Print on Demand License Plates

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Program Overview

POD License Plate Order Best Practices

Program Overview

With the multitude of Colorado license plate types, which results in the hundreds of inventory types (i.e. Passenger and Motorcycle formats of license plate types, issued as a standard configuration license plates (XXX X00), or with custom lettering such as personalized license plates, etc.), maintaining all license plates as physical inventory on hand at county Motor Vehicle offices would cost millions of dollars. The Print on Demand (POD) License Plates program was implemented in 2014 to avoid the upfront manufacturing, shipping and storage costs, and to ensure the most efficient license plates distribution process.

The Print on Demand license plate program has been implemented through the Department of Corrections’ enterprise entity - the Colorado Correctional Industries (CCi).

Currently any license plate type – whether or not it is typically maintained as physical inventory at the county – can be requested in DRIVES and manufactured upon request via the POD process.

Note: POD license plates are always sent to the customer with a registration receipt, a month and a year tab decals affixed to the license plate. The only exceptions are license plates with “Permanent” registration type, such as Commercial Fleet –Set, Commercial Fleet-–Single, Government-Set, Government-Single, which are mailed out to the customer with registration receipt but without month tab/year tab decals affixed to the plate.

POD License Plate Program Impacts of DRIVES Roll Out 2

New with the DRIVES Roll Out 2 development:

All regular (standard configuration) license plates configurations are now generated and associated to a vehicle registration record by DRIVES. This means that an Ownership Account will reflect the POD license plates configuration associated to it, as soon as the activity payment is accepted and the transaction is completed. The legacy system’s vehicle registration record delayed update and the license plate(s) activation process are no longer needed.
Personalized License Plate requests are reviewed via the case functionality in DRIVES, and, if approved by the State office reviewer(s), the approved case automatically creates a POD license plate order, which is sent to CCi for processing.
There is a three full business day delay for all POD license plates orders’ processing (“Regular” or “Personalized”) before they are sent to CCi for manufacturing and mailing to customers. This DRIVES programming allows counties the three full business days to Reverse Activity, or Cancel Registration or perform any other corrective transactions, if needed (e.g. address corrections, “NSF” - short-check cancellations), before CCi receives the print file for processing. Example: If a POD license plates order is created on Friday, the county Motor Vehicle office will have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to make corrections, if needed. On Thursday morning the POD license plate order is received and worked by CCi. It is mailed to customer the same day.
The year tab decal serial number affixed to the POD license plate will match the POD license plate configuration for both regular (standard) and personalized license plates. Example: if the POD license plate configuration is “SAMPLE1”, then the year tab decal’s serial number produced and affixed the POD license plate is also “SAMPLE1”.
County users can research POD license plate order’s progress without having to contact State office by viewing the "Print on Demand" sub-tab under the "Ownership" tab on the customer’s Ownership Account in DRIVES.

Additionally, post the DRIVES Roll Out 2 development of E-services, the two online vehicle registration service options – “Submit a first-time vehicle registration” and “Request license plates” - are now available to vehicle owners who meet certain requirements, allowing them to create or update their vehicle registration records online and to order POD license plate(s). These POD license plate orders are also processed and mailed to customers by CCi.

POD license plate orders created either “in office”, or via E-services are sent from DRIVES to CCi by means of providing two (2) complimentary files generated daily for transactions completed three full business days prior:

POD Print File (in Microsoft Excel format containing information necessary to produce the license plate, month tab decal, year tab decal, mailing labels for the customer and the return address of the transacting county of record);
Registration Receipt s file (PDF format containing registration receipts).

CCi joins the manufactured POD license plate with month tab/year tab decals affixed to it, with the appropriate registration receipt in a labeled envelope with the customer’s address and the transacting county return address before mailing the POD license plate order out via USPS.

POD license plate order is mailed to the vehicle owner’s mailing address of record, or, in the absence of a mailing address, to the legal address of record.

Note: The POD license plate order status can be located in DRIVES under the Ownership Account’s “Print On Demand” sub-tab of the “Ownership” tab.

