It would be helpful if the circulation rules had an option (check box) to deduct the number of days a hold has been waiting from the loan period. This would be particularly helpful for ILL loans, where the loan period starts the moment the item arrives at the library for the patron, not when the patron picks it up. I could also see some libraries incorporating this functionality as an incentive to pick up holds sooner rather than later, to get as much loan time as possible.
Which backend are you using? We haven't implemented the "checkout on ILL item delivery" in our backend, but use holds in ours. So ILL item get checked out at the circulation desk on pick-up. For the due date we use the due date indicated in the ILL module on processing the ILL item when it's received or, if none was set, use the circulation conditions. I always thought it was a little odd to have to check out the ILL items before they are picked up, as that makes it hard to track what's in the library and what is out.
We are not using the ILL module. We are just using holds. Which is why I indicated it might be useful to incorporate it into the rules, so you can specify on a specific item type if you want to apply a deduction to the hold date. I agree, it doesn't make sense to have to check out the ILL while it is waiting to be picked up, which is what makes this request so appealing. If we had this, we wouldn't have to check it out while it sits on the hold shelf.