49 Comments - Enlightened - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 10:56 am: Pass new legislation tying the renewal date of the sticker to the registered owners birthday. If you buy a car in January, but you birthday is in July you pay 50% for a 6-month sticker. Then in July you pay full price for a 1-year sticker, and repeat each year. - Montrose - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 10:56 am: It seems reasonable to me. Can’t it all just be shifted to electronic reminders anyway? - Anon221 - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 10:56 am: I, too, think drivers can figure this out on their own, especially if they get a ticket to “remind” them if they forget. If you want a reminder, perhaps the SOS could offer that as an option, but one that costs another $5-10 per mailing and is paid as part of the annual registration. Email alerts would still be free. - How Ironic - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 10:57 am: They should request either email or cell #’s of drivers when they pay their renewal or sign up (buy a new car). Notices should be sent electronically moving forward, particularly if the savings are that great. That’s a lot of money for stamps. - anon - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 10:57 am: Notification was just a courtesy on the part of SOS. The law is pretty clear on registration and renewals, and ceasing the notifications has cut staff hours and postage, while increasing fine revenue. Here is a glimpse of the leaner, meaner government that Illinois politicians swear we’ve been asking for. - NSideLady - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 10:58 am: I agree. Save the money. Send out email, text or automated voicemail reminders. - Stuck on the 3rd Floor - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:00 am: It was a courtesy extended by the SOS, and if it’s going to save nearly half a million a year, axe it. Send the reminders via email, and be done with it. - wordslinger - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:02 am: I’m for any solution that doesn’t cost $450K a month in postage. Perhaps that one can be the one positive legacy of squeeze the beast. - Montrose - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:04 am: For the record, I would consider this cost savings “cutting waste,” a far cry from the list Rauner put out the other day. - SAP - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:04 am: SOS already offers an electronic reminder. $5.4 Million in annual savings sounds like real money to me. - The Captain - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:08 am: Minor counterpoint: at some point the state is going to have to raise our taxes. There will be those who are outraged at any tax increase and there will be those who would prefer to not have their taxes raised but understand so long as it’s transparent, logical and fair. But if people feel like they’re being setup or tricked to pay more in penalties and fines even the reasonable ones are going to get angry. My license plate sticker expired at the end of May and I forgot about it until the very last day. On that day I went to the SOS office to get my sticker renewed and they told me they couldn’t sell me one because I had to get a mandatory emissions test (another issue where I never received any notice of any kind). I then drove over to the local IEPA testing facility and the line was running out of the facility waiting area, down the block for two blocks and then wrapped around the corner onto the local main street. It was a multi-hour wait and there was no way I would get through the wait before the day ended. The next morning June 1st I woke up to find the predictable ticket for expired sticker and then went back to the IEPA facility to get tested where once again the line went out the facility and down for a block and a half. I waited about an hour and a half to get tested and then went back to SOS to finally get my sticker. I never got a notice from SOS or IEPA and I was prevented by SOS from buying the sticker I needed to keep from getting a ticket unless I got some last minute things done at IEPA that couldn’t be done in time. It felt like the whole thing was set up to get revenue, even though the reality was just lack of budget incompetence. If the state needs money be honest about it and raise taxes fairly, don’t set us up to fail and then make us pay penalties and fines for those failures. I’ll pay my fair share, just don’t nickel and dime me. - Michelle Flaherty - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:14 am: People shouldn’t need state government to hold their hand on things like this. Maybe they could make the stickers show they have the expiration date big and bold so everyone would see it. Oh wait, they already do. With a little time, and a lot of griping, this problem will solve itself. The state should have better uses for the money. - pool boy - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:17 am: Eliminate and spend the money elsewhere. Most people should be able to sign up for e mail notification. - Not It - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:17 am: It is best to not start, stop, start, stop again. Choose a method and be consistent. It is also unfair and somewhat discriminatory to send reminders to some people but not others. I agree, people are will adjust to the change. - New Slang - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:21 am: Interesting how all comments are in favor of discontinuing notices. When SOS stopped sending notices and Rich made note of it here, the responses were not so one-sided. I said then and say now, no notices. As they say, with freedoms come responsibilities. - Curmudgeon - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:22 am: As SAP noted, drivers can sign up with SOS for e-mail reminders. I use a personal info manager program at home to keep track of dates, addresses, etc. I set up an appointment category labeled “Expirations.” I use it to remind me of the approaching end of the following: newspaper & magazine subscriptions, cell phone service - Joe Bidenopolous - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:32 am: *should’ve said earned privilege - Norseman - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:33 am: My preference would be for the SOS to send one more with BOLD notice that this would be the last one. Let the folks know about email reminder. Then it’s on the folks to be adults. - Robert the Bruce - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:41 am: It’d be nice to have reminders…but I’d rather the money go to repairing some large holes in the social safety net. - NoGifts - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:50 am: =New Slang = the responses were one sided because people didn’t know they had stopped sending them out! My own argument was that you couldn’t change your standard business practice that your customers relied on without warning. I’m all for electronic notification by text message or email, and I’ve been receiving mine electronically for a long time. - JoanP - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:52 am: When I renewed online this year, I was given the option to sign up for email notices. I did so. But here’s the thing: it’s still true that not everyone has email or easy computer access. Nor does everyone have a mobile phone on which to receive text messages, and automated phone messages don’t work well with voice mail (seriously, half the time when I get these the beginning of the message is cut off). So I’d like to see regular mail notices kept as a least-favored option. - Mittuns - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:56 am: I see multiyear expired plates every day. They also tend to be some of the more careless drivers. - Anonymous - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:59 am: $5.4 million a year in savings sounds like a lot of money but it’s just a small drop in the bucket. We would need to find 1,296 more $5.4 million cuts to balance the $7 billion revenue shortfall in Madigan’s budget proposal. But, it’s a start. - efudd - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 11:59 am: I thought that doing away with reminders were unfair to those w/o computer access/elderly who are not that e-savvy. Now that you have eliminated them, don’t bring them back, it will get confusing. I may be missing a bigger picture here, but how about stickers being due at the same intervals every year? i.e. every third, sixth, ninth month to make it easier. - Rebel13 - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:01 pm: As stated above, not everybody has a cell phone or Internet. My parents have neither and I know they aren’t the only ones. Most people saw it as a bill and not a reminder. Coming soon, how much money can be saved by not Mailing you your property taxes? - Wensicia - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:02 pm: It’s been in place long enough that going back to mailed notices makes no sense. Besides, as pointed out above, the reminder is right on your back license plate. I would like to see an official warning first, before a ticket with fine, for a year or so while people adjust. - Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:03 pm: With the money the post office loses for delivering each letter, we’d be doing the federal government a huge favor by not mailing the notices. We were careless a few times about renewal even with the notices, and renewed when we looked at our stickers and said “uh-oh” better take care of this. - RNUG - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:04 pm: I’ve switched all my vehicles to email notification. - RNUG - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:06 pm: == Pass new legislation tying the renewal date of the sticker to the registered owners birthday. == Would not be a fan of that. I’d be buying 6 stickers are once (4 cars, one trailer, one camper trailer). Right now they are spread out with one every month or two. - Graduated College Student - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:12 pm: Electronic-only notices are primarily the province of predatory businesses. Government should not be run like a predatory business. - Not quite a majority - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:14 pm: if someone isn’t smart enough to glance at the sticker on the back license plate do we really want them driving our roads? Just asking. - Foster brooks - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:23 pm: If they want to save money renegotiate some of the obsene leases on sos facilities - Mattman - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:29 pm: there’s no need to coddle us by returning to mailing notices; if folks cannot put a little reminder on their calendar (electronic or “old fashioned”), that is pure laziness - Norseman - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:34 pm: Do we want to let people who make ridiculous comments drive. Just asking? - Joe Bidenopolous - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:39 pm: ==if someone isn’t smart enough to glance at the sticker on the back license plate do we really want them driving our roads? Just asking. == I got dinged on this and I’d suggest that not only am I a good driver, I’m a productive member of society who pays well more than the median in state taxes. Keep your arbitrary generalizations (not looking at license plate = bad driver) to yourself. - Shemp - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:47 pm: For my $101 renewal, you can send me a $0.35 renewal notice. - the wonderboy - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:52 pm: Why not make the annual amount due on January 1 for everyone and prorate the amount on a monthly basis for purchases/partial years. I think everyone could remember the payment if it was on the same day for every vehicle. Or choose a different day…tax day, July 1 for fiscal year, etc. Seems like the SOS could save a lot of money dealing with a surge for 1 month as opposed to staffing for the need throughout the year. Combine the savings from no mailings with reduction in need for staff throughout the year. Just a thought…I’m likely missing something. - Shemp - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:52 pm: An expired sticker is also one more reason to get pulled over. I am surprised a strong contingent here doesn’t see that as an unfair means to more police encounters and arrests. - Arthur Andersen - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:52 pm: I’m for saving the money and switched to electronic notices personally. For seniors and others who want a paper notice, charge them a few bucks and send them paper. Not unlike the local bank a couple miles from my house that sells stickers-in the past if I forgot to send back my renewal promptly, I could go there and get the sticker for 5 bucks. Better for me than driving all the way downtown and getting one at SoS. - Arock - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 12:59 pm: If they don’t have an email or text number on file then add the processing fee for mailing a notice to their renewal cost. Beats the hell out of a ticket. I mean our Legislators can’t even remember to pass a balance State budget by June 30th so how do you expect the average person to remember to get their license renewed on time? - Scott Summers - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 1:11 pm: Notice, shmotice. Let’s save some big bucks. Let’s scrap the sticker program entirely. Why? Because license plate stickers are obsolete. Yes, obsolete. Thanks to plate reader technology, police now can scan your license plate and determine in a nanosecond whether or not your registration is current. This is not some sort of pie-in-the-sky idea. An example: Pennsylvania is discontinuing stickers altogether. http://www.dmv.pa.gov/VEHICLE-SERVICES/Title-Registration/Pages/Registration-Stickers.aspx Also see: http://www.yourerie.com/news/local-news/license-plate-stickers-to-be-discontinued Once we follow Pennsylvania’s lead, we should move to have SoS become the payment agent for municipal decals (which, I suggest, also are obsolete). It’d be a two-fer: renew your plates and your local registration simultaneously, with SoS automatically passing through the municipal proceeds. (Why oh why do we have to go online — or stand in line — every year in order to register with multiple jurisdictions? With some tweaking, the scanning software probably can also determine the status of your community registration.) Yep. Time for us to join Pennsylvania — and the twenty-first century. And let’s save money (and time) while we’re at it. Let’s stick it to stickers. - JoanP - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 1:12 pm: @the wonderboy: “Why not make the annual amount due on January 1 for everyone . . .” Chicago used to have everyone’s city sticker expire on the same day. They’ve recently gone to staggering the due dates, so your city sticker expires 6 months after your state vehicle sticker. It was done to have “much shorter lines across the board, reduced overtime, improved efficiencies.” They were processing 1.3 million renewals in a six-week period. The State processes NINE million renewals a year. I can’t even imagine trying to do that all at one time. (Chicago also now gives you the option of having a two-year sticker, which is really nice.) - Michael Westen - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 1:49 pm: My son recently renewed his DL and for the first time signed up as an organ donor. Within a week he received a thank you letter from SOS. Nice gesture but seems to me if they can’t “afford” warning notices they can’t “afford” thank you notes either. - DuPage - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 2:16 pm: @Enlightened 10:56 ===Pass new legislation tying the renewal date of the sticker to the registered owners birthday.=== That’s similar to what Iowa does. Although Iowa also sends renewal notices in the mail. For what Jesse White charges for the renewal stickers, he should mail the notices, and eliminate money being transferred from his office to other funds that are not road related.(like grants to libraries.) If the GA wants to fund libraries, they could pay it out of general revenue funds.) - A guy - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 2:36 pm: We’re conditioned to paying attention without a mail reminder. Email is good enough. That money is far more useful elsewhere. This one’s a silver lining. - the wonderboy - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 2:51 pm: @JoanP Fair enough, but I’m not sure about the actual workload involved in processing the payments. It still seems that the entire process could be automated. Again, I’m sure that I am missing something in the process. It just seems as though there isn’t much involved in the standard renewal other than posting the payment and sending the new sticker. Combined with @Scott Summers thoughts, I believe it could be far more streamlined. Amazon processed over 34 million unique orders in one day last year, so there has to be something that we could try. - DuPage - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 2:54 pm: @Scott Summers 1:11===It’d be a two-fer: renew your plates and your local registration simultaneously, with SoS automatically passing through the municipal proceeds. Why oh why do we have to go online — or stand in line — every year in order to register with multiple jurisdictions?=== Local registration fees vary from $0 (none required) to over $100. If the SOS collected the fee without issuing anything, it would make it very easy for local politicians to raise the city sticker fee, and people would think the increase was the state fee. This would be especially easy to happen if it was on an automatic credit-card charge. If you pay for and get an actual city sticker, you are reminded of exactly how much that city sticker cost. Most currency exchanges have both state stickers and local city stickers available and can be done at the same time. - Norseman - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 3:21 pm: === We’re conditioned to NOT paying attention without a mail reminder. === Emphasized word added for accuracy. === Email is good enough. === Yes it is once folks have been warned that they will not be receiving further notices. - A guy - Friday, Jul 8, 16 @ 4:28 pm: Norse, $6M a year to remind people with a postcard. Do you have any idea how many people ignored that and paid the penalty? Six Million. If some better cause gets the 6 Mil and I pay a $30 penalty, I’m ok with that. If you have to pay, I’m even better! (kidding brother, but you get the idea) Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.