diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 39342830..1c6a3720 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "frozendict>=2.3.4",
     "coloredlogs>14.0.0",
     "tqdm>4.1.0",
-    "polars>0.18.0",
+    "polars>0.19.0",
     "iterpy>=1.6.0",
     "rich>=13.0.0",
 ]
diff --git a/src/timeseriesflattener/feature_specs/prediction_times.py b/src/timeseriesflattener/feature_specs/prediction_times.py
index 417bea47..218233f6 100644
--- a/src/timeseriesflattener/feature_specs/prediction_times.py
+++ b/src/timeseriesflattener/feature_specs/prediction_times.py
@@ -39,9 +39,7 @@ def __post_init__(self, init_df: InitDF_T):
         self.df = self.df.with_columns(
             pl.concat_str(
                 pl.col(self.entity_id_col_name), pl.lit("-"), pl.col(self.timestamp_col_name)
-            )
-            .str.strip_chars()
-            .alias(self.pred_time_uuid_col_name)
+            ).alias(self.pred_time_uuid_col_name)
         )
 
         _validate_col_name_columns_exist(obj=self)