Pay per load: why it exists, what the law says, and how it is breaking South African truck drivers

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In my last piece I spoke about how truck driving has become one of the most dangerous jobs in South Africa. One of the quiet killers behind that reality is how many drivers are paid. Not hourly. Not a decent basic salary. Just pay per load.

On paper it sounds simple. The more loads you pull, the more you earn. In reality it is one of the most abusive and dangerous systems on our roads.

Let’s break down why it exists, whether it is even lawful, how it affects drivers, and why employers love it so much.

What “pay per load” actually means on the ground

When drivers talk about pay per load, they are usually not talking about a basic salary plus commission. Many of these contracts are brutal.

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As we exposed in a previous SA Trucker article on what’s killing our side tipper drivers, a lot of trucking firms do not pay any basic wage at all. You start the month on zero. You only earn once you have completed and offloaded a trip. If you are stuck in a queue, sitting at a mine for days, turned back at a border or delayed by breakdowns, your earnings stay at zero.

Drivers in several forums say the same thing. You get paid “per load”, “per day” or “per trip”, but those amounts do not reflect the total hours you worked that week or month.

In a good month, with no breakdowns or congestion, a driver might make decent money. In a bad month, he can work like a donkey and still end up with peanuts.

Why employers love the pay-per-load model

From an owner’s point of view, pay per load looks very attractive especially for the fly by night companies.

1. It turns drivers into a variable cost
   If there are no loads, the company pays almost nothing in driver wages. There is no commitment to a fair monthly basic that must be paid even when the market is quiet.
2. It shifts business risk onto the driver
   Delays at ports, mines, depots, border posts or weighbridges become the driver’s problem. He is sitting there hungry and unpaid while the truck owner blames “market conditions”.
3. It allows operators to undercut rates
   If you are not properly paying for waiting time, rest time, holidays and sick leave, you can quote cheaper transport rates than a compliant operator who pays according to bargaining council wages and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA).
4. It opens the door for foreign-contract abuse
   We have already shown how some companies use Zimbabwean or other foreign contracts to pay drivers as little as R6 500 a month while operating in South Africa, clearly below local minimums and bargaining council scales. Pay per load fits neatly into that game.

In short, pay per load exists because it allows employers to keep their costs low and their risk minimal, while the driver carries all the pressure.

Is pay per load even legal in South Africa?

This is where things get tricky. The law cares less about how you structure payment and more about what the outcome is.

Under the BCEA and the main collective agreements for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry, truck drivers are entitled to at least the sectoral minimum wages, usually expressed as an hourly rate and a corresponding monthly salary, plus overtime, night shift allowances and so on.

The BCEA also sets rules for maximum hours of work, overtime, night work and the recording of hours and remuneration.

So, in principle:

• An employer may pay per trip or per load
• But the total must still work out to at least the minimum wage for the hours worked
• The company must still respect limits on working hours and provide the required rests and overtime compensation

On paper that sounds reasonable. In practice, many pay-per-load setups ignore those obligations completely.

Drivers are not given proper payslips reflecting hours and overtime, minimum wages are not guaranteed, and empty runs, waiting time and sleepovers are simply unpaid. International research by the ILO has warned for years that pay-per-load systems push drivers to break hours-of-service rules and increase fatigue risk.

The law is very clear on one thing. It does not matter whether you call it pay per load, per trip, per kilometre or commission. Under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Road Freight Bargaining Council agreements, a driver must be paid at least the minimum wage for the hours worked, including overtime, night shift and waiting time. If the total earnings fall below the legal hourly minimum once those hours are calculated, that setup is not compliant, no matter how clever the contract wording is. And if the pay structure pushes drivers to break the legally permitted working and rest hours, that is a direct violation of labour law and transport safety regulations. Just because something is common does not mean it is lawful.

So the answer is:

• Commission or load-based pay is not automatically illegal
• But pay-per-load systems that ignore minimum wages and working time rules are very likely unlawful

The problem is enforcement. Drivers on exploitative contracts rarely report violations, they’re isolated, desperate and terrified of losing the one income their families depend on.

How pay per load really affects drivers

Pay per load sounds like hustle money. On the ground it creates a perfect storm.

1. Fatigue and dangerous driving
   If you only earn when the load is offloaded, then every delay is lost income. So you push. You skip sleep. You drive through the night. You take chances in bad weather. You drink energy drinks instead of resting. You keep quiet about being sick. The ILO has specifically pointed to pay-per-load and unpaid empty trips as major contributors to fatigue in road transport.

Our own side tipper report showed exactly that pattern. The most common factor among many of the companies involved in serious incidents was pure pay-per-load with no basic.

2. Financial insecurity and debt
   A driver can have one or two breakdowns or get stuck in port congestion and suddenly the month’s income collapses. The bills, school fees and groceries stay the same. So he borrows, falls into loan shark traps or accepts even worse contracts just to survive.
3. Pressure to accept dangerous or abusive conditions
   If loads are scarce, the driver is less likely to refuse overloaded trailers, bad tyres, unroadworthy trucks or unsafe routes. Saying no means no income.
4. Mental health damage
   Living month to month with no guaranteed basic, plus the constant fear of killing someone or being killed because you are tired, is a recipe for anxiety, depression and burnout.
5. Undercutting fair employers
   Companies that actually pay proper hourly wages and respect the NBCRFLI agreements get undercut by operators who pay per load and ignore the law. That drags the whole industry race-to-the-bottom style.

Why truck drivers still take pay-per-load jobs

If pay per load is so bad, why do drivers sign up for it?

Simple. Desperation and the promise of “big money if you push”.

• Basic wages in the formal sector, even though regulated, are still not luxurious, especially for drivers supporting big families.
• Some pay-per-load drivers really do have months where they earn far more than a basic wage driver. Those stories spread quickly.
• Many drivers feel they have no choice. It is either a risky pay-per-load job or no job at all.

So the system survives because the industry is flooded with cheap contracts, low rates and desperate workers. Owners blame low transport rates. Drivers pay with their health and lives.

People love to talk about trucking money. They see a driver parking a shiny truck and think he is eating well. They don’t see the months where he earns nothing because the truck stood with a breakdown or sat three days at a border without moving.

They don’t see grown men crying quietly in cabs because they don’t know how to tell their children there will be no school shoes this term. They don’t see drivers pushing through exhaustion and fear just to avoid going home with empty hands. This system breaks men mentally long before it breaks them physically, and the saddest part is that most South Africans have no idea what it costs a driver to keep the economy alive.

Where to from here?

Pay per load is not just a labour issue. It is a road safety issue.

If you pay drivers in a way that rewards risk-taking and punishes rest, you should not be surprised when trucks crash, people die and fatigue becomes the silent killer of our highways.

We need:

• Stronger enforcement of minimum wages and working time rules
• Transparent payslips showing hours, overtime and how “load” pay converts to hourly legal minimums
• Industry pressure on customers who demand impossible turnaround times and dirt-cheap rates
• A serious conversation about “safe rates”, like in some other countries where pay structures are designed to support safety, not fight it.

Until then, pay per load will keep rewarding the worst behaviour, punishing the most honest drivers and turning South African truckers into gamblers with their own lives.

And when that driver pulls out of the yard at midnight chasing another unpaid hour in a border queue, the question in his mind is not “How much will I make this month”

It is the same one behind #AmIComingHomeAlive.