Following the contrarian rule when running your daily errands will save you time

Fidelity, a major mutual fund investment firm in the U.S.,  offers an index fund—Contrarian Fund.  This fund manages its portfolio in a contrarian way. Nominally it means this fund buys stocks at low prices when they are out of favor and sells stocks at high prices when they are hot, contrary to how crowds usually invest: buy popular stocks and sell unpopular ones. I own some shares of this fund, and it yields a slightly higher rate of return than the S&P 500 index fund. 

It seems to me this contrarian principle can be used in our daily life. it can save us time and energy, the two most precious limited commodities of our lives.  It applies to situations when the speed of getting certain things done depends on the behavior of many other individuals, especially when all others seem to converge or move in the same direction. 

One such occasion is  when to do weekly grocery shopping if you live in the US. Most households shop groceries on the way home on Fridays, or on the weekends, starting from 6 pm Friday and up to Sunday night. This is the time period when the parking lots outside grocery stores are full, and the stores are congested.  If you shop in this time period, be prepared to wait longer at red lights, spend more time to find a parking spot and park further away from a store entrance, see a larger crowd inside stores, and wait longer to checkouts.  It will easily take at least twice as long to do groceries than shopping at off-peak times such as weekdays or better yet between 11 am-3 pm weekdays. If your work schedule is somewhat flexible, avoid shopping on weekends. If not possible, go grocery shopping early in the morning as soon as shops open (normally at 10 am) on weekends.  Unless you want to test the effectiveness of your yoga or meditation practice, avoid shopping at Walmart/Target, or whichever is your favorite big-box chain store on Friday evenings or Saturday afternoons.  

Once I decided to eturn a bulky item purchased from Walmart online to a local store.  It happened to be  a Saturday and only a few days before Christmas when late shoppers rush to stores  for holiday gifts for their loved ones.  The road was congested as if a baseball game were just over; the parking lot was full, and the store was full of funky holiday stuff, and the line at the customer service that takes returns was long.  It seemed that everyone was doing the last minute before-Christmas shopping. The merchandise cost me about $40, but it took me more than an hour to complete the return process.  My one hour is certainly worth more than $40. The lesson learned is that if you have to return an item purchased online, return it by mail, not to local stores; or return it  to a store when the store is most likely empty, i.e., following the contrarian rule; but warn you, not too late so the customer service counter is closed. Walmart customer service normally closes at 6 pm.

If you are to make a dentist or doctor’s appointment, choose the first time slot to reduce waiting time because there are no patients to be served before you. If unfortunately, you have to call customer services of utility companies, call in the evenings will also reduce your on-hold time.

However, do not use contrarian rule in the professional or political realm. In those circumstances, following crowds or herding is the best way to protect yourself. For example, in the political realm, herding can lead to collective madness such as the cultural revolution in China (1967-1977) but would save the herder from upfront persecution. At work, if you are in an entry position, you also want to blend in not to stand out if you would want to keep the job.