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[Ted$8roadFan]

My old ‘01 Civic was purchased when I lived in Pennsylvania (one of two NE states not requiring s front plate). Then. I moved to Florida (also no front plate). When I returned home to MA, I had my local mechanic drill holes in the front bumper for the front plate. I believe there was a space for a license plate but no bracket.

[Ted$8roadFan]

More on the new RI “5-wave” plate:

https://www.wpri.com/dont-miss/new-wave-license-plates-to-be-distributed-next-year/

[Flint1979]

The thing that I'm seeing with Michigan's Water Winter Wonderland license plates is that people are putting the tabs in the wrong corner. They go in the lower right corner where the white line is at not the upper right corner like on the old plates.

[Rothman]

The thing that I'm seeing with Michigan's Water Winter Wonderland license plates is that people are putting the tabs in the wrong corner. They go in the lower right corner where the white line is at not the upper right corner like on the old plates.

Heh.  They should all be fined.

[Scott5114]

The thing that I'm seeing with Michigan's Water Winter Wonderland license plates is that people are putting the tabs in the wrong corner. They go in the lower right corner where the white line is at not the upper right corner like on the old plates.

Heh.  They should all be fined.

You'd get a kick out of the inexplicably popular Oklahoma practice of putting the stickers on alternating sides (thus completely obscuring the county/month sticker).

[epzik8]

More on the new RI “5-wave” plate:

https://www.wpri.com/dont-miss/new-wave-license-plates-to-be-distributed-next-year/

Don't fix what isn't broken

[Flint1979]

I've seen on the older white plates with blue lettering people putting the tab right in the middle of the plate between the letters and numbers. When I was born Michigan had a black plate with white lettering and the tab went in the lower right corner on that plate too.

[SD Mapman]

We're getting new plates, just like the rumor I heard this June said we were: https://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=31833

[Ted$8roadFan]

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has a new plate option:

https://www.kfvs12.com/2022/10/06/gov-beshear-announces-new-team-kentucky-license-plate-option/

[brad2971]

We're getting new plates, just like the rumor I heard this June said we were: https://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=31833

https://listen.sdpb.org/arts-life/2022-11-15/south-dakota-to-issue-new-license-plate-design-in-2023

That's...about as close to digital photograph quality as one can get with a general-issue license plate. Much better than the 2016 version. Good job, South Dakota DMV and Dept. of Revenue.

OTOH, Nebraska's new plates starting next year...yeesh: https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2022/05/31/live-nebraskas-new-license-plate-design-unveiled/. BTW, Nebraska: It's time to tell the rural counties to get on the same license plate AAA-123 scheme that Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster counties have; especially if, unlike Colorado, the state requires its citizens to get new plates every six years.

[Scott5114]

I actually like the Nebraska design, but then again I'm a sucker for classical-style artwork. (And it's quite nice to see a plate from the center of the country that has something to say other than "WE FARM HERE, GOD DAMN IT!")

On the other hand, South Dakota, what's the point? It's basically a carbon-copy of the current plate. And don't you have something other than Mount Rushmore that you're proud of, that you could use for a change?

[6a]

We're getting new plates, just like the rumor I heard this June said we were: https://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=31833

https://listen.sdpb.org/arts-life/2022-11-15/south-dakota-to-issue-new-license-plate-design-in-2023

That's...about as close to digital photograph quality as one can get with a general-issue license plate. Much better than the 2016 version. Good job, South Dakota DMV and Dept. of Revenue.

OTOH, Nebraska's new plates starting next year...yeesh: https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2022/05/31/live-nebraskas-new-license-plate-design-unveiled/. BTW, Nebraska: It's time to tell the rural counties to get on the same license plate AAA-123 scheme that Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster counties have; especially if, unlike Colorado, the state requires its citizens to get new plates every six years.

On that note, why in the hell, in 2022 is it necessary to code things by county - or month, for that matter - Alabama’s serials look like a mess these days, West Virginia is dumb, Missouri…yeah. But back to counties, what purpose does that serve? It certainly makes the new Ohio plate look ugly.

