Understanding Minimum and Maximum Fines

You can specify the range of the fine amounts your library charges. (For example, you may want most borrowers to pay a $0.50 overdue fine the first day an item is considered overdue. You may also want to specify that a borrower’s overdue fine for each item that they check out cannot exceed $20.00.) You specify fine ranges by defining minimum and maximum fine amounts.

The minimum fine amount is the initial amount a borrower must pay for an item as soon as it is overdue. This amount applies to the first loan period you have defined (for example, one day or one hour). This amount remains the same until the regular fine amount you define would have reached the minimum fine amount. Then the regular fine amount applies for each subsequent loan period that the item is overdue. For example, if your minimum fine amount is $0.50 and your daily fine rate is $0.10, the fine would be $0.50 until five days had passed. Then Horizon increases the fine by $0.10 for each additional day that the item is overdue.

If you set up a grace period and do not charge fines for those grace days, a minimum fine amount does not take effect until the first day after the grace period. However, the grace period days are counted when Horizon calculates how much the regular fine amount would be. For example, if your minimum fine amount is $0.50 and your daily fine rate is $0.10 with a three-day grace period, the fine would be $0.50 on the first day after the grace period (the fourth day) and remain at $0.50 for the fifth day. That would make the daily fine rate equal the minimum fine rate ($0.10 times five days). After that, Horizon increases the fine by $0.10 for each additional day that the item is overdue. For more information on how a grace period affects a minimum fine, see Setting Up a Grace Period.

In addition to a minimum fine amount, you have the option to specify a maximum fine amount that keeps fines for a given ITYPE from going higher than a certain amount. A maximum fine amount is determined by specifying one of these things:

A fixed dollar amount.
A percentage of the cost of an item. If an item record has no cost indicated, Horizon figures the percentage from the average replacement cost listed in an item’s collection code.

When an overdue fine reaches either the fixed dollar amount or the percentage of the cost of the item, the fine stops increasing.

You set up minimum and maximum fine amounts in the itype view. (For more information, see Preparing Horizon to Work with Item Records.)

 


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