MT Runs Out of Metal for License Plates

The aluminum shortage is to blame.

[davewoodmancy]

If the workers run out of license plates to manufacture, do they get to go home early?

[Alyeska]

As a Montana resident, this got a laugh. We've had so many people move to Montana in the last year. And now with the aluminum shortage, this is going to be fun.

[RD_MT]

Also as a MT resident, someone snowed the legislature into believing that the plates are no longer reflective after 3yrs so we have to purchase new plates every third year. Funny that I've seen plates from other states reflect after 30+yrs.

[briangarrow]

The world’s manufacturers bought into the business practice of “just in time” inventory management. Gone are the days of keeping 6 months or a years worth of material for your business. Anything sitting on a shelf or in a yard isn’t making money for your shareholders.
As a water and wastewater treatment plant professional operator- our industry has discussed this issue at length and the smarter staff’s at various facilities across the country have taken this mode of business into account by purchasing parts and supplies that are mission critical to safe operations. Some plants have gone as far as changing pump sizes to standards that allow for cross usage instead of each installation being sized for that application only.
We can blame ourselves when we can’t get items we need during a disruption. We chose to reward businesses with no emergency inventories.

[gordonshumway]

So next, people will be stealing license plates for the Aluminum. (While they steal your catalytic converter, grab the plates as well.)

[Crash]

Ontario Canada started with permanent plates in 1972. My friend still has them on his current car and the are almost perfect condition. His wife’s car the plates are about 3 years old and almost unreadable.

[iii]

This was one of the reasons given to me from Washington DMV. I had had to pay TWICE to get my new plates. Once for the "renewal' of the (then) current plates, still had a month to go and did NOT need renewed as we were getting new personalized plates, and then PAY for the new plate set WHICH TOOK SIX MONTHS TO GET and no extension time for the time I DIDN'T HAVE THEM. so I now have my new plate set, but only get to have them on for 6 months instead of a year. Going back to my Montana residency... f*ck Wa. I'll pay more, but the money goes to the state roads dept., where Washington puts the tab/plate fees into the general fund to dole out for the west sides never-ending pet projects...

[spnrx]

As someone in the manufacturing business I can attest to the materials shortage. My suppliers are protecting their long-term customers by rationing remaining inventory and denying large orders from new customers. One supplier is quoting April of 2022 (11-3-21 posting) on some alloys and sizes.

This is more serious than the MSM is portraying.

[keithgregory]

In my state, of Ohio, I just got a notice that the next time I renew my plates that one or more of my plates will have to be replaced, because they are over 20 years old. They are on trailers, that are kept inside, when not in use, so the plates are still in good condition.

[brentboswell]

Texas used to use steel...you could see the grains of steel in the metal on the back 😉 I recall having to pry the rear plate off my dad's '64 F100 when the State DMV decided that plates had to be replaced every 8 years (due to the reflective material degrading in the Texas sun). It had rusted to the bumper after 16 years in place 🤣

[china]

We have pwenty of awuminum and computer chips over here. Thank you berry much for outsourcing 99% of manufacturing to us!

[arinerm]

Love today's shirt, Steve. Well done, Braves! As a fan, I'm hoping Frederick (FREDDIE!) sees the advantages of staying, despite higher-money offers from the mercenary teams. That young team has the potential to be VERY good for a VERY long time.

[jeffzekas]

As other viewers have stated, use hard plastic for plates. This is what they use for disabled placards here in Oregon

[elizabethwilliams]

Howdy Steve, from here in Missouri. I am a auto worker here in Kansas City, and the way my plant is doing it (the KCAP builds the F-series trucks and the Transit Van) is once we run out of stock, and production can no longer continue, where the vehicle stops, is were it stays. If the build of the vehicle has been completed it continues down the line until an operator drives it off the end of the line out to be readied for transport. Due to the awesome hard work of teamsters, the built trucks and vans don't sit long in our lots, before being transported to their destinations The vehicles we are build have the chip installed either in the plant while being built, or out in the yard, once we have received the parts that are in shortage, production resumes. We run production with the stock available then. Then it's wash, rinse, repeat.

[edletain]

LOL, there is an aluminum smelter in Columbia Falls MT, BTW it's powered by Hydro generated I believe by the Libby dam.

The lumber at our nearby Home Depot is down to just above 2019 levels as the panic buying seems to be over along with the price spike of 2020.

[smilemor-phony]

It's no wonder I'm having a hard time finding Miller Genuine Draft in can's here in Kalamazoo, only bottles.

[exchiefkeith]

Go back to the embossed steel plates; use recycled materials. When a car burns, the plastic and aluminum plates melt into a puddle leaving the vehicle harder to identify.

[EzeePosseTV]

I'm glad that here in the UK we use plastic PVC for our licence plates that stay on the vehicle for the entirety of it's life. I've never understood why you have to keep replacing licence plates every so many years.

[berthaduniverse]

We just bought a new F250, and almost the entire body is made from aluminum, and while I'm not sure of the proportion, I would imagine a majority of the engine and trans is too.

[cwstrickland]

I’m a gutter man in Georgia. Or prices have consistently went up every month for the past 8. It’s hard to do estimates