Thousands of dollars are lost in a big city every day, dropped onto pavement to be washed away or swept into street sweepers. There has been no economic way to collect most of them until now.

This business would train crows and pigeons to insert coins into a slot. The slot would function as a vending machine, outputting a quantity of bird food for every coin. Soon birds would be searching the city for any unprotected coin and bringing it in for food. There is absolutely no risk of birds learning to steal money and any accusation of such would be libelous.

A more mundane and less profitable version would output bird food for trash collected and dropped into a dumpster.
-- Voice, Feb 02 2019

Baked in 2008 https://www.npr.org...hp?storyId=87878028
[nomocrow, Feb 06 2019]

Alfred Hitchcock would be so proud ...

"Did you get a good look at the muggers, madam ?"

"Well, yes ... but all those pigeons look the same to me ... "
-- 8th of 7, Feb 02 2019


//absolutely no risk of birds learning to steal money// I'll just go and set up my addictive feed vending machine.
-- wjt, Feb 02 2019


Very clever. How about training them to pick up garbage?
-- doctorremulac3, Feb 02 2019


If pigeons, maybe pick up garble.
-- wjt, Feb 03 2019


Picking up garbage sounds great at first, but if the birds learn that the trash machine can't differentiate between garbage and any other small object such as someone's hat, purse, phone, or any other object that isn't tied down, there might be a problem.
-- scad mientist, Feb 03 2019


This is freaking brilliant. Crows are very smart. They are one of the smartest of the entire bird family. Yes. Do it.
-- blissmiss, Feb 06 2019


Wouldn't hats, phones and wedding rings earn more food? no problem, item return.

Or is that why it is a murder of crows.
-- wjt, Feb 06 2019


This is fully baked.
-- nomocrow, Feb 06 2019


In a pie ? Isn't that just for blackbirds ?
-- 8th of 7, Feb 06 2019


A guy actually built one, and trained crows to use it.
-- nomocrow, Feb 06 2019


Really? I had not heard of that.

(Later that night)...Wow, you are right, [nomocrow]. Do you know this because you are really a crow??? hahahaha
-- blissmiss, Feb 07 2019


+ love this... Glad someone baked it
-- xandram, Feb 07 2019


[blissmiss] Not no mo.
-- nomocrow, Feb 07 2019



random, halfbakery