Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
abc7chicago.com
Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
1–10 of 146 posts
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#2Between not paying fines and not paying fines, of course people are going to choose to not pay fines.
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#3I honestly think it is the novelty of suddenly not having fines rather than the actual not having of fines. IMHO (most) people don’t not return books when they’re a day or a week late because of fines.
Ultimately, I believe it’s too early to draw any conclusions beyond observing the number of books returned for now. It will certainly be interesting to see where the steady state will wind up, though.
(I’m a CPL member.)
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#4I honestly think it is the novelty of suddenly not having fines rather than the actual not having of fines. IMHO (most) people don’t not return books when they’re a day or a week late because of fines. Ultimately, I believe it’s too early to draw any conclusions beyond observing the number of books returned for now . It will certainly be interesting to see where the steady state will wind up, though. (I’m a CPL membe…
I agree - I’d like to see their steady-state follow-up numbers 5 years from now.
Even if that’s the case, I guess they can just have an amnesty every once in a while.
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#5I honestly think it is the novelty of suddenly not having fines rather than the actual not having of fines. IMHO (most) people don’t not return books when they’re a day or a week late because of fines. Ultimately, I believe it’s too early to draw any conclusions beyond observing the number of books returned for now . It will certainly be interesting to see where the steady state will wind up, though. (I’m a CPL membe…
Why would they return books due to fines they don’t feel like paying? It seems plausible.
It’s a bit like saying that people wouldn’t pirate a movie that only costs $2.
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#6I honestly think it is the novelty of suddenly not having fines rather than the actual not having of fines. IMHO (most) people don’t not return books when they’re a day or a week late because of fines. Ultimately, I believe it’s too early to draw any conclusions beyond observing the number of books returned for now . It will certainly be interesting to see where the steady state will wind up, though. (I’m a CPL membe…
(most) p̶eople ̶d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶t̶u̶r̶n̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶k̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶’̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶w̶e̶e̶k̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶e̶s̶.̶
Even with fines, (most) people return books when they’re a day or a week late.
FTFY Coding standards. ;-)
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#7They should work with the post office to accept returns. I live ten miles away from the closest library. It never makes sense to drive there solely to return a book and I work from home 95% of the time, so I’m rarely there by chance. As a result, i never go to the library.
If i could chuck the book into my mailbox to return it I’d stop by more often.
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#8Chicago made you pay the fine when you returned the book? You can't just drop it in the return and pay the fine later when you want to check out another book?
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#9Yes, you see surge of returns at the moment. But I would expect there will be a dramatic increase of overdues as a terrible long term effect.
Re: Chicago book returns surge 240% after city eliminates fines
#10My library did this a couple of years ago and made a big production about how progressive they were.
Instead of a fine with a cap ($5 iirc), they suspend your card.