New KY License Plates

[92saturnsl2]

I saw a KY plate on a vehicle today that I hadn't seen before, looked to be a new issue. Not being aware of any changes made to them, I looked it up. Like many states, they've decided to turn to a private company to print their plates on flat aluminum, replacing the old school stamped plates that were made in correctional facilities.

The plates will still be made (printed) at the correctional facility, but with modern equipment installed by the private contractor. The state is supposed to save $0.23 per plate ($3.75 vs $3.98) but with additional cost savings due to the reduced need for storage / logistics as the plates can be printed on demand. Cost for personalized plates will drop by a huge margin since there is no manual labor involved in setting up for a custom plate.

Color me unimpressed. With all the design possibilities that come with printed plates, no idea why they went so plain and boring looking. I much prefer the current KY embossed plate with the horse logo, but even that one is a bit plain. Probably going to be stuck with these for a long time, KY doesn't change plates often like other states do (I'm looking at you Indiana.) The last mandatory plate change here was in 2005.

I'm jealous of other states that get great looking plates-- a few that come to mind: NH, AZ, ID, AL, WY, OR, ND, MT, even the new NV plate looks kinda cool.

Image is new plates vs old.

 

[ctrcbob]

NY tried the “printed plates” blue on white a few years ago. Did not work out. Went back to Stamped plates, both in blue on white and on blue on gold/yellow.

 

[92saturnsl2]

NY tried the “printed plates” blue on white a few years ago. Did not work out. Went back to Stamped plates, both in blue on white and on blue on gold/yellow.

Why did they go back to stamped? NV did the same thing, switched to printed and went back to stamped in 2016. I thought the printed plates were all about cost?

 

[53' Stude]

I miss the old Illinois license plates

 

[JustinH]

Texas went to the printed plates over five years ago. I have yet to see one that looks bad.

They are awful boring though, just white with black text.

 

[dishdude]

Ours here in AZ are a vinyl over aluminum.

I always thought that KY plate was ugly, especially the one with the script Kentucky.

The Statue of Liberty plate from NY will always be my favorite.

 

[92saturnsl2]

I see license plates as a state's way of promoting itself in a sense... think about it, if you travel many states away, a lot of people's only impression of a far-away state is what they see on the license plate.

I dislike the flat plates because there's no rigidity to them. I see a lot of cars where the plate doesn't sit quite flat and it looks tacky.

 

[ctechbob]

GA has had printed plates for a while now. My personal opinion is that they look cheap. Probably be easy to knock off as well, but that would only work for you until someone actually ran the tag.

 

[eljefino]

I'll pile on on the flat plate hate. My embossed plate also has a border like most designs do which should add stiffness.

Maine is chill and the DMV will whip you up a cardboard temporary vanity or oddball issue while the hardworking prisoners work up a metal copy within about a month. I've seen the shelves full of plates at the DMV, must take about 150 square feet, times a dozen locations. Don't see that getting much better using a flat plate printer at the prison.

 

[Eddie]

I like them.

 

[Dave9]

The old does look more legible to the human eye but I wonder if the flat is easier for a police scan camera to pick up, should provide a more uniform area of reflection and shadow with the various possible positions that a license plate light could be in.

I'm not sure if I buy the labor savings argument when done at a prison, nor the cost of abandoning old equipment and buying or leasing new, but it wouldn't surprise me if this private contractor has greased the wheels in some way to make this happen.

 

[92saturnsl2]

The old does look more legible to the human eye but I wonder if the flat is easier for a police scan camera to pick up, should provide a more uniform area of reflection and shadow with the various possible positions that a license plate light could be in.

I'm not sure if I buy the labor savings argument when done at a prison, nor the cost of abandoning old equipment and buying or leasing new, but it wouldn't surprise me if this private contractor has greased the wheels in some way to make this happen.

The article I read stated there were no up front costs to KY for the equipment. To be able to tell lawmakers / bean counters that you'll save money on each plate and not have to pay large up front equipment costs was probably an easy sell.

But you know the equipment costs are buried in the cost of each plate. They have it figured out how to maximize profit. I'm sure it doesn't cost almost $4 for a small piece of painted aluminum. When you start multiplying by millions, there's a ton of money to be made. I'm guessing there is a minimum term as part of the contract, so that the contractor ensures they are reimbursed for the equipment costs.

No doubt there were some greasing of wheels, that's pretty much par for the course in government contracts.

 

[JHZR2]

Delaware has had flat plates as long as I remember. 20 years or more at least.

NJ went to them not long ago. Frankly, I think they look uglier than stamped plates, personally. For the 23c, I’d rather they just upped the price of the plate accordingly. It would be one thing if it was many dollars savings passed onto the customer.

