Is a sump pump stand necessary?
I stopped at several home improvement stores today to ask about sump pump stands to several different opinions from those who sell sump pumps directly:

Gary at Home Depot:
More interested in his phone than talking to me.  His recommendation was not to worry about it.  "Why is there sediment in your sump basin?  It should just be water in your sump basin."

Dave at Menards:
He pointed out that the sump pumps with intakes on the bottom are designed to "pass any solids that will fit into the intake".  He pointed to two separate models with different size holes near the intake and explained that it acts as a filter to keep any larger sediment out of the pump.

Lesley at Lowes:
She suggested not to buy one of the stands, but instead to just place the pump on a brick.  The brick will serve the same purpose by raising the pump up a couple of inches.

None of the stores sold a stand of any kind.  The three people that I talked to had neither heard of nor seen a sump pump stand like the one that is linked to above.