Remember what USSR had a planned economy? There was a system of distribution of pre-paid by the government (and maybe, not sure, there were a subsidized ones)

Remember what USSR had a planned economy? There was a system of distribution of pre-paid by the government (and maybe, not sure, there were a subsidized ones) and by big factories, ministries, which often had their own resorts/sanatoriums, vouchers[0] to rest/vacate/heal there. Add: Sometimes they were a part of incentive and motivation for fulfilling a quota or finishing a project, sometimes as means to penalize someone ("You've been seen in the state unacceptable for a Soviet man, so you are out from the list for putyovka this year!") and of course as means to gamble or obtain something, trading it for things or services. [0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D1%91%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B0 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D1%91%D0%B...