Stingl: License plate combinations running out

Have you noticed that more and more car license plates in Wisconsin have letter combinations starting with X, Y and Z? My friend recently got an inelegant YUT on his.

That's because we're nearing the end of the alphabet and running out of plate possibilities.

As challenges go, this one is very solvable. Next year, we'll go from a total of six letters and numbers to seven. Sure, that's one extra character if you're trying to memorize the plate of a fleeing bank robber, but we can handle this.

"Wisconsin has had just what we have now, or something very similar to it, for over 30 years," said Jeremy Krueger, the Division of Motor Vehicles plate room supervisor.

The familiar sailboat and barn plate design was introduced in 1986, with three letters followed by a dash and then three numbers, like ABC-123. The characters were blue at first but when people complained they looked too much like Illinois plates, they were changed to red against the white background. The last of those red-character plates disappeared from active service in 2014.

In 2000 when those combinations reached WRZ-999, the letters and numbers were reversed, like 123-ABC. And they were printed in black.

After 999-ZZZ goes out the door, the new arrangement will go back to starting with three letters from the beginning of the alphabet, followed by a dash and four numbers. The very first is likely to be AAA-1001, Krueger said, and it may well be held back for display purposes. Same with WIS-1848.

The plate artwork will stay the same, and the characters will be squeezed onto the metal rectangles without making them any smaller. There's enough room, Krueger assured me. Personalized plates already allow seven characters and a half-space.

Plates are now being issued with ZN-something combinations, so the end is near. Krueger's best guess is that the changeover will come in spring or early summer. Some other states already have gone to seven characters. The standard plate in Wisconsin has had six characters going back to the 1920s.

There are details to be worked out yet, and the DMV wants to be sure law enforcement agencies and other interested parties don't have any concerns about this solution, Krueger said.

You might be surprised how many possible combinations you get by adding a seventh character, about 100 million, compared with six characters, which is more like 20 million. It could be a century or more before we'll need another digit for our flying cars. Right now there are about 3.5 million vehicles in Wisconsin using standard auto plates.

It's not often you get a state license plate supervisor on the phone, so I started asking him lots of questions.

Have there been three-letter combinations that were rejected? Yes, he said, and those would include anything the motoring public might consider objectionable, like SEX, XXX, XTC and WAR. I told him I saw THC out there on the road, and he said that one apparently made the cut.

Also, the letters I, O and Q are not used at all because they look too much like numbers. And speaking of numbers, every combination of three is used. But if you're issued 666 and find it too devilish, you can ask for a different one.

The DMV also keeps a close eye on personalized plates requested by vehicle owners. "We try not to restrict creativity, but we do also want to make sure people keep it clean," Krueger said.

I asked him if anyone at the DMV cares that I put my annual sticker in the middle of the plate, rather than in the corner, the proper spot but one that's sometimes cut off by thieves. He didn't seem to mind, but said he can't speak for law enforcement on that one. There might be less room to allow for that with the extra number.

I asked Krueger if he ever heard of my favorite license plate game. You take the three letters of the plate on the car in front of you and try to come up with words that include those letters in the same order. My car has PLL, so pull or pill work just fine, and so would something fancier like appalled. The game has been getting harder recently with combinations like YJX.

And finally, yes, license plates in Wisconsin continue to be made by inmates at Waupun Correctional Institution.

Contact Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or jstingl@jrn.com. Connect with my public page at Facebook.com/Journalist.Jim.Stingl