I couldn't think of a "snappy" title

Not too long ago I saw two cars with license plates that were a little out of the ordinary. And by out of the ordinary, I obviously mean made of cardboard. Now, I’ve seen this before, but not two cars in the same day. It got me thinking, does this really work? Rather than going to the DMV and waiting in line for 6 weeks to get a replacement tag, can I really just grab a piece of poster board and a sharpie and make a new one? Does anyone actually believe I lost my tag? Do the police really let that slide?

I can see it now:

Officer: Dispatch this is Unit 471 following a vehicle with no license plate.
Dispatch: Roger 471, keep us posted
Officer: We've got 8 juvenile males in the vehicle and what appears to be a US Postal Service blue mailbox with the concrete base still attached hanging out of the trunk.
Dispatch: Roger 471
Officer: Dispatch, I’ll be initiating a traffic stop on a brown, older model, caprice classic with 3-22 inch rims and 1 spare-donut-tire and what looks like a jaguar hood ornament hot-glued to the hood.
Dispatch: Roger 471
Officer: Dispatch, got a little closer and saw they do have a license plate, it’s a hand written job on cardboard and it blended in with the car. Gonna let em’ get along their way.
Dispatch: Roger 471, glad you didn’t waste your time on that one.

So if it does work, I thought that maybe I could save some time with some other things too. Here are some hypothetical examples:

At Moes:

Me: I’ll take the Coctostan Combo (that’s what I always get, with lots of fresh jalapeno)
Cashier: That’ll be $8.62
Me: Here you go.
Cashier: What is that?
Me: It is my frequent diner card, see I’ve got 10 stamps.
Cashier: That’s a drink cup lid.
Me: Yeah, but I punched all my stamps with my hole punch at home and as you can see I’ve got 10.
Cashier: Alright, we’ll take it, but you only needed 9 and then you get the 10th one free, so we’ll go ahead and punch one on a new card for you.
Me: Thanks.

At the Notary:

Notary: …Great, I’ll just need a second form of ID.
Me: Here ya go.
Notary: And what would this be?
Me: My passport.
Notary: Sir, this looks like you cut up a cardboard box into pages and punched holes in them and hooked them together like a book with zip-ties.
Me: Isn’t that what passports look like? A little book with your picture and information? As you can see I pasted my picture in there and I wrote my height and weight on the next page.
Notary: Well, the picture looks like you and all the info is accurate…I’ll take it.

At the airport

Ticket lady: I’ll just need your boarding pass.
Me: Here you go.
Ticket Lady: What is this?
Me: My boarding pass
Ticket Lady: This is a napkin from Cinnabun.
Me: Yeah, it’s OK. I didn’t have time to check in, so I wrote all the flight information and which seat I would like on this napkin.
Ticket Lady: Oh, sure. I’ll just need to see your ID.
Me: Here ya go.
Ticket Lady: This is a business card for a body hair removal service.
Me: Flip it over.
Ticket Lady: Oh. Yep, there you are. Looks just like you; the colored pencil shading was a nice touch. Here you go. Looking at your boarding pass, it looks like you’re in first class.
Me: Hmmm, look at that. First class. Thank you.
Ticket Lady: Enjoy your flight.

The possibilities are endless. Give it a try.