Washington state faces license plate shortage: Will non-embossed plates become the new standard?

In May, the Washington State Department of Licensing warned drivers that a shortage of car license plates was coming as they worked to replace aging equipment.

On September 24, the DOL announced the temporary approval to use non-embossed plates as a temporary measure to the ongoing license plate printing.

The department announced that more than half of the counties in Washington were out of stock on the standard plates.

License plates are produced by the Washington State Correctional Industries, which uses incarcerated people to make them and is dealing with aging equipment.

According to the Department of Corrections, the shortage is expected to last for months so switching to the non-embossed plates means the shortage can be cleared in six to eight weeks.

For now, DOL will continue to issue and reissue temporary plates that are good for 60 days until drivers get the embossed plates.

DOL said that the quality of standard and non-embossed plates are the same with the only difference being the raised letters or numbers in the standard plates.

DOL will decide whether to make the non-embossed plates the standard and join 28 other states that only issue non-embossed plates.

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