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 single-use coupon granting the right to purchase it. Ration cards (coupons) set specific monthly per-person consumption norms for goods.
The essence of the coupon system is that to purchase 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 some consumer goods were issued at the place of registered residence by the housing office. At the workplace (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for certain food and industrial goods obtained through barter between enterprises.
The reason the coupon system emerged was the 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 supposed to decrease, since without a coupon the corresponding goods were in fact 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 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. The extent to which coupons were actually redeemed for a specific type of product could vary; for instance, with a guaranteed norm of 2 kilograms of meat products per person per month, in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1983 coupons were fulfilled 67% with sausages, 23% with poultry meat, and 10% with beef and pork (mainly for war invalids and diabetics). In 1985 the meat-supply situation worsened, and coupons were fulfilled mainly with 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 goods. This led to an increase in shortages of certain goods and to some expansion of the coupon system; as shortages grew in 1989–1990, coupons for many foodstuffs and some other goods were introduced everywhere (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.).
Because 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 (meat, meat and fish products) out of the city, the leadership of certain cities began putting forward ideas to introduce 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; products started disappearing both meat items and everyday goods that previously had not been in short supply: sugar, grains, 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 rose 26-fold) and the spread of free trade. For a number of goods in some regions, coupons remained in use longer.
Coupon (card) 1 Kopeck. Margarine products. I quarter 1991.
Kostroma.
