Unsticky City Sticker Problem Prolongs Deadline 2 Weeks
Procrastinators rejoice!
Normally today, June 30th, is the day your old Chicago city vehicle sticker expires and must be replaced on your car’s windshield with the 2010/2011 sticker.
Of course, the city traditionally gives stragglers a two week grace period to purchase and affix their $75 decal, making July 15th the ultimate deadline before drivers risk a $120 ticket for “failure to display” their city sticker.
But this year, because of an un-sticky situation, the Chicago City Clerk’s office has announced an unprecedented 15-day extension of the city sticker grace period extending the deadline for until July 30th.
This break from tradition is due to quality control issues the Chicago City Clerk’s office has been facing with this year’s stickers.
As reported last week, small batches of the first shipment of defective city stickers did not have enough adhesive to keep them affixed effectively to windshields. While complaints in the very first days of June alerted the Clerk’s office to the problem, and forced them to take quick action in tossing out what remained of the first shipment of 125,000 stickers, enough of the defective decals were mailed to drivers to make it an issue.
Ironically, the sticker vendor, Chicago-based SecureMark Decal Company, which had similar problems supplying stickers to the New York DMV several months ago, was not the City Clerk’s first choice to supply the 2010/2011 city stickers.
Because of this issue, the Clerk’s office wants to insure drivers experiencing this issue have enough time to replace their defective stickers. The reasoning being, many drivers don’t try affixing their sticker until today, will not know if they have a bad sticker or not. With just over two weeks until July 15th, the Clerk’s office was concerned there won’t be enough time to replace any problem stickers by the time the original grace period is over.
“A lot of people wait until today (June 30th) to put their city sticker on their windshield,” explains City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams. “Due to the circumstances, we felt it was in the best interest of everyone to do this.”
According to Williams, city ordinance allows the Clerk’s office by law, a full 30 days of grace period where it can continue to sell city stickers to drivers without the $40 late fee and delaying enforcement.
The number of returned defective city stickers has risen over the past week from an initial 1200 to over 8000 as of yesterday and the Clerk’s office still expects more.
“We’re expecting more because so many people wait until June 30th to put them on their car,” said Williams. “We don’t think it will be much more because we pulled the first shipment fairly quickly.”
Because of the grace period extension, enforcement of city stickers will not begin on July 16th as usual, but on July 31st. According to Williams the Clerk’s office has informed all levels of parking enforcement about this issue and the new enforcement start date.
Long Lines Expected Today
Despite the additional grace period, the Clerk’s office is expecting long lines of drivers trying to get their city stickers before today’s “official” deadline.
“Of course, we always have big lines today,” sighed Williams. “We have a lot of people that just want their sticker now.”
Local currency exchanges are bracing for a rush of city sticker sales tomorrow as well.
“Yes, it’s usually really busy on the 30th,” says Judith Avila, an employee of the Kedzie-Elston Currency Exchange located at 3510 N. Kimball in the Avondale neighborhood. “We expect more people than normal. We’ll have extra staff (on duty.)”
The upside to the grace period is drivers can avoid lines altogether by ordering their sticker online via the City Clerk’s website. According to Williams, drivers ordering online can expect their city sticker fulfillment to come in the mail in two weeks or less.
Defective Stickers Being Replaced At No Charge
If you do find you have a defective sticker, the Clerk’s office will replace it for free.
Drivers can e-mail the City Clerk’s office at: cityclerk@cityofchicago.org or call 312-742-9200 or mail their defective sticker to: City Clerk’s Office, Room 107, City Hall, Attn: Daveda Peeler/Defective Sticker, 121 N. LaSalle, Chicago, IL 60602. Replacements will be sent in the mail.
If you prefer, you can get your replacement immediately and in person at any City Clerk office location. Drivers with this issue are moved to the front of the line to address their problem within minutes according to one long time reader.
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If you have one of the non-sticky ones, they will let you jump the line.
I got one, went to city hall Monday afternoon. Line was down the hall. Found the guy at the door who was running the line, showed him the no-sticky sticker, he sent me to another guy who went in back and printed me out a new one. Took about 10 mins. I think I was given to the guy who was working the senior line.
Good piece of advice GLG, I’ll update my post.
Went to the north side Clerk’s Office this morning to get my non-sticky sticker replaced. The lines were outside the door in a barricaded maze just to get inside the door, although the line seemed to be moving quickly. I took a chance to go inside to just be able to “ask a question” and a nice young man there told me that I could go to a particular window after the customer already there had completed their transaction and get my sticker replacement.
It took all of 5 minutes to get my replacement after giving the clerk my non-sticky sticker. I didn’t even need the proof that I purchased the sticker online. Nice way for the city to handle a “sticky” situation.
[...] to an adhesive issue, the City is extending the deadline for getting a 2010 sticker for your vehicle until July 15, and bumping the grace period to July [...]
Well if I had only known. Went to Dominick’s on McCormick this after noon and was told their system had froze and to go to a Currency Exchange. The one at Devon and McCormick wasn’t too bad with a 20 minute wait. Only thing was there was a pervert with his Russian mailorder bride that got behind me in line and started talking about how he needed to be compensated for waiting by getting more sex. There’s more to it I don;t want to repeat. And yes it was a guido with a potbelly, gold chains, track pants, and tank top.
The only good thing is when I went to remove the old sticker I got a good start on the corner and removed it by hand in one shot. No cleaner or razors needed. Absolutely a miracle!
Informative article, but, again… Where’s the editor?!
“Because of this issue, the Clerk’s office wants to INSURE drivers experiencing this issue have enough time to replace their defective stickers.”
No, the Clerk’s office is not INsuring anything, they are ENsuring. Please proofread your articles before posting.
Or have someone else do it to catch things you may not even be aware of.
Anyone know if the grace period applies to the residential parking permit part of the sticker also?
Just remember…this extension period does NOT include Temp Residential Parking permits.
I understand that there is no extension on the permit parking stickers. What if you bought them together?
Avid Reader,
was that post really necessary? PTG is just a normal guy who writes a blog. It’s not his full time job. Cut him some slack. Or, since you’re the authority on grammar, offer to proofread everything for him if it bothers you so much.
David….the grace period covers the city sticker.
If you have a Zone 5 or Zone 24 or 105 (or whatever Numbered Zone you live in) as PART of the City Sticker…you will not be Ticketed for “Residential Parking: Expired Permit.” unless the zone you park in isn’t the same as the number on your City Sticker.
Expired Temporary Residential Parking Permits are separate and completely different from the City Sticker.
The entire time I have lived in Chicago, 7+ years, I have always seen and experienced the July 15th grace period being applied to the temporary residential parking permits as well.
More good information: doesn’t matter in what city the car is registered. If the driver lives in Chicago then you must have a city sticker. I got burned on that one. Ticket, late fee, and then when I went to pay the ticket I realized they got my license plate# wrong!
[...] a recently announced grace period extension, many drivers are still opting to wait in line to get their new Chicago city vehicle [...]
[...] two week extended grace period, due to defective city stickers, comes to an end on Friday, July 30th and is the last day you can purchase your $75 city sticker [...]