How to Become a Picup Driver in South Africa

Overview

Picup is a South African delivery company. Its drivers, called Legends, collect parcels from a client's store or warehouse and take them to that client's customers. Its clients include Pick n Pay asap!, Dis-Chem, Clicks, Nando's and UCOOK.

Everything happens in the Picup Driver App. You register in it, upload your documents in it, and get support on its live chat. Picup's website has no driver section.

Picup publishes its rates, which no other company here does. They are in the earnings section below.

How work reaches you

Through the lottery. A client places a trip. Every online driver within 15km of the collection point gets a notification showing what the trip is worth. You accept, and Picup picks a winner.

Closest to the collection point wins, but Picup Plus drivers come first. A Plus driver further away beats an ordinary driver who is closer.

If you win a trip, do it. Handing one back goes on your profile, and a pattern of it can lead to suspension.

Requirements

Notes on the requirements

Seven steps, not one form

Download the app, register, driver training, onboarding test, vehicle assessment, activation, then continuous assessment.

The step people get stuck on is the one before activation. Picup trains you only if it needs more drivers in your area. You can upload every document and still wait.

On-site training runs in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Town. Book it on the app's live chat. The training material is in the app and the onboarding test is online.

The vehicle assessment costs money

You pay for it before you have earned anything:

• Motorcycle: R170.00
• Light passenger vehicle or small van: R240.55
• Large van: R300.00

Take a card. Picup says branches would rather not handle cash.

Go to any DEKRA station, or to Tyger Wheel and Tyre, and quote Picup's reference number 791548. Bring the vehicle, an ID document or driving licence, and the vehicle licence disc. Get there before 10:00 to avoid a wait.

DEKRA checks your appearance and Picup gear as well as the vehicle.

Documents

Tick these off as you collect them

Notes on the documents

You upload everything in the app, under MANAGE PROFILE DOCUMENTS. Four of the things Picup wants are not documents, so they are the ones people arrive without:

• A photograph of yourself. You upload a new one once you have your Picup gear.
• A photograph of your vehicle.
• The carrier agreement. Download it, fill it in, initial every page, sign it, upload it. Read it first. It is your contract with Picup.
• The vehicle assessment report, once DEKRA has done it.

There is also a short form outside the app where you say which area you want to deliver in.

Application process

1. Install the Picup Driver App from Google Play. It is Android only.
2. Open it and tap BECOME A LEGEND.
3. Fill in your name, phone number, email address and a new password.
4. Upload your documents, a photograph of yourself and a photograph of your vehicle.
5. Sign the carrier agreement and upload it.
6. Complete the New Driver Registration form and name your delivery area.
7. Ask the live chat to book you onto training, then take the test.
8. Get the vehicle assessed, quoting 791548, and upload the report.
9. Ask the live chat to activate you.

Photograph everything in good light before you start: your ID document, driving licence, proof of address, proof of banking, third party insurance, vehicle licence, and the vehicle itself.

Picup runs its support on the live chat in the app, so expect that rather than a phone number.

Vehicles

Vehicle requirements

Picup runs four classes: bike, car, small van and large van. Your class sets your pay. A bike earns R32.01 for the first 5km of an on-demand trip. A large van earns R86.94.

You can take work below your class

Any vehicle can accept a lower trip mode, paid at the lower rate. A car driver who takes a R32.01 bike trip is paid R32.01. Nothing tops it up.

Picup sets no vehicle age limit and names no models. Its standard is the DEKRA assessment.

Foreign documents

Compare every company on foreign documents

Can foreign nationals apply?

If you are not a South African citizen, Picup asks for an asylum seeker document, work permit or visa.

It names no passport, South African or foreign, and no refugee status document. Its list ends with “etc”.

Ask the live chat what Picup accepts for your document before you book the vehicle assessment. The assessment costs R170.00 to R300.00 and you pay it before Picup activates you.

Refugee and asylum documentation

Picup names an asylum seeker document. It does not name a section 24 refugee status document.

That is the wrong way round. UNHCR says a recognised refugee under section 24 has the right to seek employment, while an asylum seeker under section 22 does not automatically have permission to work and needs the permit endorsed.

So ask before you spend anything.

Do I need my own vehicle?

Yes. Picup says you can register on your own, for free, if you have the documents and a vehicle.

