Ration card system — a system of supplying the population with consumer goods under conditions of shortage. Under this system, in order 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 monthly per-person consumption norms for goods. The system is a way of supplying the population with goods in conditions of shortage, one of the methods of rationing.
The essence of the coupon system was that, to buy a scarce item, 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 housing office. At the workplace (usually through the trade-union committee), distribution was organized for certain 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 widely used consumer 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 relevant goods were in practice not sold in the state retail trade 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 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 cities, 150 grams; for most localities, 100 grams. Redemption of coupons for a specific type of product could vary; for example, with a guaranteed norm of 2 kilograms of meat products per person per month, in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1983 coupons were redeemed as 67% sausages, 23% poultry meat, and 10% beef and pork (mainly for war invalids and diabetics). In 1985 the situation with the supply of 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 commodity supply. This led to an increased shortage of certain goods and some expansion of the coupon system; and as shortages grew in 1989–1990, coupons for many food products 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.).
Since large and “closed” cities of the USSR were supplied with food better than the provinces, in attempts to stop out-of-town residents from taking scarce goods (meat, meat and fish products) away, the leadership of certain cities began to propose introducing coupons for meat. 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, and not only meat products but also ordinary goods that previously had not been scarce began to disappear: sugar, cereals, vegetable oil, and others.
The coupon system faded away starting in early 1992 due to price liberalization, which caused 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 use longer.