2006 - The Year of the License Plate

Living in the South for two years, I thought I'd figured out their way of doing things. Nope. Today I got a curveball.

I went to register both vehicles. (It's not at the DMV by the way, it's at the County Office...where you would look up deeds and stuff. That was weird for me the first year we were here, but I am used to it by now.) I am at the counter paying for our tags for which I am expecting two super sticky '07 stickers in return. Simple enough, right? Not at all. The lady at the counter hands me two license plates. Yes...PLATES. I told her, "oh no, we already have the plates, we just need the stickers". Surely she must have made a simple mistake. To this, she replies, "I know, but it's time for new plates now. You get them every 6 years." Ok, fine. I was distracted with two kids so it took me a second to realize what she'd said. I told her that we've only been here 2 years, so shouldn't I wait 4 more? Nope. She said "what I meant was, EVERYONE gets new plates every 6 years...even if you just bought a new car last year."

Huh?

Welcome to Tennessee's the "Year of the License Plate". China can have their "Year of the Dog". We prefer license plates.

Evidently, EVERY single car that is getting registered this year needs new license plates. Completely different license numbers than what we had before. I'm not sure what they do for vanity plates, but I'm thoroughly confused! I didn't pay any more money this year to get the new plates, so this is coming out of some budget somewhere. Can they find something a little wiser to do with our tax money???? This is the most rediculous thing I've heard in awhile. They don't even want our old plates back. I am so confused!