Rationing system — a system of supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, in order to purchase goods it was necessary not only to pay money for them, but also to present a single-use coupon granting the right to buy the item. Ration cards (coupons) set specific per-person monthly consumption limits.
The essence of the coupon system was that to buy a scarce item one had 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 residence registration from the housing office. At the workplace (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for certain foods and manufactured goods received via barter between enterprises.
The reason for the emergence of the coupon system was a shortage of certain widely used goods.
The goal of introducing coupons was to provide the population with a minimally guaranteed set of goods. Demand was expected to fall, since without a coupon the relevant goods were in practice 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 had been issued for them (for example, salt).
Without a coupon, goods could be purchased at markets and from speculators.
The assumed consumption norm could differ depending on the status of the 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. 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 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 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, 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 outsiders 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, as food shortages intensified, attempts were made in some cities and regions of the country (Perm, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Vologda, Zheleznogorsk, and others) 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 peaked; products began to disappear not only meat items but also ordinary goods that previously had not been scarce: sugar, grains, 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.