Ration card system — a system for supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, to purchase a product one had not only to pay money for it, but also to present a single-use coupon granting the right to buy it. Cards (coupons) set specific per-person monthly consumption limits for goods.
The essence of the coupon system is that to buy a scarce product it is 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 obtained at the place of registration from the housing office. At the workplace (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was arranged for some food and industrial goods obtained via in-kind exchange between enterprises.
The reason for the emergence of the coupon system was a shortage of certain mass-consumption goods.
The purpose 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 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 a 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 cities, 150 grams; for most localities, 100 grams. The extent to which coupons could be redeemed 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 for 67% sausage, 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 mainly 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 a corresponding supply of goods. This led to an increase in shortages of certain goods and a certain expansion of the coupon system, and as shortages grew in 1989–1990, coupons were introduced everywhere for many food products and some other goods (tobacco products, vodka, sausage, soap, tea, grains, salt, sugar; 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 to propose introducing coupons for meat. 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 reached its peak, and not only meat products but also everyday goods that previously had not been scarce began to disappear: sugar, grains, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded away starting in early 1992 in connection with price liberalization, which caused hyperinflation (in 1992 alone prices increased 26-fold) and the spread of free trade. For some goods in certain regions, coupons remained in use longer.