Odds appear good this won’t be repeated.
As previously discussed here and elsewhere, “new” license plates started to be issued this week. The key to the “new” part here is that this also applies to people who have kept the same plates since the late 1990s. This only covers three-quarters of the first cycle, though. Because the original issuance started Jan. 2, 1997, January through March (or April, if renewed early) registrants will hold on to theirs one more year. Based on experience, through the end of the calendar year it will be plates approximately through the mid-E’s.
Next year will be the big switch. Not only will the 1998-2003 replacement cover about half the alphabet (through the M’s at least), but all of the stamped plates like the one above will be part of it. The stock will go a little faster than the first time around, because U and V did not get kept in as options after the original sets went out to the counties.
The Gazette article also answers another question: Drivers may keep the old ones. (It would take a great deal of space, though, to collect one of each three-letter sequence.)
What is more concerning, perhaps, is the plan to have a “10-year replacement cycle.” Theoretically, that means this could go on for another 15 years — probably a little less given an increased number of vehicles — until we get to ZZZ999, and then reverse again and continue indefinitely. Are we going to be stuck with the same design for a quarter of a century? If so, that’s kind of a shame. It’s not the biggest thing in the world, but I think a redesign every once in a while, if not at least once in a decade, is a good thing.
One final thought: We don’t appear to have reached 999ZZZ yet. It’s possible a driver with an A/B/C/E plate could renew this year and bookend the series.
UPDATE: Here’s the verbatim press release (vs. the mixed news story/press release from the Gazette). It includes this:
This design remains within the recommended standards for license plate function and legibility, and the Iowa DOT plans to retain and use this design well into the future.
So yes, we will be stuck with this design for a quarter-century.