Rationing (coupon) system — a system for supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, to buy an item it was necessary not only to pay money for it, but also to present a single-use coupon granting the right to purchase it. Ration cards (coupons) set specific monthly consumption norms per person.
The essence of the coupon system was that to buy a scarce item one had to not only pay money, but also hand over a special coupon authorizing the purchase of that item.
Coupons for food and some consumer goods were obtained at one’s place of residence registration through the housing maintenance office. At the workplace (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for some food and industrial goods obtained via in-kind exchange between enterprises.
The reason the coupon system emerged was the shortage of certain mass-consumption goods.
The goal of introducing coupons was to provide the population with a minimally guaranteed set of goods. Demand was supposed to decrease, since without a coupon the relevant goods were effectively not sold in the state retail network. In practice, it was sometimes impossible to use coupons if the corresponding 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, for salt.
Without a coupon, goods could be bought at markets and from speculators.
The presumed consumption norm could differ depending on the status of the locality; for example, when butter rationing was introduced in the Chelyabinsk region 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. How well coupons were backed by actual products could vary; for example, with a guaranteed norm of 2 kilograms of meat products per person per month, in the Chelyabinsk region 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 supply situation for meat products worsened, and coupons were redeemed mainly 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, which resulted in exporters and cooperatives accumulating large amounts of money not backed by товар supply. This led to an increase in shortages of certain goods and some expansion of the coupon system; and as shortages grew in 1989–1990, coupons were introduced everywhere for many food products and some other goods (tobacco products, vodka, sausage, soap, tea, grains, 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 (meat, meat and fish products) out of the city, the leadership of some cities began proposing the introduction of meat coupons. In the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, due to 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, 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 peaked; foods began to disappear not only meat products but also everyday items that previously had not been in short supply: sugar, grains, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded out from the beginning of 1992 in connection with price liberalization, which caused hyperinflation (in 1992 alone prices rose 26-fold) and the spread of free trade. For some goods in certain regions, coupons remained in use longer.