Dunder Mifflin Paper Company

Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. (Stock Symbol DMI) is a fictional paper company in the television series The Office. The Scranton, Pennsylvania Branch of Dunder Mifflin serves as the main setting for the series.

The company was founded by Robert Dunder and Robert Mifflin in 1949, where they supplied metal brackets. Eventually, the company started selling paper and opened several branches across the Northeastern United States.

In 2009, the company went bankrupt, and was bought by printer company Sabre. In 2012, Sabre was dissolved and the company became Dunder Mifflin once again.

As of "Finale", the CEO is David Wallace.

About Dunder Mifflin Paper Company
As stated by the founder Robert Dunder in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", the company was founded in 1949, and it was a supplier of metal brackets for construction.

According to the former Dunder Mifflin official website: "Dunder Mifflin Inc. (stock symbol DMI) is a mid-cap regional paper and office supply distributor with an emphasis on servicing small-business clients. With a corporate office in New York City, Dunder Mifflin has branches in Akron, Ohio; Nashua, New Hampshire; Rochester, New York; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Syracuse, New York; and Utica, New York

For years, Dunder Mifflin was a paper company that was unable to compete with modern chains such as Staples and Office Depot. The company still used calls rather than the Internet, causing most customers to leave for the nation-wide chains, and is unable to adapt to an increasingly paperless world. Ryan Howard, a new employee of the Scranton branch, predicts the company will be obsolete by 2017. In 2007, Ryan Howard became Vice President of Sales and begins a massive restructuring of the entire company, including a new website that would help make sales more efficient. However, his website was a failure (due to an ill-advised social networking feature) and he is later arrested for fraud when it is discovered that he is double-counting sales transactions into the website that were already made by salesmen over the phone.

Competitors

 * Staples ("Branch Closing", "The Return")
 * Office Depot ("Take Your Daughter to Work Day", "Casino Night"*, "Dunder Mifflin Infinity")
 * PPC ("Job Fair")
 * Pendelton ("Job Fair")
 * Catalyst Paper ("Business Trip")
 * Prince Paper ("Prince Family Paper")
 * The Michael Scott Paper Company ("Michael Scott Paper Company")
 * Big Red Paper Company ("Turf War")
 * Osprey Paper ("The Sting")

Dunder Mifflin in The Office
The American version of the television series The Office is filmed as a mockumentary set in the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin. From the beginning of the series, we are given a picture as to the structure of each regional branch of Dunder Mifflin. The office is located in the Scranton Business Park, occupying the same building as Vance Refrigeration. Sales, Accounting, Human Resources, and Customer Service all occupy the same office space, and Warehousing and shipping space is apparently located in a different part of the same building. Managerial Structure is set up with a Regional Manager in charge of all operations within the same building, with an Assistant Manager directly below him (although this does not seem to be the case in all branches). A warehouse manager runs all shipping and warehousing operations in a warehouse.

Former branches of Dunder Mifflin North
In "Boys and Girls", Jan refers to a former branch located in Pittsfield which was closed down when workers tried to unionize.

In "The Merger", the Stamford branch is absorbed by the Scranton branch.

In "Weight Loss", the weight loss board lists the branches as Scranton, Yonkers, New York, Utica, Camden, Nashua, Buffalo, and Albany.

In "Company Picnic", Holly mentions that the Camden and Yonkers branches had recently closed due to the economy, and she and Michael accidentally reveal that the Buffalo branch will suffer the same fate.

In "Turf War", the Binghamton branch is shut down by a drunken, despondent Robert California. The Scranton and Syracuse salespeople then fight over Binghamton's clients. (This is the first mention of either the Binghamton or Syracuse branches.)

Mission statement
Dunder Mifflin's mission statement is posted on the door to the kitchen closet (which later became Ryan's office):

Recurring jokes
Dunder Mifflin is not a well-known company.
 * In the episode "The Return", Dwight tells his co-worker Paris that he worked at Dunder Mifflin, one of Staples' top competitors. "I never heard of 'em," she replies.
 * In the episode "Money", Michael tells his boss at the telemarketing company that he is the Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin. "Never heard of it," he responds.
 * In the episode "Local Ad", Jim tells the camera crew that his friends believe Dunder Mifflin sells "mufflers or mittens" (which sound more interesting than paper).

Dunder Mifflin is behind the major competitors.
 * In the episode "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", Jim reveals that until the DMI website, the Dunder Mifflin website was "under construction" since 2002 (the episode takes place in 2007).
 * In a number of episodes, Michael and other staff acknowledge that Dunder Mifflin is not competitive on price, but say it offers unrivalled personal service. This is usually (but not always) met with an underwhelmed expression from a potential client - apparently unexcited by the idea of paying more to have a personal relationship with their paper supplier.

Behind the scenes
The Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company's tower is the first image in the title sequence. It is near the northeast end of Mifflin Avenue. To coincide with the Season 3 premiere, an Office edition of Scranton's entertainment paper contained an interview with the real paper company's president, who said "[Dunder Mifflin is] more of a printing-paper company while we're a personal-service paper company &mdash; paper towels, packaging, toilet tissue. ... We have very little resemblance to the Dunder Mifflin paper company."