On hand

On hand

The expression we’re going to talk about today is “on hand.” Here’s how you heard it the first time: Cash transfer agents like MoneyGram and Western Union need to have enough cash on hand to process transfers. They need to have enough cash readily available; in this case, enough cash has to be in the shops. If they don’t have enough cash on hand at the destination, then they can’t process the transfer. For them to keep their promises, they need to have enough cash on hand to give to recipients.

Do you remember when we talked about cashless shops? They don’t like having to keep a lot of cash on hand. It presents a security problem and complicates logistics, since they have to always count it and make regular deposits in the bank. It’s not easy to have a lot of cash on hand, especially if you’re a smaller business.

If you’ve been listening for a while, you know I like to cook on my grill, but I don’t love to go shopping for food. So I always try to have some frozen meat or fish on hand in case I want to cook, but don’t have time to go to the store. I always want to have something relatively healthy available right here in my house.

You can also use this to refer to people who are readily available. It’s always nice when companies have customer service representatives on hand to answer your questions. It’s nice when a company has people available to answer questions. It’s concert season here in Chicago, and organizers of big events like festivals and concerts need to have security on hand just in case something goes wrong. They want to have security guards available in case they need them. If a situation develops, they don’t want to have to wait to call the police. They want to have security on hand to try to get the situation under control.

Quote of the week

Let’s reach way back in English history for a quote today from Jonathan Swift. He was an Irish writer in the 1600s and 1700s and was best known for his satire. I wanted a quote about money for today’s episode, so here is a line from Jonathan Swift: “A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.”

That’s all for today’s episode. Thanks for joining us once again. JR and I will be back on Thursday.

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See you Thursday!