What was the supply and marketing cooperative like in the 1980s?

For a person who was not born in the 1970s, he just came to the end of the supply and marketing cooperative, which is the product of China's planned economy in China, and still vaguely remembers many scenes at that time.

What impressed me most was the grain and oil supply and marketing cooperatives at that time. Since there were no supermarkets and private grain stores to buy grain at that time, all grain sales had to be carried out through state-owned grain supply and marketing cooperatives, which is what we usually call state-owned grain stores. According to the size of the city, there are dozens to hundreds of state-owned grain stores in a city. The employees who work in it are also employees of state-owned enterprises. Of course, all the employees in the city at that time were employees of state-owned enterprises, because there were no private enterprises at that time.

In addition, because food can't be bought and sold freely, everyone has to rely on food stamps and food books besides going to supply and marketing stores. Both are equally indispensable. The grain book of every household in the city records the total population, occupation and age of the family. For example, the number of primary school students varies with age. I remember that a fifth-grade pupil can have 30 kilograms of rice and 40 kilograms of corn a month, while adults can only get 35 kilograms and 50 kilograms. According to your occupation, the state allocates according to your needs.

At that time, there were relatively few varieties of grain in the grain store of supply and marketing cooperatives, mainly rice, white flour, soybeans and corn in the north, and some sorghum rice, mainly these five kinds. At that time, millet was short of food, and a family was only a few kilograms a month. How much you can buy depends on the number in the cereal book every month. It is impossible to buy more. Of course, at that time, you had to pay food stamps to buy food. There are two kinds of food stamps. National and local types. Food stamps should be used with food books and money to buy food.

Besides the grain supply and marketing cooperatives, the second place we often visit is our local supply and marketing department store. It's called a department store. In fact, it can't compare with our large supermarkets. It mainly sells cloth, clothes and some daily necessities. For example, if you buy cloth, you must buy it with a cloth ticket. At that time, the state stipulated how many feet of cloth a person could buy a year, and you couldn't buy anything more than food. There are fewer kinds and colors of fabrics. At that time, people mainly bought cloth to cut their own clothes. Many adults have this craft, although there is no style, but everyone is basically like this. There are few finished clothes in supply and marketing cooperatives, and only some fashionable young people buy them.

I remember very clearly that at that time, many clothes at home were worn by my brother, and then my brother wore them. Many clothes can be worn for more than ten generations. There are many large and small patches on the clothes. Fortunately, because almost every household did this at that time, no one would laugh at anyone.

At that time, the most willing to go was the supply and marketing grocery store. There are all kinds of cigarettes, wine, sugar, tea and snacks in it. Of course, compared with what I said now, there are still few varieties, but it was infinitely attractive to our seven-or eight-year-old children at that time. Similarly, food here should also be bought with food stamps. It was not until the late 1980s that the purchase restrictions of some commodities were lifted, but the prices were relatively expensive. The average family only buys it once or twice a month, mainly to satisfy the children's desire.

Think about the shortage of materials and so many things planned at that time. Sometimes the supply and marketing cooperatives have a hard time. For example, during the Chinese New Year in the north, the most important entertainment for every household is playing poker. However, because the production of poker is really limited, the demand exceeds the supply, and many supply and marketing cooperatives can't get enough goods. So we have to rely on various relationships to get this little thing. I have a relative who was the production dispatcher of the local printing factory at that time, and he had certain allocation rights, so he had to hide at the end of the year, because there were too many people who came to him to approve poker, and he was restless all day.

In 1970s and 1980s, supply and marketing cooperatives were the product of planned economy, and they were state-owned collective organizations established by the state to regulate the relationship between supply and demand. The main reason is the lack of materials and the need to meet the basic needs of the people. The state has formulated a set of principles of rationing according to needs. All goods can't be bought and sold freely. However, after the market economy was opened nationwide in the 1990s, private factories and enterprises developed greatly, and the supply of materials became more adequate. There is no shortage of goods in the market, and the supply and marketing cooperatives in all cities have lost the existence value of planning adjustment and meeting basic living needs, and gradually withdrew from the historical stage.