Sunday, June 25, 2006

Sticking Point

You know those little stickers you have to put on your license plates? Different states in the U.S. have their own little quirks about them. Some places have only one sticker for month and year. Some have two separate stickers for those purposes. And different states will tell you to place them in different locations on the plate. But consistently, there is always a specific place for them; there's some blank space allotted in the plate design, and instructions on the envelope in which the stickers come (and/or on the plate itself) telling you exactly where you're supposed to place them.

Here in Colorado, you've got a month sticker and a year sticker, and they're supposed to go on the bottom left and right of the back license plate. But every now and then, you see a car where somebody's got these stickers in the wrong place. I've seen them in reverse order, in the top two corners, stuck right next to each other in one corner, and probably a few other variations too.

My question is: what the hell is up with this? I see two possible conclusions, and don't like either of them.

1) They're deliberately ignoring the instructions for sticker placement. What, do they think they're expressing their creativity or something? Get a freaking bumper sticker, idiot.

2) They're too stupid to follow the instructions. If you can't handle that, should you really be operating a motor vehicle?

4 comments:

Kathy said...

When I was registering the minivan, I read a flyer while I was waiting in line about how it's easier or harder to steal those stickers, apparently, depending on where they're located on the plate. The main point of the flyer is that Missouri had now anointed the middle of the plate as the place where the sticker should be, and that everyone should put their new stickers there instead of on the corners.

This is the only reason I can think of to put them in a different place--if you came from a state where they were that way (especially if that state gave you a good reason, like a decrease in the chance of theft) and you did it out of habit.

I think it's BS, by the way. I can't see why the sticker is harder to get off if it's in the middle of the plate. But I put them there anyway. Who am I to buck the new tradition?

Major Rakal said...

How about the ones where they're stuck on upside down? I shudder to think someone who doesn't know which way is up might be driving.

GiromiDe said...

States that make you put them in the window have it right. Texas does this. Illinois does not.

While the persons not properly placing the stickers might be a bit ignorant, state bureaucracies are equally ignorant if not moreso.

TheGirard said...

or...maybe they just don't care.