Originally, the company was completely fictitious, but eventually, the brand was used to sell products at Staples and other office supply outlets.

U.S. News & World Report likens it to many actual companies in its size range: "It is facing an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Like many smaller players, it just can't compete with the low prices charged by big-box rivals like Staples, OfficeMax and Office Depot, and it seems to be constantly bleeding corporate customers that are focused on cutting costs themselves.

Zbornak says that the city was on the shortlist for where to base the show, with some of its writers having ties to Central New York, and that they always intended for at least a branch office to be located there, for reasons of phonetics.

Like Dunder Mifflin, its original product line (rubber stamps) was something other than paper, and it faced stiff competition from national and international chains.

In 2009, it had an accounting scandal that resulted in a $545,000 payment to corporate customers, much as Dunder Mifflin had to deal with the arrest of Ryan Howard for fraud the year before.

[15] The company's "clearly dysfunctional" top-down management style is a major source of tension on the show, notes Chicago-based writer Ramsin Canon.

[18] The show's depiction of a dysfunctional corporate culture has led some commentators to liken Dunder Mifflin to the software maker Initech in Mike Judge's cult comedy Office Space[19] and the nameless company in which the Dilbert comic strip is set.

Employment lawyer Julie Elgar started a blog analyzing each episode for plot developments likely to be actionable if they occurred in real life and estimating the legal bill and possible verdict the company would incur should a suit be filed—as Michael's former supervisor, Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) did in one episode, alleging wrongful termination.

For episodes in season two and beyond, scenes set in the parking lot used the exterior of the production company's office building.

[24] Some viewers have presumed that the Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company's tower, a downtown Scranton landmark that appears in video footage shot by cast member John Krasinski for the show's opening credits,[25] is the Dunder Mifflin office.

While the Scranton branch's address, 1725 Slough Avenue, does not exist (the street name was invented as a tribute to the original British version of the show, set in Slough, near London), the company logo can be seen two places in the city's downtown section outside the mall: on one of the pedestrian overpasses along Lackawanna Avenue, and a lamppost banner in front of City Hall.

In November 2011, Staples Inc. announced that they would be selling their product of manufactured paper under the "Dunder Mifflin" name, under license from NBC's parent company, Comcast.