Thoughts

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post today. With the expiration of my license tags around the corner I received my renewal information in the mail. Inside the envelope was a small information sheet regarding the end of an era. The State of Michigan is doing away with the plain blue license plates that we hold so dear.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, Michigan has a new standard license plate (white background, blue letters) that replaces the blue standard plate (blue background, white letters). Public Act 177 of 2006 requires the Department of State to stop issuing, renewing, replacing or transferring the blue plate.

The new standard plate is clean in design, rust-resistant, tamper-proof and easily identifiable. Unlike the blue plate, whose color scheme made it difficult to see at night, the new plate's fully reflective background makes it much more visible. (link)

Gone is the license plate that, when we see another while driving out of state, reminds us of home; gone is that license plate that signals "friend." It appears that the State is opting, rather, for a plain and boring, but "state of the art" plate. But why?

FISCAL IMPACT
The Department of State estimates one-time costs related to the new plate at approximately $11.0 million. Under the bills, the cost of the new plate would be funded from the Michigan Transportation Fund. The cost estimate is based on the design and production of 6.0 million plates, including postage and handling costs. The bills also would result in additional annual ongoing costs in future years of $690,000. The Department annually orders 1.5 million plates related to new vehicles and replacement plates. The reflective plate required by House Bill 5607 (H-3) costs $0.46 more per plate than the current blue plate.

The Department of State anticipates that the new plate would result in improved compliance with vehicle registration laws, more than offsetting one-time costs related to the new plate. This is based on a noncompliance rate of 3% (166,735 vehicles). Using an average registration cost of $92 per vehicle, the Department estimates that $15.3 million in additional revenue would be generated to the MTF (a net MTF increase of $4.4 million after one-time costs associated with the new plate). (cite)

So it seems that as a (for lack of a better term) ploy to get vehicle owners to not fradulently fake their registration, everyone with the blue plate gets a new plate. I hope you have a spot picked out on the wall for your comforting blue plate to hang.

And who got the final say on this design? I can understand the blue bar across the top. I may have seen an out-of-state plate recently that was similar, so we are copying other states. But why put the state's website across the bottom? Other states have bookmarked the name of the state with the "www." and the ".gov" across the top with no problems. Why can't Michigan do that and leave room for some slogan, some poetic signature of the state across the bottom?

For more information regarding renewal if you are a blue plate owner, go here.
For complete information regarding House Bill 5607 pertaining to Public Act 177 of 2006 go here.

Goodbye Blue Plate, you will be missed.

I figured I could not be the only person to ever wonder why the back of my coupon read that it had cash value. I also figured that I could not be the first person who for a brief moment considered that to be the solution to my money woes: gather up all of the Burger King coupons I can find and send them in, redeeming them for that 1/100¢ each. Before you know it, I will have amassed a king's ransom. I was immediately disappointed in myself for not having a handle bar mustache that I could twist between my fingers while I schemed.

But wait. 1/100 of one cent. That means 100 coupons equals one penny. 3900 coupons covers postage. I would probably need another 500-1000 coupons to cover the cost of my envelope. But 5000 coupons will not fit in a regular envelope. This is simply not economically feasible. My plans have been thwarted again...

If it is inconceivable that anyone would ever attempt to redeem the coupons for their stated cash value, why are they even given cash value in the first place?!

Well I did some digging around. Here is some of what I found.

Q: I HAVE NOTICED THAT THE BOTTOM OF MANY COUPONS SAY, CASH VALUE ONE TWENTIETH OF A CENT. WHY IS THAT STATEMENT IS ON COUPONS?

A: WE CALLED THE COUPON COUNCIL FOR YOUR ANSWER. AND IT SAYS, SOME STATE LAWS REQUIRE THAT IF A CONSUMER DOES NOT WANT TO PURCHASE THE PRODUCT ON THE FACE OF THE COUPON, THAT THE CONSUMER CAN REDEEM THE COUPON FOR ITS CASH VALUE.

AND SINCE MANY COUPONS ARE PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED ON A NATIONAL BASIS, MOST MANUFACTURERS HAVE DECIDED TO PUT THE CASH VALUE ON THE COUPON TO SIMPLIFY THE PROCESS. THINK OF IT AS A PROMOTION THAT HAS TO HAVE A STATED VALUE.

http://www.nbc4.com/answerstoaskliz2002/1448491/detail.html

Who knew there was such thing as a Coupon Council? Cool.

Another site suggests that the whole thing started around the Depression when the government provided books of stamps (not-so-distant relative to today's coupon) to the citizens. Rather than redeeming the stamps for items one did not necessarily require, he or she could redeem the stamp for its stated cash equivalent. It was then state laws around the country that have predominated over the issue.

More information on this story and more is available at the following sites: http://www.geocities.com/srivathsajoshi/lukuchap53.html
http://ask.yahoo.com/20030808.html