POD License Plate Order Best Practices

The POD license plate program is utilized to register a Group Special, Alumni or Military specialty license plate(s) when a vehicle owner meets the certification and other qualification requirements (if any), to issue license plate(s) when the physical inventory at the county’s Motor Vehicle Office has been exhausted and a quick inventory replenishment from another location is not available, to produce the approved personalized license plates, or to re-manufacture lost, damaged, etc. personalized license plates, per customer request.

To verify whether or not a POD license plate order is in the process of being created within the current activity, go to the “Plate/Decal” activity screen (a.k.a. “doc”) under the activity’s “Registration and Fees” section details.

When the “Print On Demand” box is checked on the “Plate/Decal” activity screen, a new POD license plate order will be created and sent to CCI for processing, once the activity is finished, and a payment is accepted to complete it.

Please be aware that certain combinations of activity selections in DRIVES will produce a POD license plate order, if the activity is finished, and a payment is accepted to complete the transaction. For example, when selecting “Transfer Plate” under the “Plate Options”, and then transferring a personalized license plate during a registration activity, if “Yes” is chosen under the “Convert Plate Type?” filed, the completed activity will result in a new POD license plate order being created for the Ownership Account.

Note: It is important to verify whether or not a POD license plate order is created during a registration activity in DRIVES to avoid wasted resources, when a new POD license plate order was not necessary, or not requested by the vehicle owner(s).

Due to the POD process being designed with a time lapse between the transaction time and the processing time, and due to its reliance on the joining of two separate files, the following is recommended to avoid any POD license plate process disruptions and the consequences to vehicle owner(s):

Always verify the customer’s mailing and/or legal address before starting a registration activity that will result in a new POD license plate order. Ensuring the correct address will eliminate most of the USPS POD license plate orders’ delivery issues.
When working with a vehicle record that may be due renewal (the month before registration renewal month, the month of renewal and the renewal grace period), and when a vehicle owner that may request a registration update resulting in a POD license plate order, it may be best to Renew/Replace as one activity, where a Renew Registration activity is done together with the “Change Plate?” selection), or to perform a Renew Registration activity first, and only then perform the Update Registration, as the second activity. Not following this order of operations may result in a hard stop for the activities involving a new personalized plate request. Since each POD license plate order arrives to the vehicle owner with month tab and year tab decals affixed to the license plate, issuing additional year tab decals to customers over the counter while a POD license plates order is in the “Created” status and is pending completion will constitute inventory waste, may create an opportunity for misuse of the extra year tab by public, and cause a discrepancy between the mailed year tab expiry year/serial number affixed to the POD license plate and the vehicle’s registration record, which might incur Law Enforcement inquiry and/or action against the vehicle’s owner(s). A system programming has been put in place to prevent these issues from happening, and a county Motor Vehicle office user may encounter a hard stop for certain activities in DRIVES, depending on the status of the POD license plate order in progress.

Note: To correctly order POD license plate(s) manufacturing of personalized plates containing special characters (dash, period, space) for the vehicle registration records converted from the legacy system, please contact CountyInventorySupport@state.co.us prior to performing any activities in DRIVES. Vehicle Services Section team will be able to assist in ensuring that the license plate configuration is ordered and re-manufactured with the correct placement of the special characters in the license plate configuration.

Correction or Cancellation of a POD License Plate(s) Order in DRIVES

Due to the three full business day delay for all POD license plates orders, all corrections and cancellations should be done no later than the end of the third full business day from the POD license plate order’s “Created” date.

Example: If a POD license plate order is created on Monday, it may be cancelled or cancelled and re-done no later than the close of business day on Thursday of the same week. On Friday, the POD license plate order will be processed, manufactured and mailed to the customer by CCi.

To cancel or cancel and re-do a POD license plate order in DRIVES, the following options may be utilized, based on the circumstances, the specifics of the registration activity that created it, and the type of payment accepted to complete the transaction:

Reverse Activity (with or without Void Payment);
Cancel Registration.

Please refer to the applicable training materials and job aides on DRIVES Intranet and the “Help” articles in DRIVES to review the differences between these two corrective options.

