The other day I finished watching this documentary and I was blown away.
How could a company this chaotic survive?
This story was so fascinating that I decided to travel to Scranton to understand what happened
but nobody around town seemed to know about this company.
- I am looking for the Dunder Mifflin HQ?
So, we decided to do our own research and found the missing footage. We found the story of Dunder Mifflin.
These cameras picked up American company culture at its finest, but they were there for a much
darker reason.
And no, it’s not murder even if there was a killer on the loose.
So, let's dive into the fantastic story of Dunder Mifflin in this episode of Forensics.
When a film crew entered the Scranton Branch of Dunder and Mifflin, it planned to remain
there for a few days.
The excuse was to capture corporate life in a small office, but they remained there for
nine years.
This guy was a big reason why.
Describing Michael Scott is a challenge.
I can think of eccentric.
But, even that word comes up short.
The Scranton native had a tough childhood that he has openly referred to as lonely.
He struggled at school and had more than one lonely birthday party.
Unfortunately, it didn't get easier once he graduated from high school.
He planned to go to college but lost all his tuition money in a pyramid scheme.
That's how, in the early 90s, he landed a job at Dunder Mifflin and
he made a name for himself in this company.
He became somewhat of a local celebrity.
Michael Scott made strides at Dunder Mifflin.
This company is an institution in the paper industry.
In 1949, Robert Dunder and Robert Mifflin founded the company.
Initially, it sold brackets but moved to paper, as it was a booming business.
The company would dominate the Northeast.
It opened branches in Buffalo, Rochester, Utica, Stamford, Albany, Camden, Nashua, and
Scranton.
Even in the face of competition, the company thrived.
And, it's safe to say that both Michael Scott and Dunder Mifflin evolved side by side.
After all, he was more than just a salesman.
He was the epitome of company culture, for better and worse.
His methods pushed the boundaries of right and wrong.
So, HR personnel hated working with him.
And he hated working with them.
By the way, HR is a whole topic here.
But, bear with us, this company has a complicated history.
But, back to Scott.
He was good at selling paper.
That's how he reached the regional manager position.
The bad thing was that he wasn't the best at social skills.
Perhaps, that's why the film crew loved him.
Well, no, that's not why, but it helped.
The documentary crew arrived in 2005 to "learn about American corporate culture" in a small company.
It was all a lie, and the staff would end up a victim of a social behavior experiment.
But, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
When those cameras entered the premises, they showed that, from the start, times were tense.
The cameras also showed us other staff members, who would become mainstays in the documentary.
But, though the company was facing tough times, there the company had an ace up its sleeve.
Meanwhile, Michael Scott tried to be likable as a boss.
The problem was that he would mess up big time with every good thing he did.
So, every time he screwed up, upper management had to run to fix things.
After Michael Scott outed Oscar Martinez, upper managers acted fast.
Jan Levinson bribed Oscar with a car and paid vacations to avoid a lawsuit.
That's how Dunder Mifflin ran things.
And it was a recipe for disaster.
Dunder Mifflin found itself trying to contain the losses.
So, it closed down several branches and joined teams.
Among these was Andy Bernard, who started out as a salesman, but would eventually climb
up the ranks in the company.
This only added to the tension, and even veteran staff left.
Salesman Dwight Schrute, one of the best, left for Staples.
He would've remained there if it hadn't been for Michael Scott and his desperate act of
convincing him.
That was probably the root of Dunder Mifflin's problem.
The company was so complex and so bureaucratic that it made itself inefficient.
Plus, it allowed this to happen and not have anyone take legal action.
Still, it was not all bad.
Dunder Mifflin had, in its hands, the tool that could've revolutionized the industry.
In 2008, under the leadership of Ryan Howard, the company launched Dunder Mifflin Infinity.
Dunder Mifflin Infinity would streamline any sales platform and become the B2B that we
know today.
Not only that, it would have a social network that would allow customers to connect and
expand their business opportunities.
