Eight Years Old

[livingdeb]

It's time to renew my car's registration and for the first time ever, I got the ominous message "***NEW PLATES REQUIRED***". On my last car, the age of my plates got reset somehow, so I never had to get new ones.

There are no instructions about this at all. The entire contents of the envelope look the same as if I were getting just a sticker. But surely they don't mail you a set of license plates for the same $1 handling fee they charge for mailing you the sticker?

Wrong. I finally found a place on the website that explained that I have all the same options as if I were just getting a sticker except that I can't pay at HEB (grocery store). Since I didn't even know I could pay there in the first place, that's no big loss to me.

However, there's an office one mile from my house and practically on my way to the dentist where I had a 9:00 appointment, so I decided to just drop by in person anyway.

I dropped in, had remembered all the things I needed (form, proof of insurance, checkbook) and had no problems at all. I asked the recommended method of disposal of the old plates. She said we can just put these in our recycle bins.

Not only that, but my new license number is so much easier to remember that I already have it memorized. I never did quite learn my old license number other than the idea that it reminded me of some sort of thffwt sound what with all the f's and 4's and such.

It's all too easy! So I had to make my own trouble by leaving the headlights on throughout my entire dentist visit.

Comments

[sallini.livejournal.com]

I had the same reaction a few months ago - surely they aren't going to send me license plates in the mail for the same $1 fee as you pay just to get the sticker? It was a pleasant surprise to feel that I was underpaying for a change. I still have not memorized my license plate number, however; I haven't noticed anything about it that helps lock it in my brain.

[tamaraster.livejournal.com]

Mine is the lovely

##3-LYP

(I'm not putting the whole thing here for some reason.)

I remember it as ##3, love your patronee. (That would be Mosch, since I'm his patron.) So it's easy.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Mine is more obscure: ##3 ZDF. The degree audit system has a ZD rule type, which stands for zap duplicates. You don't get credit for re-taking the same class, of course. So I think of it as zap duplicates and F's.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I'm now guessing that we are all charged 1/8 of the cost of replacing the plates every year. This would reduce oddball behavior during the plate-replacement years, like putting off paying longer than usual and like cheating.