Note: In certain circumstances, when reversing activity or cancelling registration is not a viable option, a POD license plate order may be stopped from being manufactured through the cancellation function in the “POD Manager” in DRIVES by contacting Vehicle Services Section team at CountyInventorySupport@state.co.us.

The corrective options discussed above apply equally to “in office” and the online registration activities that have resulted in a POD license plate order.

The corrective options above should be applied with an additional step, when associated with a personalized license plate request case, as shown below.

POD License Plate Orders with a Personalized License Plate Request Case

There may be three (3) Personalized Plate Request case statuses:

Open case - pending review by State Office reviewer(s);
Closed case - approved by State Office reviewer(s);
Closed case - rejected by State Office reviewer(s).

OPEN CASE

If a Personalized Plate Request case is open and has not yet been reviewed by State Office reviewer(s), it is shown under the “Open Tasks” on customer’s Ownership Account.

Reversing the registration activity that created the Personalized Plate Request case on the Ownership Account will reverse the registration update, automatically cancel the Personalized Plate Request case associated with the registration activity, prevent the creation of a POD license plate order, un-redeem the customer’s certificate PIN, if one was consumed during the registration activity, and add credit to the ownership account’s Balance.

CLOSED CASE - APPROVED

If a Personalized Plate Request case is approved by State Office reviewer(s), it would no longer appear under the “Open Tasks” on customer’s Ownership Account. A registration activity with the “Personalized Plate Accepted” type will be added to the “Activities” tab, “Registration Activities” sub-tab.

To reverse the registration activity with an approved Personalized Plate Request case on the Ownership Account, please reverse both the registration activity and the associated “Personalized Plate Request” activity.

Reversing both activities will reverse the registration update, cancel the closed Personalized Plate Request case, cancel the Print-On-Demand license plate order, un-redeem the customer’s certificate PIN, if one was consumed during the activity, and add credit to the ownership account’s Balance.

CLOSED CASE - REJECTED

If the Personalized Plate Request case is rejected by State Office reviewer(s), it would no longer appear under the “Open Tasks” on customer’s Ownership Account. A registration activity with the “Personalized Plate Rejected” type will be added to the “Activities” tab, “Registration Activities” sub-tab.

Rejected Personalized Plate Request case prevents the creation of a Print-On-Demand license plate order, does not consume the customer’s certificate PIN, if one was applied during the registration activity, and adds credit to the ownership account’s Balance.

Since no POD license plate order is created for the rejected Personalized Plate Request cases, reversing the registration activity will not be necessary.

Note: The credit on the account will either need to be set for county refund, or redirected to the new activity.

In-Transit, Returned and Lost in Mail POD License Plate Orders

POD license plate orders are mailed to customers via USPS. No USPS mail tracking is currently available to assist locating the in-transit POD license plate orders. Please note: it can take up to three full weeks (or up to 21 days) for the POD license plate order to arrive to the customer.

If a POD license plate order cannot be delivered to customer, it will be returned to the transacting county of record. It is recommended that county receiving the undeliverable or returned POD license plate orders makes the best effort to notify the customer and request the pick-up in person, if possible. If customer is unable to pick up in person, or they no longer need these license plates, the POD license plates should be disposed of per the county’s most current DR 2926 “LICENSE PLATE DESTRUCTION, RECYCLING & DISPOSAL APPROVAL APPLICATION”.

If a POD license plate order has not been delivered to a customer, and has not been returned to the transacting county of record in a reasonable period of time, per customer request the county Motor Vehicle office may re-order the POD license plates, after checking the following information on the customer’s Ownership Account in DRIVES:

Verify that the customer’s mailing address is up to date and correct. In the absence of a mailing address, please verify that the customer’s legal address is up to date and correct;
Verify that the information presented on the ‘Plates’ sub-tab (click ‘Show History’) under the “Ownership” tab indicates that no more than two POD license plate orders have been replaced due to “Lost“, “Damaged” or “Stolen” claims in the last three months. In such a case, please contact Vehicle Services Section for further instructions by emailing CountyInventorySupport@state.co.us.

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