Rationing system — a system for 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 single-use coupon entitling the holder to buy it. Ration cards (coupons) set specific monthly per-capita consumption limits for goods.
The essence of the coupon system was that to buy a scarce product it was 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 registered residence from the housing office (ZhEK). At the workplace (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for certain foods and industrial goods received via in-kind exchange between enterprises.
The reason for the emergence of the coupon system was a shortage of certain mass-demand consumer goods.
The purpose of introducing coupons was to provide the population with a minimally guaranteed set of goods. Demand was expected to fall, since without a coupon the corresponding goods were in practice not sold in the state retail network. In practice, it was sometimes 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 issued for salt as well.
Without a coupon, goods could be bought at markets and from speculators.
The assumed consumption norm could differ depending on the status of the 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 cities it was 150 grams; for most localities it was 100 grams. The extent to which coupons were backed by a specific type of product could vary; thus, with a guaranteed norm of 2 kilograms of meat products per person per month, in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1983 coupons were redeemed 67% with sausages, 23% with poultry meat, and 10% with beef and pork (mainly for war invalids and diabetics). In 1985 the situation with meat supplies worsened, and coupons were redeemed mostly with 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 corresponding товар supplies. This led to a worsening shortage of certain goods and some expansion of the coupon system; and as the shortage grew in 1989–1990, coupons were introduced almost everywhere for many food items and some other goods (tobacco products, vodka, sausage, soap, tea, groats, salt, sugar; 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 non-residents from taking scarce goods (meat, meat and fish products) out of the city, the leadership of some cities began to propose introducing meat coupons. In the late 1970s to the first half of the 1980s, in connection with the 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, animal butter).
The coupon system began to be introduced on a large scale in 1989 and became most widespread in 1990–1991, when the overall shortage reached its peak; products began to disappear not only meat products but also everyday goods that previously had not been in short supply: sugar, groats, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded out from the beginning of 1992 due to price liberalization, which caused hyperinflation (in 1992 alone, prices increased 26-fold) and the spread of free trade. For some goods in certain regions, coupons persisted longer.