We have the best job market in decades right now. If a company tells me a range and gives me an offer in the 50% percentile or lower I'm going to ask why, and what it will take to increase it. If the answer is obviously crap then I'm just not going to work for those people.

Advertising something and then ripping it out from underneath people in the final stages will build resentment- it's a horrible strategy.

Then hopefully those companies get fewer applications and they learn to be honest- or, if their salary bands are that wide for a single title, maybe they need to think about how they’re treating their employees. Maybe there’s some racial or gender bias they need to work on.

That's kind of what happens in Colorado now that listing salary range is compulsory. A company will say something like 110k-250k commensurate with experience, but you can bet they're not actually going to shell out anything close to the high posted range. Just my anecdote.

So the great thing is, people won’t accept those jobs, and so they’ll have to correct the ranges.

Not a chance imo.

When I get a salary range it means the top of that range. Anybody asking for less is making an error. Sometimes I get a range and I talk to the recruiter/company and tell them I need significantly more than that. In this market, demand more.

In NYC, you can be sued for that. There is some standard of proof that you have to meet (not a lawyer) that there are reasonable candidates for that position who would get the top of the range.