September 20, 2005 - On Ed's Plate

Your license plate number isn’t considered a status symbol. But it could be. As with most things, newer and bigger are usually considered better. And, while everyone can see just by looking, how big your car is, it’s the numbers on your plates that say how long you have owned it. It’s because the folks issuing license plates (sometime referred to as the DMV) give them out in sequential order - the smaller the number, the older the car.

License plates being issued today have a 5 as the first character followed by a three-letter combination starting with the letter P. There are a few exceptions. We found a list of banned license plate letters on the web. Apparently, PEW, PIG, PIS, POT, POW, PST, PUD, PUS, and PYS will not be issued. Evidently, attempts to legalize POT have not been successful. And for those environmentalists among us, DDT has also been banned.

So, with 5P being the latest and greatest thing, plates starting with 3’s and 4’s identify you to the world as the owner of an older car. There was no Employee Discount Special Offer when you bought. And, if your plate starts with a 2, you probably didn’t use the Internet to find out the dealer’s price. A plate starting with a 1 means that you probably, well to speak bluntly, are not a regular at the Biltmore. Of course there are many 1’s driving around Hope Ranch with UCSB A-lot stickers, but those are just people with different priorities.

Remember on Fives Day we found a special plate starting with a 5.

Yesterday, the dedicated staff of edhat.com drove to the La Cumbre Mall parking lot to estimate the frequency distribution of the first number on California license plates in town. First of all, we found that only 91% of CA plates in our sample even started with numbers. Other plates we found were custom plates (6%), new cars with no plates (1%), and really old cars with blue and black plates (2%).

We found that the completeness of the 4’s issuance still bears more weight than the recentness of the 5’s. What we mean is all the 4’s were gone through, so it’s a complete set of plates. On the other hand, the 5’s are still being issued. You might say, they’re a few plates short of a full setting. From our sample we found 31.6% 4’s, 27.6% 5’s, 24.1% 3’s, 5.7% 2’s, and 1.7% 1’s.

In yesterday’s contest Annielope, MikeShinn tied for the victory, each choosing 4 as the most prevalent starting number and 32% as the percent. The Edhat dog, who doesn’t own a car, but likes to hang her head out the window, was asked to settle the tie. Two dog treats were placed at opposite ends of the room and the dog was summoned. Annielope’s treat was the first one eaten. Annie wins an Edhat t-shirt, the 2005 model.

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