Time for new plates? It’ll cost you

They just don’t make ‘em like they used to. That is true of a lot of things, including license plates. I’ve noticed a lot of Wisconsin license plates that have became faded or flaky, making the plates difficult to read. So the state of Wisconsin is making plans to replace them. The state used to have a law in place mandating license plates be replaced every ten years, but that law expired. Legislators recently put that law back in place, so within the next year, those driving cars with older plates will be given details about replacing them when they renew their vehicle registration. And even though clearly our current plates aren’t built to last, it will cost you $8 to replace them when they wear, and you will be assigned a new plate number. It seems these plates, produced in Wisconsin prisons, should last longer. The DMV says it is our winter that takes the biggest toll on the plates, causing the film atop the plates to peel. But if the license plates are sitting outside, then so are the cars that sport them, and cars last longer than ten years. It is important that our plates be readable, particularly for law enforcement. You can even get a ticket and a fine for not having readable plates. We shouldn’t have to pay to get our license plates renewed if were sold defective plates by a state that can’t figure out how to make them withstand a Wisconsin winter.