

EDIT:

And yes, Bird has realized the failure in their previous business model of renting scooters, and will be SELLING scooters directly (which in my opinion is a much better business model)

https://shop.bird.co/pdp.html

Alas, "Delivering in US and Europe summer 2019" means that they have lost out on $2500 worth of business from goobynight (and from the market segment represented by goobynight).

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Me dropping cash on a scooter was just an interesting aside. I'm one of two people in town I've seen on a personal e-scooter.

Most people don't want to own. It's less useful for bar hopping and you're on the hook for maintenance/repairs/charging/storage. I'm more handy than the average person that rides these. The average person living in downtown Denver likely doesn't even own a set of tools.

A rental business is much more attractive to VCs, if they can make it profitable. Has a niche retailer has ever received VC attention? Honest question. That doesn't feel like it scales like nearly on demand rentals.

  less useful for bar hopping and you're on the hook

People using motorized scooters for bar hopping (inebriated use) is a specific concern.

Agreed, but insert an equivalent hop without alcohol and you'll see what I mean.

> The fact that you bought your own for $2500 means their business model is a failure.

Rubbish: they can be successful because not everyone wants to buy a scooter. Also commenter still probably uses Bird, for example one way trips or when it is just more convenient.

Both of these are true. I can't believe anyone thinks that my hobbyist purchase affects the transportation business model of Bird. That's like thinking cars are putting buses out of business in Chicago.

I've also rented a couple Lyft scooters out of convenience, as you said. They certainly feel worse, now that I'm spoiled, but the convenience of just dropping them off is a huge win.

Yep. My use case for scooters is when the bus will take too long to get me to/from work, or running errands, or when I'm too tired/it's too far to walk. I decide that I need it at the spur of the moment, and don't want to plan to have it with me.

  running errands

... is exactly the kind of use case for which these shared scooters are ill-suited.

You stop for your first errand, come back outside afterward, and bam! someone else took it. What if there are no others nearby?

Mm, good point. My use case is usually that I'll walk up to 40 minutes 1 way if I need a cable or something like that (non perishable, semi urgent) etc, but am not willing to walk 40 minutes each way. I end up ubering otherwise.

+1 yeah, I don't get that argument either. does the fact that someone bought a car mean the car rental business model is a failure? does the fact that someone bought a house mean AirBnB's business model is a failure?

One can buy a scooter at home, and then still rent scooters when traveling to other cities.

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