It does not have to be a vehicle you own. Two vendors supply one, and the next section says what each takes.

What if I do not have a vehicle?

Picup names two vendors that put drivers on the platform with a motorbike. Both are outside companies and both take a cut of your earnings. Neither is compulsory.

Lularides

Supplies motorbikes, safety gear and training. Takes 5% of your earnings, excluding tips, while your subscription runs. Picup says that covers onboarding, UIF, management, support, legal fees, and costs like the bike, the deposit, a helmet, gloves and a phone.

To leave: pay what you owe, then hand Picup their letter of permission.

[email protected], 010 140 9510.

iThemba

Runs a motorbike education programme and can cover a learner's and a driver's licence. Takes R5 a week, excluding tips. If your bike is off the road, it rents you a replacement at R400 a week or R90 a day.

To leave: give a month's notice to both iThemba and Picup.

[email protected], 078 242 0941.

Before you sign either

Your Picup profile carries the vendor's banking details, not yours. Picup pays the vendor. The vendor pays you by Friday. Ask for proof of payment every week.

Neither publishes what the bike itself costs. Get the questions on our renting page answered in writing first.

Driver earnings

These rates were in the app on 6 September 2026. Picup adjusts them whenever fuel moves by R1.00 or more.

On-demand trips

One collection, one delivery. A base fee covers the first 5km, then a rate per kilometre.

Picup's example: a bike on a 12km trip earns R32.01 plus 7 x R4.20, so R61.41.

Bucket trips

Several orders collected together, dropped at several addresses. Each leg is paid per kilometre, higher for the first 10km.

Then, whatever you drive: R3.00 a stop, R5.00 for each successful delivery, and R1.00 to R5.00 per parcel by size.

Picup's example: a car, four medium parcels, three addresses, 32km, comes to R267.84.

Failed deliveries and returns

Half the standard rate, capped at R45 for a motorbike, R65 for a car and R85 for a small van.

When you are paid

Every Tuesday, for the Monday to Sunday before it. Up to 48 hours to reflect, depending on your bank.

What comes off the top

Your fuel, data, airtime, insurance, servicing, tyres, the DEKRA assessment, and anything a vendor deducts. Work out what you keep per hour online, not per trip.

Common problems

15 minutes to collect, 30 to deliver

That is what Picup expects. Tell the live chat before you go over, not after.

An unscanned parcel blocks your next trip

Every parcel is scanned twice, once on collection and once on delivery. A parcel never scanned the second time stays stuck on your device and you get no more trips until it is cleared. Return it to the collection point and scan it there, with the name of whoever takes it.

Fail a parcel in the app the moment you know you cannot deliver it, even if you plan to try again. Picup gives you a redelivery option afterwards.

Earnings that do not appear straight away

A route pays out automatically only if you were within 1km of the waypoint when you started and finished it, and inside the client's delivery window. Everything else waits for Picup's finance team, usually until the end of the next business day.

Quote the route ID, not the order number, when you ask about pay.

Not getting lottery notifications

Clear the app cache, check your phone is not on silent, then ask the live chat for a test notification and tell them where you are.

Slot penalties on scheduled work

Plus drivers who book slots need 95% attendance and no failed collections. Deductions run R50, then R100, then R150 between Monday and Saturday, and R250 on a Sunday.

Withdraw in the app rather than not arriving. There is no penalty if you withdraw two hours before the shift, withdraw on the day with a valid reason, or are in an accident. Disputes go to live chat within 24 hours, with the date, the reason and the evidence.

Questions people ask

Sources

• Picup Driver App Company page Picup. Published or updated 2 September 2026. Read on 6 September 2026 . Picup's own driver app, and the help centre inside it. You register under BECOME A LEGEND and upload documents under MANAGE PROFILE DOCUMENTS. The help centre covers registration, the vehicle inspection, the app, client procedures, earnings and the two vendors that supply bikes. Android only.
• Picup home page Company page Picup. Read on 6 September 2026 . Picup's own site. No driver page, no requirements and no service-area list. It describes Picup as on demand and national delivery.
• Picup new driver registration form Company page Picup. Read on 6 September 2026 . Linked from Picup's registration article. You consent to Picup checking your documents and say which area you want to deliver in.