[signalman]

I've seen on the older white plates with blue lettering people putting the tab right in the middle of the plate between the letters and numbers. When I was born Michigan had a black plate with white lettering and the tab went in the lower right corner on that plate too.

Missouri used to have the sticker well (indentation) in the middle of the plate to combat sticker theft. The thinking was that criminals wouldn't be able to easily cut out the sticker from the middle of the plate, as opposed to a corner. I'm not sure if this practice is still done.

[Ted$8roadFan]

We're getting new plates, just like the rumor I heard this June said we were: https://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=31833

https://listen.sdpb.org/arts-life/2022-11-15/south-dakota-to-issue-new-license-plate-design-in-2023

That's...about as close to digital photograph quality as one can get with a general-issue license plate. Much better than the 2016 version. Good job, South Dakota DMV and Dept. of Revenue.

OTOH, Nebraska's new plates starting next year...yeesh: https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2022/05/31/live-nebraskas-new-license-plate-design-unveiled/. BTW, Nebraska: It's time to tell the rural counties to get on the same license plate AAA-123 scheme that Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster counties have; especially if, unlike Colorado, the state requires its citizens to get new plates every six years.

On that note, why in the hell, in 2022 is it necessary to code things by county - or month, for that matter - Alabama’s serials look like a mess these days, West Virginia is dumb, Missouri…yeah. But back to counties, what purpose does that serve? It certainly makes the new Ohio plate look ugly.

Massachusetts also codes its plates by month (i.e. 9 is September). Not sure why states using months are so intent on maintaining them.  As for counties, I imagine that the main reason for using them is revenue.

[brad2971]

I actually like the Nebraska design, but then again I'm a sucker for classical-style artwork. (And it's quite nice to see a plate from the center of the country that has something to say other than "WE FARM HERE, GOD DAMN IT!")

On the other hand, South Dakota, what's the point? It's basically a carbon-copy of the current plate. And don't you have something other than Mount Rushmore that you're proud of, that you could use for a change?

One can easily say the same thing about Colorado always having an outline of the Rocky Mountains on its plates. Or Arizona always having either a cactus or the "Grand Canyon State" on its plates. Or Texas having the Lone Star. Or Florida having an orange. You get the picture.

[mgk920]

I actually like the Nebraska design, but then again I'm a sucker for classical-style artwork. (And it's quite nice to see a plate from the center of the country that has something to say other than "WE FARM HERE, GOD DAMN IT!")

On the other hand, South Dakota, what's the point? It's basically a carbon-copy of the current plate. And don't you have something other than Mount Rushmore that you're proud of, that you could use for a change?

The Corn Palace?

BTW, I still really like the current Wisconsin late design, even though it is over 20 years old.  The only real issue that I have had with it is the poor quality materials problem that tWisDOT had with their 3M plates from a few years ago.

Mike

[Big John]

^^ Besides color changes, that design was implemented in 1986.

[Scott5114]

I actually like the Nebraska design, but then again I'm a sucker for classical-style artwork. (And it's quite nice to see a plate from the center of the country that has something to say other than "WE FARM HERE, GOD DAMN IT!")

On the other hand, South Dakota, what's the point? It's basically a carbon-copy of the current plate. And don't you have something other than Mount Rushmore that you're proud of, that you could use for a change?

One can easily say the same thing about Colorado always having an outline of the Rocky Mountains on its plates. Or Arizona always having either a cactus or the "Grand Canyon State" on its plates. Or Texas having the Lone Star. Or Florida having an orange. You get the picture.

I suppose, although the Rocky Mountains, saguaro cacti, and the Grand Canyon are all natural features of the relevant states and would be there regardless. Mount Rushmore is a manmade monument, and so I sort of feel that maybe it should be rotated out for other things more frequently. (The Crazy Horse monument is right down the road, for instance, and the Corn Palace would be interesting.)

