[Cerium]

The information landscape has changed a bit - several large states now require posting clear salary bands, which many companies comply with in good faith. Some like Netflix post something useless (eg: "The range for this role is $100,000 - $720,000").

[lotsofpulp]

That isn’t useless, the $100k bottom number provides a lot of information to labor sellers.

[packetslave]

Netflix is a weird case, in that they let new hires pick the mix of stock vs. cash in their total compensation. Since the CA law requires posting the cash salary in the job offer, it really can be that wide of a range.

[zerr]

When given the range, overshoot the max so they can negotiate you down close to the max.

[ZoomZoomZoom]

"Why do we need a candidate that can't read or do basic math?"

Also, usually the high bound is set to catch desperate overqualifieds into the job competing process, not to be actually paid.

YMMV, speaking from experience in non-US job market culture.

[zerr]

It's not about the basic math but negotiating if they can do better, also saying that they shouldn't even bother proposing you something in the lower part of the range.

I deal with non-US shops as well, it is surprising how many of them can and do pay US rates when asked.