Your license plate will soon be less fancy because of shortages

Your car’s identification may look less decorative as the Department of Licensing (DOL) works to fix a license plate shortage.

The DOL announced on Tuesday, to address an ongoing shortage of Washington license plates, it is temporarily authorizing the printing and use of non-embossed plates.

“We’re hoping that our customers will be relieved they finally have their plates,” DOL spokesperson Christine Anthony told KING 5.

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The DOL said more than half of counties are out of stock of one or more plate types because of production issues at Correctional Industries, a program in the Department of Corrections (DOC) that “gives people who are incarcerated a chance to learn new skills and establish a good work ethic,” the agency stated. To make an embossed license plate with raised letters and numbers it requires an extra step that involved manual labor, explained the DOL.

A program in the Department of Corrections allows people who are incarcerated to work on license plates. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Corrections)

By printing the non-embossed plates, the DOC believes it can stop the shortage within six to eight weeks. If production went on as normal, the DOL estimated the shortage would have persisted for months.

Right now, the DOL is giving out temporary paper license that expire after 60 days, therefore, customers have been needing to renew if they haven’t gotten a permanent plate.

Yakima resident Stephen Hall told KING 5 he waited four months for new license plates. The DOL is hoping the change will save customers like Hall the time and effort.

However, some customer may still receive an embossed plate.

“As we transition to non-embossed plates, customers may receive either embossed or non-embossed plates at random,” the agency stated. “Both types are aluminum. There is no difference in quality or durability.”

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The DOL added that active embossed plates will remain valid and that customers do not need to get new plates.

The agency also said once the shortage is fixed, it will decide whether non-embossed plates should be the new standard for the state, joining 28 other states. The DOL said the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and the Washington State Patrol support the move to non-embossed plates.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.