But what it really boils down to is that the Colorado Rocky Mountain plate is just a much better design than the South Dakota one. It doesn't take a whole lot of artistic talent to slap a serial number over a photo of Mount Rushmore and call it good.

[SP Cook]

West Virginia -  indeed “dumb”.  The system is again approaching exhausting a numbering pattern, in a state so small that a standard three letters - three numbers would NEVER be exhausted.  Further it requires every office (55 county sheriffs, some with branches, 28 DMV offices, to keep 12 plates on hand just for “class A”, leaving out all the other types of vehicles they keep plates on hand for, rather than one.  The state said they were going to a simple month sticker 20 years ago, and even issued them to to the vanity plates, but nothing ever came of it.

They also said they were going to issue a “double vanity” plates for double the price, but nothing ever came of that either.  “Double vanity” means both a logo and a special letter combination.  For example, today you can get the logo of a college, but it comes with a standardized letter number combination, or you can get a vanity letter combination, but not both.

Another dumb thing I found out was they printed all of the organization plates all at once.  A buddy of mine is in the Shrine, which the format for Shrine plates is NNNN BK (Beni Kedem is the name of the local Shrine).  So he has his birth year for the four numbers.  He had had it so long the paint is peeling.  So he asked for a new one.  Well, he could not get a replacement with the same number because they printed every plate, from 0000 to 9999 all at once and have a storage room full of all the unissued ones, but cannot redo any.  Apparently this applies to the whole set of logo plates.  There are some for small colleges or upper military awards that have only a couple dozen issues, but they printed all 10000 possible numbers.  They also still offer NASCAR plates, all of which have likewise been sitting in storage for over 20 years, and all of which are for drivers long since retired, or dead. 

Missouri - The “thieves clip off the renewal sicker” is one of those “gone viral” deals.  Missouri tried to join the rest of society will corner stickers, but the yip-yappers starting this wives’ tale and they went back to the center deal.  Despite the fact that it seems not to be a problem in any other state, and the number will show up as void in any cop data base, regardless of what color the sticker is.

[frankenroad]

On that note, why in the hell, in 2022 is it necessary to code things by county - or month, for that matter - Alabama’s serials look like a mess these days, West Virginia is dumb, Missouri…yeah. But back to counties, what purpose does that serve? It certainly makes the new Ohio plate look ugly.

I agree the white county stickers look bad on Ohio's new plate.  However, being curious by nature, I like to see what part of the state someone is from.   I'm old enough to remember when Ohio plates were coded by county, and even if you didn't know the whole system, you could tell the region by the pattern of numbers and letters (e.g., Cleveland area was XX-NNNN, Cincinnati area was NNNN-XX.  Central Ohio was either all-numeric or X-NNNNN, etc.)  That system was discontinued in 1980.  Here's a link to the complete coding used from 1932-1980 http://15q.net/ohco.html

[kalvado]

On that note, why in the hell, in 2022 is it necessary to code things by county - or month, for that matter - Alabama’s serials look like a mess these days, West Virginia is dumb, Missouri…yeah. But back to counties, what purpose does that serve? It certainly makes the new Ohio plate look ugly.

I agree the white county stickers look bad on Ohio's new plate.  However, being curious by nature, I like to see what part of the state someone is from.   I'm old enough to remember when Ohio plates were coded by county, and even if you didn't know the whole system, you could tell the region by the pattern of numbers and letters (e.g., Cleveland area was XX-NNNN, Cincinnati area was NNNN-XX.  Central Ohio was either all-numeric or X-NNNNN, etc.)  That system was discontinued in 1980.  Here's a link to the complete coding used from 1932-1980 http://15q.net/ohco.html

An interesting question is if someone (like you or me) wants to let others know those details. FL had a good point about tourist safety, IMHO.
Of course, I would like to have an "I am from upstate!" banner while driving with a NY plate in NYC. Other  than that, I am not interested even in displaying state info... 

