Rationing (coupon) system — a system for supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, to purchase a product one had to not only pay money, but also present a single-use coupon granting the right to buy it. Ration cards (coupons) set specific monthly consumption norms per person.
The essence of the coupon system was that in order to buy a scarce good, 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 registered residence from the local housing office. At workplaces (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for certain foods and manufactured goods obtained through in-kind exchanges between enterprises.
The reason for the emergence of the coupon system was a shortage of certain widely used goods.
The purpose 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 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 as well—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 settlement; 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, 150 grams; for most settlements, 100 grams. The ability to redeem coupons for 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 the coupons were redeemed 67% with sausage, 23% with poultry, and 10% with beef and pork (mainly for war invalids and diabetics). In 1985 the situation with meat-product 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 goods. This led to increased shortages of certain goods and some expansion of the coupon system, and as shortages grew in 1989–1990, coupons were introduced almost everywhere for many food products and some other goods (tobacco products, vodka, sausage, soap, tea, cereals, 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 authorities of some cities began to put forward ideas of introducing meat coupons. In the late 1970s to 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 total shortages reached their peak, and not only meat products but also ordinary goods that previously had not been in short supply began to disappear: sugar, cereals, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded away from the beginning of 1992 due to price liberalization, which triggered hyperinflation (in 1992 alone prices increased 26-fold) and the spread of free trade. For some goods, coupons remained in certain regions for longer.