In finance

When buying things, "Off the shelf" refers to products that have already been designed and made, compared to "made to measure" ("one-off", "custom-built", "custom made", etc.) which refers to products that have to be made to a special order.

Off the shelf products are generally cheaper and more quickly available than made to measure.

In the manufacturing of clothing, equivalent terms are off the rack, ready-to-wear, and prêt-à-porter.

Other meanings

"Off the Shelf" is also the title of three radio programmes:

• The BBC World Service (British) programme which serialises books. Official website here

• The RTÉ Radio 1 (Ireland) programme on which a panel of contributors discuss literature topics. Official website here

• The folk music programme on WHRO (USA). Official website here

The phrase could also be used to refer to the "Off the Shelf Festival", a festival of writing and reading which takes place each year in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

See also

• Commercial off-the-shelf (also known as COTS)
• "On the Shelf", A lady who is not dating or is a spinster.
• Off the hook

English phrases