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

[John Amundson]

Thanks, Dawn.

That's helpful.

The workflow unfortunately does require staff noticing the discrepancies
and then adjusting, which leaves us in a similar boat to what we are in now.

I'm hoping that there's ultimately an automated solution to this.

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>


On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 12:05 PM Dawn Dale <ddale at georgialibraries.org>
wrote:

> Hi John,,
>
> When a patron has overdues of $2.00 and they are forgiven and then
> reversed leaving a balance of -$2.00 that then gets applied to the cost of
> the item, $25.00, it leaves a balance of $23.00.  The cost of the item is
> still $25.00 but the summary shows $23.00.  I would have staff "adjust to
> zero" the negative balance bill so that the summary shows $25.00.  It
> will mean staff will need to be diligent in looking at the patron bills
> before taking payment though. Someone could look at the patrons with
> negative balances daily and make those adjustments but depending on how
> many patrons that would involve, that may not be doable.
>
> I hope this helps some.
>
>
>
> *Dawn Dale, PINES Services Specialist - Circulation*
>
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> On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 10:56 AM John Amundson <jamundson at cwmars.org>
> wrote:
>
>> 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>
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