Rationing (coupon) 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 single-use coupon entitling the holder to buy it. Ration cards (coupons) set specific monthly per‑person 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 certain consumer goods were obtained at the place of residence registration from the housing office (ZhEK). At workplaces (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for some foodstuffs and manufactured goods received via barter between enterprises.
The reason for the emergence of the coupon system was a shortage of certain mass-consumption goods.
The purpose 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 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 as well—for example, for salt.
Without a coupon, goods could be purchased at markets and from speculators.
The presumed 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 towns it was 150 grams; for most localities it was 100 grams. The actual fulfillment of coupons with a specific type of product could vary; for example, with a guaranteed norm of 2 kilograms of meat products per person per month, in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1983 the coupons were redeemed as 67% sausages, 23% poultry meat, and 10% beef and pork (mainly for war invalids and diabetics). In 1985 the supply situation worsened, and coupons were redeemed mostly for boiled sausages, pork, and lean mutton.
Perestroika, on the one hand, partially отменed mandatory state deliveries, and on the other hand abolished the foreign-trade monopoly, as a result of which exporting enterprises and cooperatives accumulated large amounts of money not backed by товар supplies. This led to increased shortages of certain goods and some expansion of the coupon system, and as the shortage spread in 1989–1990, coupons for many food products and some other goods were introduced everywhere (tobacco products, vodka, sausage, soap, tea, groats, salt, sugar, and in some cases, in remote areas, bread, milk, mayonnaise, laundry detergent, women’s underwear, etc.).
Since the large and “closed” cities of the USSR were supplied with food better than the provinces, in attempts to stop outsiders from taking scarce goods out of the cities (meat, meat and fish products), the leadership of certain cities began putting forward ideas to introduce coupons for meat. In the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, as the food shortage grew, 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 total shortage reached its peak, and not only meat products but also ordinary goods that previously had not been in short supply began to disappear: sugar, groats, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded out from the beginning of 1992 due to price liberalization, which triggered 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.
Coupon (card) 1 Kopeck. Butter. March 1992.
Kostroma.
