Daily Bulletins

Daily communication bulletins to branch managers and staff containing instructions on the day to day running of branches. The bulletins came from Sainsbury's head office (the 'Branch Administration' department by the 1980s).

The Daily Bulletins were supplemented by the Special Bulletins (see SA/BRA/3/1/2/2) which covered one topic generally in more detail than the matters discussed in the daily bulletin and could be issued on any date - sometimes more than one special bulletin could be issued on a particular day. By the 1980s there were also Christmas Bulletins and in some years other bulletins covering bank holidays (see SA/BRA/3/1/2/3).

The Daily Bulletins and Special Bulletins appear to have been first introduced in 1939 (see SA/BRA/3/1/2/46/4) replacing the 'Branch Letters' (see SA/BRA/3/1/2/46/1 and 3) which provided the same function of keeping branches up-to-date. However only the issues from 1983 have been deposited in the archive with the exception of two files of extracts of Daily Bulletins from 1939 to 1945 (see SA/BRA/3/1/2/46/4-5) and a few odd issues after that date. There are also some gaps after 1983 (including August to December 1985).

The bulletins were later split into different types with one for the management team as a whole and others for specific departments so they could be distributed to the appropriate managers. It appears this began in 1986 (however only the management team Daily Bulletins exist in the archive for that year). Despite the title these bulletins were not necessarily sent every day if there was no update for that department on that day - some departments had less frequent bulletins including instore bakery. It also appears there were no bulletins sent on Sundays and Mondays. From January 1989, the bulletins were addressed to either the management team as a whole or the three new branch deputy managers (Dry Goods, Fresh Foods and Services) and they were expected to ensure that the departmental managers actioned the points relevant to their department (see Special Bulletin Management Team 427/88). The Deputy Manager - Fresh Foods though received bulletins for each of their four departments until 11th July 1990 when these were combined into a single bulletin.

The title of the Daily Bulletins was slightly altered to 'Daily Communication Bulletin' from 15th October 1990.

A variety of documents were often sent to stores with the Daily Bulletin. The Daily Bulletin for the management team would generally include a list of the other items which were sent. Some of these can be found elsewhere in the archive collection.

These enclosed documents could include items such as:
any Special Bulletins issued that day (see SA/BRA/3/1/2/2)
Weather reports (later incorporated in the management team Daily Bulletin)
Branch Operations Division Area Structure (see SA/BRA/2/3/12)
Alteration in price documents
Weekly Promotional Advice Update

The numbering of the Daily Bulletins was combined with that of the Special Bulletins either in the form [number]/[two digit year] (e.g. 101/85 would be the 101st daily or special bulletin in 1985) or previously as [two digit year]/[number] (e.g 59/183 for the 183rd bulletin in 1959). Where the bulletins were divided into types (eg Produce, Meat, or Management Team) each type has its own numbering sequence.

The Daily Communication Bulletins were replaced by the new 'Action Today' bulletins in June 1994 which provided a similar daily update while the 'Spotlight On' covered topics in more detail like the Special Bulletins and there were also 'Weekly News' posters.