Think of eBay to the power of ten.
They even had a virtual event.
Talk about being ahead of the times.
With this, Dunder Mifflin would destroy the big chains.
So, this was the future.
But then again, it's Dunder Mifflin.
Nobody was using the Infinity platform
So the company try and declared all conventional sales through this the online channel, which doubled the sales metrics.
This should not come as a surprise.
After all, it’s Dunder Mifflin.
But even the most chaotic of companies should be able to manage HR.
It seemed like this company just couldn’t.
HR at Dunder Mifflin was chaos.
There were pranks, fights, and affairs.
We couldn't even list all the affairs and hookups: it would be endless.
And, yes, working with Michael Scott wouldn't be easy, but then again, the HR guy wasn't
that normal.
Honestly, he's a bit creepy.
Once, there was a fire drill.
And, sure, these are valuable.
in any company, but when people don't pay attention to your slides because they're not built on Slidebean
Then this stuff happens.
This little incident caused a heart attack.
But Michael Scott let it go.
So, it's safe to say that Michael Scott had a lot of leeways, but things would change
when new boss Charles Mirner came in.
It was oil and water from the start.
Mirner was almost a dictator, and this didn't work with Michael Scott.
So, the weird, clownish manager reached a boiling point and left the company.
He created his own company: the Michael Scott Paper company.
But, it ran from the same building and even tried to steal clients.
The company made some sales but soon ran into financial problems.
So, the corporate heads at Dunder Mifflin decided to buy it out to prevent any further
chaos.
Michael Scott negotiated jobs and benefits for Ryan and Pam.
So, brilliant acquisition move on his side.
But, the times ahead were tough.
Let's face it: paper is finite.
So, Dunder Mifflin faced competition from Staples and a dwindling market.
The Camden, Yonkers, and Buffalo branches all closed down.
Then, rumors started circulating that Dunder Mifflin was running out of cash.
By late 2009, printing giant Sabre purchased Dunder Mifflin.
CEO Jo Bennet fired upper management and demoted Michael Scott to a sales job next to Jim Halpert.
So, he was back to square one.
He was frustrated and it showed.
This landed him in counseling sessions with none other than Toby.
But wasn't only Michael Scott.
Dunder Mifflin was in complete chaos.
So much so, that by 2011, Michael Scott had had enough, and that's saying a lot.
After starting an office relationship with Holly Flax, they married, and he left.
Plus, Sabre wasn't doing a good job.
After Scott's departure, a flurry of eccentric managers and CEOs took over.
With leadership like this, it's no wonder that Sabre was also in trouble.
Bennet had to sell the company, and this meant a massive shakeup.
But, there was one move that, for a short while made sense.
If you remember the first part of the video, we mentioned Andy Bernard.
Under the guidance of Robert California, he ended up as the regional manager, and the
the company actually got things done.
Andy Bernard’s stay in Dunder Mifflin would end later, as he pursued a career in entertainment.
This led to a big name earning a big role.
Dwight Schrute became the regional manager
It seemed then that the company was changing course.
And, by 2013, the camera crew understood that it was time to end the documentary.
Enough was enough when it came to corporate life.
But our research revealed the harsh truth behind their presence.
It wasn't because of one crazy regional manager, a weird salesman, or an adorable office couple.
The reason would remain a secret within the walls of Dunder Mifflin for almost a decade.
It all happened in 2004, months before the crews came in, and it’s all about Tom Peets.
The film crew wanted to document how the company had managed to handle this, and it seems his
death is almost forgotten.
Then, after all this story even Dunder Mifflin would perish, as the giant Staples bought it.
Though the name still lives, it's nothing but a shell of what
this company used to be.
- Guys what a cool story! I can't believe we never heard it before
I think there's so much can learn from these guys, like the way they handle culture, the way they handle diversity
I think there's a lot to learn from this guy
I don't get how...
I don't get how something this big gets forgotten?
That’s what she said.