
Do Michigan Meijer Stores Make Money from Rides on Sandy the Pony?
Perhaps one of the most enduring memories of shopping at Meijer as a child is a ride on Sandy. The small mechanical pony is a penny-per-ride and it's almost always entertaining a child who is shopping with an adult.
So why does Meijer provide Sandy in their stores and does the grocery chain make any money from Sandy?
The story of Sandy at Meijer locations goes back to an early store in Grand Rapids that installed a mechanical horse ride for children. It was priced at 10 cents, but was quickly dropped to a penny with the thought being it's affordable to anyone but also teaches children a lesson of paying, even nominally, for the things if life you want.
The penny price for Sandy has never changed. So does Meijer make any money on Sandy? Here's a hypothetical: Say the prime hours for children to be shopping with a parent are between 10am and 6pm. Over those 8 hours, say 10 children ride Sandy each hour - or a little over a ride every 10 minutes. That would be 80 cents a day or $5.60 a week.
READ MORE: There's a Store that Sells Nothing But Michigan Products in the Heart of the Arizona Desert
That's probably less than the electricity cost to operate Sandy. There is also the manpower cost for any cleaning or maintenance to Sandy. Eventually Sandys will wear out and need to be sent to pasture and a new Sandy be acquired.
It's safe to say, Sandy is a push at best and perhaps an operational lost to Meijer.
Then there's the question of who is supplying the penny. Some, but not all adults, will fish into a pocket or purse for a penny. Some take advantage of the longstanding 'leave a penny for Sandy' tradition and take the free ride.
I have a theory that more and more parents will use the community pennies for Sandy. Are enough young adults carrying pocket change and have a penny to give. Not that they don't have the money to spare, rather they don't have any physical coins in their possession.
So who then is feeding the 'leave a penny for Sandy' kitty? It could be kind-hearted patrons. Meijer staffers report that customer service team members will take some pennies from the till to replenish the stash. Yet another theory is that staff will open the collection box when kids deposit the pennies and return those pennies to the kitty.
However those pennies arrive, it's almost certain Meijer is not making much bank on the beloved Sandy rides.