MID-COUNTY
M essenger
Fall 2010 • Vol. 18
Our
75th
Anniversary
Issue
www.midcountycoop.com
75 t h
A leap of faith in 1935
1935 - 2010
ANNIVERSARY
Serving You With Honesty, Integrity & Value since 1935
Early Fuel Delivery Truck
Someone was telling me about a new Coop
startup in the west metro. It happens to be
a cooperative to market locally grown pro-
duce. It was interesting to hear how excited
Bill Reimers
General Manager
the people were about this new venture. It
(952) 466-3721
makes me wonder about our local farmers
[email protected]
in 1935, who wanted to start their own en-
ergy coop. What a leap of faith it must have
been to take their precious dollars in the Depression era, to start a new
coop. It was obviously something they really believed in.
So here we are celebrating 75 years of Mid-County Coop. I continually
ask myself - has our purpose changed? And do we still believe in the
cooperative philosophy? Some may think of only the local fertilizer
dealer or a creamery as a coop. But I am sure you have heard names
like Health Partners, Ocean Spray, Ace Hardware, and Land O’Lakes.
These cooperatives are made of people like you and I, banding togeth-
er to either purchase or sell our products as a larger group.
Our purpose is to show an adequate return to the people who own us.
When we look at returns, we naturally view that as a fi nancial return
on investment. Sometimes the local cooperative is the only business
in the local community with the fi nancial strength to off er a certain
product or service. A good example of this is the Agronomy business-
the immense amount of capital it takes to fi nance not only the facili-
ties and equipment, but the cost of inventory as well. It has become
an endeavor that very few private individuals are willing to risk their
money on. Or in the case of convenience stores in small or rural towns,
very few individuals are willing or able to build and operate a store
that may take several years to get to the point of profi tability.
First Service Station
There are several other side benefi ts to having your own coop. In our
case, we happen to be one of the largest employers and taxpayers in
the local community. And our employees are serving the community
through several diff erent organizations.
Front - Henry Leikam Jr.,
Joan Salden, Joe Salden
Back - Gale Anderson, Ant
on Aretz, Roman Pieper
Original Bulk Storage Fac
ility
So when you hear the slogan “October is Coop Month”, think about
Mid-County Coop – and its 75th anniversary, the Coop you own!
As always, I appreciate your comments and suggestions to make your
coop better.
For customer service
at Mid-County please
contact Dick,
Angela or Julie at
(952) 466-3720
Dick Pauly
Controller
Angela
Jacques
Julie
Clemensen
(952) 466-3700 • 888-466-3700 • 700 West Lake Street, P.O. Box 177, Cologne