Cooley Group Inc.: Fighting for Independent Rights

C.E. “Scoop” Cooley was a fighter. In the early 1940s, Cooley worked for a division of Moore Business Forms. In 1944 Moore decided to marry its various divisions into the company. Unhappy with this decision because of its effect on his sales and territory, Cooley decided to start his own company, Cooley Business Forms, in 1945. (Cooley Business Forms became Cooley Group Inc. May 1, 1998.)

“At that point in time there weren't many independent companies,” says Stuart Boyar, president of Cooley Group Inc., East Rochester, N.Y. “Even though he was a leader in the industry, he found an awful lot of stiff competition from Moore and from paper houses who were forced not to sell to him. He had to fight hard to become an independent guy and he worked hard to develop an independent network of distributors.”

Boyar says he's seen documentation of discrimination against Cooley and fellow independent print distributors. Routinely, Cooley would sell a product at the same price Moore did only to find Moore had undercut him by 20 percent. Additionally, major print players forced paper manufacturers not to sell to independents. Citing the Sherman Antitrust Act, Cooley continually fought his battles from local courtrooms to those in Washington D.C. Believing that there's strength in numbers, Cooley also attended the Independent Business Forms Dealers of America's first meeting in Chicago's old Bismarck Hotel. Recognizing the organization's ability to help independents succeed, Cooley served as president from 1953 to 1954.    

When talking about Cooley Group's diamond anniversary, Boyar says it's people who make things happen. “In order to maintain a company and have consistency, people need to stay with a company for a long time,” Boyar says, adding that it's not uncommon for one of Cooley Group's administrators or sales persons to retire from the company after working there for 30 to 35 years. Boyar says the company's employees are really hardworking. “This does not just mean the sales staff,” Boyar says. “Our support staff is tremendous. People have been here many years. The caliber of people has stayed the same over the years.” Boyar himself is in the middle of his 24th year.

Because of the staff's long tenure, Boyar says maintaining a family atmosphere also is important—something Cooley agreed with, too. Each year, Cooley organized a retreat for employees and their spouses. “Mr. Cooley was adamant about making sure everyone's spouse came so he could personally get to know everyone,” Boyar says. Company employees share many fond memories of drinking cocktails, playing golf, swimming and socializing at those retreats, Boyar says. In addition to celebrating each other's birthdays and anniversaries, Boyar says that company employees strive to maintain personal relationships with vendors and customers.

Cooley made sure his employees wanted to stick around. “Mr. Cooley, in my view, was an innovator in this industry,” Boyar says. Cooley made sure his employees benefited from an attractive compensation package that included a pension plan and other benefits. And although Cooley owned much of the corporation until his death, early on he started filtering shares of stock to his employees. “Upon his death, more of his shares dispersed to key people,” Boyar says. Today, Cooley Group is one of the few employee-owned print distributorships.

As Cooley fought for independent distributor rights and continued to adhere to the industry's constant changes, Cooley Group has maintained membership in NBFA (DMIA), recognizing the organization's philosophy that in unity there is strength—and longevity.

  —Kara Gebhart Uhl