They seem to be saying the $21/h is what the drivers would GROSS, not what they would NET after expenses...otherwise they would write "after" and not "including".
Compare to their blog here[1] where they are much clearer.
"[T]he median driver in Seattle makes between $19 and $21 per hour before expenses. A typical expense range is between $2.94 and $6.46 per hour"
This wording is a little unclear. I’d have liked something a little more specific: “in addition to the incurred average costs...”. As is, it sounds like expenses may be part of the hourly rate.
That's ambiguous. Uber could say "we pay them $21 per hour, and they are expected to pay for their gas/expenses out of that" and it what they said is still true.
So there are 730 hours in a month. You're insured for all of them, but you might be driving for only 200 of them, and a portion of that won't be "on a trip". What percentage of the monthly commercial drivers insurance cost are they counting as expenses?
Same thing with maintenance. Yeah, that oil change may have cost $40... but none of it was incurred while on a trip.
ceejayoz didn't say slippery slope - they mean slippery as a synonym for "tricky" or "furtive"
For example, "$21 per hour while on a trip" could mean that, if a driver takes a fare 30 minutes out of town then returns empty, they are only paid $10.50 for the hour's work because returning empty was not "on a trip"
> Ensuring drivers would earn a minimum of approximately $21 per hour while on a trip, including the costs of their average expenses
https://p2a.co/H9gttWA