Yep
I was offered E6 4k

Imagine my shock when a junior project engineer keep asking me how much pay etc.
Cause he want to push work to me.

I showed him my payslip. 4k
He kept quiet. Cause his pay is 4.2k lol

This kind of overlap is stupid.
Then the E5 everytime lunch keep complaining how he don't get promotion after 4 years bla bla bla.
I shut him down. You want to be promoted to E6 and take pay cut to 4k?

Also not sure the reasoning why have a large pay range.
A better scheme is to have smaller ranger and more grade.
So you feel like you made progression. Every few years "promoted" to a new salary grade.
Instead of work 20 years only promoted 2 times.