cash-and-carry

American  

[kash-uhn-kar-ee] / ˈkæʃ ənˈkær i /

adjective

1. sold for cash payment and no delivery service.

2. operated on such a basis.

   a cash-and-carry business.

---

cash-and-carry British  

adjective

1. sold or operated on a basis of cash payment for merchandise that is not delivered but removed by the purchaser

---

noun

1. a wholesale store, esp for groceries, that operates on this basis

2. an operation on a commodities futures market in which spot goods are purchased and sold at a profit on a futures contract

Etymology

Origin of cash-and-carry

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

The deal is meant to help Sysco expand into the high-margin and growing cash-and-carry distribution model, and serve more customers locally.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

These enablers "can't be bought in a hurry at the local cash-and-carry" as one European politician put it to me.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2025

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Hardy was credited with “rethinking the lumber business in the late 1950s with a cash-and-carry approach focused on professional contractors and builders.”

From Seattle Times • Jan. 8, 2023

After much debate, in November 1939 Congress repealed provisions of earlier Neutrality Acts and authorized trade in military hardware on a cash-and-carry basis.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

French, German and Dutch cash-and-carry and do-it-yourself groups are slated to follow.

From Russian Roulette: Russia's Economy in Putin's Era by Vaknin, Samuel