This article examines the main measures taken by local authorities in the Astrakhan region to address the problems of free trade in the territory of the Astrakhan region based on periodical press materials. This allows us to identify both general patterns and local features of the ongoing action to cancel cards in the context of national policy. The paper reflects the main problems caused by the transition from the card system to free trade in the Astrakhan region in the post-war period and ways to address them. The author comes to the conclusion that as a result of the economic reform of 1947 in the territory of the Astrakhan region, with a decrease in prices, there was a shortage of food products. At the local level, these problems were difficult to solve, as the state-funded centralized funds of industrial and food products were limited, while in the Astrakhan region the share of goods marketed by local industry and industrial cooperation was very low. Under these conditions, local government bodies and trade unions have set themselves the task of increasing trade turnover and improving the work of trade organizations.
