Ration card system — a system of supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, to purchase a product one had not only to pay money for it, but also to present a one-time coupon granting the right to buy it. Cards (coupons) set specific monthly consumption norms per person.
The essence of the coupon system is that to buy a scarce product it is necessary not only to pay money, but also to hand over a special coupon authorizing the purchase of that product.
Coupons for food and some consumer goods were obtained at the place of registration from the housing maintenance office. At the workplace (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for certain food products and manufactured goods received via barter between enterprises.
The reason the coupon system emerged was shortages of certain widely used goods.
The goal of introducing coupons was to provide the population with a minimally guaranteed set of goods. Demand was supposed to fall, since without a coupon the corresponding goods were, in practice, not sold in the state retail network. In practice, sometimes it was impossible to use coupons if the relevant goods were not available in stores. Some goods, if they were in surplus, were sold without coupons even though coupons were issued for them; for example, coupons were also issued for salt.
Without a coupon, goods could be bought at markets and from speculators.
The assumed consumption norm could differ depending on the status of a locality; thus, when butter rationing was introduced in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1981, the norm for Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, and five other large cities was 200 grams per person per month; for some smaller towns, 150 grams; for most localities, 100 grams. Fulfillment of coupons with a specific type of product could vary; thus, with a guaranteed norm of 2 kilograms of meat products per person per month, coupons in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1983 were redeemed as 67% sausage, 23% poultry meat, and 10% beef and pork (mainly for war invalids and diabetics). In 1985 the situation with meat supplies worsened, and coupons were redeemed mostly for boiled sausages, pork, and lean mutton.
Perestroika, on the one hand, partially abolished mandatory state deliveries, and on the other hand eliminated the foreign-trade monopoly, as a result of which exporting enterprises and cooperatives accumulated large amounts of money not backed by goods. This led to increased shortages of certain goods and some expansion of the coupon system; as shortages grew in 1989–1990, coupons for many food products and some other goods were introduced almost everywhere (tobacco products, vodka, sausage, soap, tea, cereals, salt, sugar, and in some cases, in remote areas, bread, milk, mayonnaise, laundry detergent, women’s underwear, etc.).
Since large and “closed” cities of the USSR were supplied with food better than the provinces, in attempts to stop nonresidents from taking scarce goods out of the city (meat, meat products, and fish products), the leadership of some cities began to propose introducing meat coupons. In the late 1970s to the first half of the 1980s, due to a growing food shortage, in some cities and regions of the country (Perm, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Vologda, Zheleznogorsk, and others) attempts were made to regulate consumption by introducing rationing and coupons for certain types of food (meat, meat products, sausage, butter).
The coupon system began to be introduced on a large scale in 1989 and became most widespread in 1990–1991, when total shortages peaked; products began to disappear both meat items and ordinary goods that previously had not been in short supply: sugar, cereals, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded away starting in early 1992 due to price liberalization, which triggered hyperinflation (in 1992 alone prices increased 26-fold) and the spread of free trade. For some goods in certain regions, coupons remained in use longer.