In reality I think it is either:
1) easier reflection of laser and radar
2) crony kickbacks from the companies and salespeople selling this stuff.

 

[bunnspecial]

The "Unbridled Spirit" plate hasn't been my favorite design(I liked the "cloud" a lot better) but I like it a lot better than this cartoonish representation...will be interested to see how this plays out.

The last couple new(as in 2020 m/y) vehicles some of my family members have bought in the last few months have received stamped Unbridled Spirit plates. I guess this really is recent.

 

[bunnspecial]

The last mandatory plate change here was in 2005.

Do you not remember the "Smiley Sun" abomination that was like 2005-2007ish? From the time we transitioned over to "design" plates from the old white letter/blue background-blue letter/white background yearly plates, we went a couple cycles having a new one every 6-8 years. The first was the Churchill Downs spires on white, then the blue/green "Kentucky Cloud" plate in 98ish. People hated the Smiley Sun so much that I think Unbridled Spirit was bumped forward and that's why we've had it such a long time.

 

[opus1]

Ours here in AZ are a vinyl over aluminum.

I always thought that KY plate was ugly, especially the one with the script Kentucky.

The Statue of Liberty plate from NY will always be my favorite.

One of the neighbors had work done on their house and one of the carpenters had this as his front plate - novelty plate since Indiana doesn't require front plates:

 

[Kira]

In 1960 an aunt had a red Volkswagen. Ohio's plates were the same red with white lettering. LOOKED GREAT ("awesome" hadn't been invented).

 

[92saturnsl2]

Do you not remember the "Smiley Sun" abomination that was like 2005-2007ish? From the time we transitioned over to "design" plates from the old white letter/blue background-blue letter/white background yearly plates, we went a couple cycles having a new one every 6-8 years. The first was the Churchill Downs spires on white, then the blue/green "Kentucky Cloud" plate in 98ish. People hated the Smiley Sun so much that I think Unbridled Spirit was bumped forward and that's why we've had it such a long time.

According to Wikipedia the smiley sun was used from '03-'05. (link.) I don't know for sure as I didn't live here at the time. I actually don't mind the smiling sun plate, though it would be light years better without the smile! It's a pretty good looking plate otherwise IMO. I'd have to say my favorite is the cloud one from the late '90's. I don't really have any objections to the newest one other than it's a really "blah" and the font used for KY is a bit unusual.

 

[bunnspecial]

According to Wikipedia the smiley sun was used from '03-'05. (link.) I don't know for sure as I didn't live here at the time. I actually don't mind the smiling sun plate, though it would be light years better without the smile! It's a pretty good looking plate otherwise IMO. I'd have to say my favorite is the cloud one from the late '90's. I don't really have any objections to the newest one other than it's a really "blah" and the font used for KY is a bit unusual.

Perhaps my memory is faulty. I remember having "Smiley" on my Maxima(which was my first car), and traded the Maxima for my LS in 2008. I'm 99% sure I put Smiley on that car(it was an out of state transfer through a dealer, so got a new plate when I bought it) and changed it for the current plate a little later.

I agree that smiley isn't a bad plate, per se. It's the same feel as the cloud plate, but with a pop of color that looks nice. The smile is just bad, though. I remember seeing a bunch of probably illegal mods, though, including a few where people had put a Wal-Mart smile sticker over the face, and at least one where someone had sharpied on a pair of sunglasses. I don't remember ANYONE at the time having a positive opinion of the plate, while I remember the cloud plate coming out and everyone being excited about us finally getting some color. In fact, if I remember right, the state in a twisted way actually had some motivation to keep Smiley(even though they didn't) since specialty plate sales were way up.

I like the Cloud plate enough that I have a couple stashed away(saved from my parents' cars at the time) that before my move to Illinois I'd hoped to one day get into circulation on my MG for some fun under the 25 year rule even though I normally run a YOM plate on it.

BTW, from what I remember about plate redesigns, when you renew your registration they hand you a new plate with the current sticker on it rather than just the sticker like normal.

As a side note, these Unbridled Spirit plates are really showing their age, and I don't mean in design. For a long time, I've been in the habit of alternating sides for renewal stickers every year, and my current one has them on pretty thick on both sides. The county sticker is illegible on mine, and that's not uncommon either.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Some of the Kentucky ones are already printed instead of stamped in to the plate. I ordered a Kentucky Friends of Coal Plate for my collection and it’s the stamped in ones they had the flat printed ones as well for sale but I don’t like flat plates. I am still trying to get one of those Kentucky standard issue ones that is stamped.