Ration coupon system — a system of supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, to buy a product one had not only to pay money for it, but also to present a one-time coupon granting the right to purchase it. Cards (coupons) set specific monthly consumption norms per person.
The essence of the coupon system was that to purchase a scarce item it was necessary not only to pay money, but also to hand over a special coupon authorizing the purchase of that item.
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 some food products and manufactured goods received via barter between enterprises.
The reason for the emergence of the coupon system was the shortage of certain mass-demand 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—for example, 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; for example, 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. 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, in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1983 coupons were redeemed as 67% sausage, 23% poultry meat, and 10% beef and pork (mainly for war invalids and diabetics). In 1985 the supply situation for meat products 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, eliminated the foreign-trade monopoly, as a result of which exporting enterprises and cooperatives accumulated large amounts of money not backed by available goods. This led to an increased shortage of some goods and a certain expansion of the coupon system, and as the shortage 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 certain cities began to propose introducing coupons for meat. In the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, amid 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 total shortage reached its peak; goods began to disappear both meat products and ordinary items that previously had not been in shortage: sugar, grains, 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 remained in use longer.