Having finished his day shift as a maintenance worker in downtown, San Jose resident Mario Rosas began his collections at San Jose State in the dead of night.

He tugged at his truck bed extender to make sure it was sturdy enough to handle the overflow of scooters that were about to hang over its edges.

But once he parked south of 7th Street Plaza, Rosas’ only concern was bringing home enough money to fill up his gas tank.

Thankfully, he had enough room in the back of his pickup truck to reel in more than $100 worth of scooters in just one round trip.

Rosas takes home and charges scooters companies like Lime and Bird released onto campus in early 2018.

Now describing it as a lucrative side gig, the father of two said he found the obscure employment opportunity through a mobile game on his phone.

“I was playing a game that had the advertisement,” said Rosas.

Most people took advantage of these pay-to-use scooters to zip through San Jose, but the devices also benefit people like Rosas who moonlight as “juicers.”

Juicers scout populated areas like SJSU for dead or dying scooters to “harvest,” meaning they recharge the battery for a $6 profit per device.

They can have up to 25 scooters at a time, but are not limited to any quantity throughout the day, according to Rosas.

“Usually I get anywhere from 40 to 70 scooters a day,” he said. “I can make $300 on a good day, so people can definitely make a living out of this.”

However, Rosas was not alone in his hunt. He ran into two colleagues in the middle of 7th Street Plaza that night.

They exchanged nods and conversation underneath the street light as if it were a pit stop for juicers.

The oldest among them noticed Rosas was having trouble scanning the QR code of a scooter and asked if he could scan it for himself instead.

The QR code worked on his iPhone, so Rosas gave him the scooter and with it, he rode off into the night.

“There goes $6,” he said. “I think I just need to update the app.”

The other man Rosas encountered was Jeff Widergren, an SJSU electrical engineering alumnus who left his job at Microsoft to start his own company.

Widergren then awaited patent approvals for a proposed app he claimed would eliminate online cheating. He said one of the app’s investors supported him financially during this time.

But when they dropped him, Widergren was left without a steady source of income. He burned through the remainder of his money and started working a variety of odd jobs to replenish his lost savings.

“I did OK at Fry’s, Sprouts and Macy’s but lost all of those jobs because of my drinking,” said the class of 1987 graduate. “I go on binges sometimes.”

One of Widergren’s roommates suggested he invest in motorized scooter chargers and become a juicer. He said he fell in love with the job instantly after Lime accepted his application.

“This job fits my needs and is fun, it’s like a hide-and-go seek,” said Widergren. 

Though Widergren and Rosas only knew each other through casual run-ins, they spoke like good friends when bragging about who took home the most scooters. 

Widergren won that night.

“I started looking around earlier in the day, like 4 or 5 p.m.,” he said. “Plus, I just learned how to stack scooters on top of each other, so now I can ride back to my apartment with a lot more of them.”

Without a car to drive, Widergren can only take home as many scooters as he can hold on his own. 

He keeps the scooters lined up in the hallway leading to the kitchen of his cramped apartment. All of them plugged into multi-outlet power strips spread across the floor like land mines.

They become like pieces of furniture when left to charge next to the television overnight.

Nevertheless, Widergren said his roommates have no problem with his operation.

“It pays more than the retail [jobs] did,” he said. 

Rosas and Widergren collectively take home more than 100 scooters a day, yet it is only a fraction of the total amount roaming in San Jose.

According to John Ristow, acting director of the city’s department of transportation, there are approximately 1,700 motorized scooters in the city.

Back on campus, at 10 p.m., the rain was hitting Rosas in all directions while his wife waited inside the truck for him to load up the scooters.

The trunk was brimmed with overlapping scooters, barely leaving enough room for Rosas to look through his rearview mirror.

He pulled at his truck bed extender one last time. Now, his only concern was arriving home to say good night to his children.

“My son says he wants to play soccer for Stanford or Berkeley,” said Rosas. “It would be nice if he stayed close to home.”

Brian Darby, an adult education instructor in Santa Clara, told the San Jose City Council on Dec. 18 that charging scooters could be a great vocational opportunity for people with intellectual disabilities as well.

“A lot of work can be given to them and they can learn how to manage these things,” Darby said. “They can bring the scooters home, clean them up and charge them.”

At the same city council meeting, Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco also spoke highly of both Lime and Bird. In particular, she thanked them for facilitating a “shared economy.”

Carrasco said she recalled seeing SJSU students take home multiple scooters. She later realized they were harvesting them for money.

“I know it’s [the company’s] model and it works for them, but it also works for the community,” Carrasco said regarding the employment opportunities offered by Lime and Bird. “It’s nice to be able to share the wealth.”