Rationing system — a system for supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, to purchase a product it was necessary not only to pay money for it, but also to present a single-use coupon entitling the holder to buy it. Ration cards (coupons) set specific monthly per-capita consumption limits for goods.
The essence of the coupon system was that to buy a scarce item one had to not only pay money, but also hand over a special coupon authorizing the purchase of that item.
Coupons for food and certain consumer goods were obtained at one’s place of registered residence through the housing maintenance office (ZhEK). At the workplace (usually via the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for some food products and manufactured goods received through in-kind exchange between enterprises.
The reason for the emergence of the coupon system was the shortage of certain mass-consumption goods.
The goal of introducing coupons was to provide the population with a minimally guaranteed set of goods. Demand was supposed to fall, because without a coupon the corresponding goods were in practice not sold in the state retail trade network. In practice, it was sometimes impossible to use coupons if the relevant goods were not available in shops. Some goods, if they were in surplus, were sold without coupons even though coupons were issued for them as well; for example, coupons were also issued for salt.
Without a coupon, goods could be bought at markets and from speculators.
The intended consumption norm could vary 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 cities it was 150 grams; for most localities it was 100 grams. Coupon coverage with a specific type of product could also vary; for example, with a guaranteed norm of 2 kilograms of meat products per person per month, coupons in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1983 were redeemed as 67% sausages, 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 hand 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 increased shortages of certain goods and some expansion of the coupon system; and as shortages grew in 1989–1990, coupons were introduced everywhere for many foodstuffs 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 leadership of some cities began proposing the introduction of meat coupons. In the late 1970s and 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 the total shortage peaked; both meat products and ordinary items that previously had not been in short supply began to disappear: sugar, cereals, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded out from the beginning of 1992 due to the “liberalization” of prices, which triggered hyperinflation (in 1992 alone, prices increased 26-fold) and the spread of free trade. For a number of goods in some regions, coupons remained in place longer.