[Scott5114]

Another dumb thing I found out was they printed all of the organization plates all at once.  A buddy of mine is in the Shrine, which the format for Shrine plates is NNNN BK (Beni Kedem is the name of the local Shrine).  So he has his birth year for the four numbers.  He had had it so long the paint is peeling.  So he asked for a new one.  Well, he could not get a replacement with the same number because they printed every plate, from 0000 to 9999 all at once and have a storage room full of all the unissued ones, but cannot redo any.  Apparently this applies to the whole set of logo plates.  There are some for small colleges or upper military awards that have only a couple dozen issues, but they printed all 10000 possible numbers.  They also still offer NASCAR plates, all of which have likewise been sitting in storage for over 20 years, and all of which are for drivers long since retired, or dead. 

I mean, being someone who's ordered commercial print work done, that makes sense to me. It's a lot cheaper on a per-unit basis to print 10,000 copies of something at once than 1 copy. The reason is that you have to calibrate the printer at the beginning of each print run to make sure the colors are correct and the printing plates line up properly. That involves printing off a few dozen test copies that just get junked. (I have a few of these test sheets for my playing cards, still on the original sheet and uncut.)

Say you need to do 10 test plates before you can start running off good ones. If you run off 10,000 at once, the cost of each plate is $X + ($X * 0.001), since the price of the 10 test plates is spread among the 10,000 good plates. If you run off just one plate, the cost of the one plate you run off is $X * 11. So if the state actually did that, you'd have some fiscal fundamentalist yapping about how the state is wasting money printing one-off plates for people.

As for the NASCAR plates, the stupid thing here is that the state is using official materials to advertise for a private for-profit entity. That the employees of this entity are not guaranteed to be on the job for long enough to issue 10,000 plates is merely a compounding factor.

Missouri - The “thieves clip off the renewal sicker” is one of those “gone viral” deals.  Missouri tried to join the rest of society will corner stickers, but the yip-yappers starting this wives’ tale and they went back to the center deal.  Despite the fact that it seems not to be a problem in any other state, and the number will show up as void in any cop data base, regardless of what color the sticker is.

Given that the choice of sticker placement is essentially arbitrary, who cares where it is? Some states put theirs on the bottom corners, others on the top corners. Missourians apparently like it being in the center. If that's a problem for automated plate readers, it's kind of on them for writing shitty software that isn't aware of the Missouri plate layout. Debug your shit before you ship it.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I remember sticker theft being a big deal when I lived in PA. Many vehicles had the corner where the sticker was cut off, and many of the older plates with the “T” temporary tags were popular I suspect past their initial expiration. It seems that they are being phased out in some places (PA included).

[Flint1979]

I'm happy Michigan changes it up. We don't have the Mackinac Bridge on all our plates and I'm happy we have a choice now between the ugly standard plate we have had since 2013 with the Pure Michigan across the top and that ugly seawave with the website on the bottom. I replaced that plate with the throwback Water Winter Wonderland one and like that plate much better.

[SP Cook]

Counties - I do not see the point in noting the county unless there is some point to it, such as different counties charging differently for plates, different emission regulations, different taxes such that it would make sense to register a car at a relative or friends home.  Florida, where the county name seems to be optional and not used in the largest county (Dade) at all seems odd.  Back when Kentucky has a very plain plate, the county was the same font on the stamped plates.  Kentucky has an Ohio county so there were plates that read Kentucky / NNN LLL / Ohio, which had to be confusing to law enforcement and meter maids. 

South Dakota - Didn’t they even change their flag from “Sunshine State” to “Mount Rushmore State” a few years ago?  South Dakota, all the love in the world, is pretty much all about Mount Rushmore.  The Crazy Horse thing isn’t finished and may never be, the Corn Palace is just a thing to hook tourists on the way to Mount Rushmore, as is Wall Drug.  If they did away with Mount Rushmore, then the only other alternative is the farm themes that several other states already do. 

To me the state that needs a refresh and diversity is North Carolina.  They have alternates, but they have been on the same basic series since 1982 all on the same single historical event.  In a state with plenty of history, commerce, and geographic features they could tout.