[Evergreen-circ] Payments on Overdue Items Apply to Lost Charge

[John Amundson]

Hello!

I am hoping for some feedback and possible advice.

*TL;DR:*
We are having an issue where payments made while an item is overdue are
deducted from the replacement cost if the item becomes Lost. This is an
issue for some of our libraries because of how funds are handled. We have
tried adjusting settings to help with this, but without the desired result.

Is your library/network experiencing this, is it an issue, and do you have
a workaround?

*Full details:*
In our system, checked out items become LOST at 28 days overdue, and we do
not use the Long Overdue setting. When an item becomes LOST, settings are
in place so that the overdue fines are reversed, and only the replacement
charge of the item is due.

Here is an example of how this works:

   - An item accrues $2.00 in overdue fines. Then the item becomes lost,
   which reverses the overdue fines and adds a $25.00 replacement cost. The
   patron owes a total of $25.00 for the transaction.

This works well most of the time. However, with the pandemic and many
libraries forgiving fines, we are running into a situation more often. If
an item's overdue fines are paid for or forgiven while an item is still
checked out and overdue, and the item becomes lost, the "payment" made
against the overdue is applied to the lost charge.

Here's an example of this:

   - An item accrues $2.00 in overdue fines. While overdue, the fines are
   forgiven. The item becomes lost, which reverses the overdue fines and adds
   a $25.00 replacement cost. The $2.00 "payment" is not reversed, and the
   patron now only owes $23.00 for the bill.

This has been problematic for some of our libraries because overdue fines
and lost charges go to separate accounts. For others, it's a problem simply
because they are not receiving the full replacement cost.

After some discussion, we investigated adjusting our library settings so
that overdue fines are not adjusted when an item becomes lost. So, when an
item becomes lost, its overdue fines are still owed.

Here's a couple examples of how this works:

   - An item accrues $2.00 in overdue fees and then becomes lost. The
   item's replacement cost of $25.00 is charged. The patron owes a total of
   $27.00 for the transaction.
   - The item's $2.00 in fines are forgiven while the time is still checked
   out. The item becomes lost. Only the $25.00 replacement cost is owed for
   the transaction.

The issue with this behavior is that it doesn't solve the underlying
problem, and libraries still need to be diligent to ensure fines/lost
charges are collected appropriately.

How is this situation handled at your library?

If there isn't a current workaround, I plan to open up a bug report on
Launchpad, but I wanted to check with the list first to make sure we are
not missing something.

In an ideal world, a setting could be enabled so that payments made while
an item is overdue are also adjusted in some manner so that the payment
does not affect the lost charge.

Thanks for reading,
John

John Amundson | Library Applications Supervisor | CW MARS

jamundson at cwmars.org | 508-755-3323 x322 <%28508%29%20755-3323>

https://www.cwmars.org

He/Him/His <https://www.mypronouns.org/he-him>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.evergreen-ils.org/pipermail/evergreen-circ/attachments/20210203/da6c7e53/attachment.html>