Rationing (coupon) system — a system for supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, to purchase a good one had not only to pay money for it, but also to present a one-time coupon granting the right to buy it. Ration cards (coupons) established certain per-person monthly consumption norms for goods.
The essence of the coupon system was that to buy 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 one’s place of registration at the housing office. At the workplace (usually via the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for some food and industrial goods received through in-kind exchange between enterprises.
The reason the coupon system emerged was the shortage of certain widely used consumer 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, 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 also issued 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; 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. The extent to which coupons were backed by specific products 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 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, as a result of which exporting enterprises and cooperatives accumulated large amounts of money not backed by a corresponding mass of goods. 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 for many food products and some other goods (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.) were introduced everywhere.
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 out of the city (meat, meat and fish products), the leadership of some cities began to propose introducing meat coupons. In the late 1970s and 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 total shortage reached its peak; moreover, goods began to disappear not only meat products but also everyday items that previously had not been in short supply: sugar, groats, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded away starting in early 1992 due to price liberalization, which triggered hyperinflation (in 1992 alone prices rose 26-fold) and the spread of free trade. In some regions, coupons for certain goods remained in use longer.
Coupon (card) 1 Kopeck. Cereal. October - December 1992.
Kostroma.
