The fastest service, the best deals and the fewest hassles.
LUCKY PEOPLE CAN BE INFURIATING. They waltz through life and lines; the breaks always go their way. But what if their luck is just good timing? After all, timing is the difference between hours of fighting crowds at the grocery store and breezing in and out; between over-paying for a car and getting a salesman to meet your terms. Even better, good timing adds quality to your life.
"You want to hang out with your family, not wait in line at the Jiffy Lube," says J. Davidson Frame, a professor and author of the corporate efficiency bestseller Managing Projects in Organizations. With better timing, your world will be enriched in ways that go way beyond saving hours and minutes. By following our experts' advice, you'll find shoes that really fit, hire repairmen who actually finish the job on schedule while charging less, and vacation at the best time of year at the best prices. Isn't it about time you got lucky?
Grocery shop between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesday or Wednesday.
That's when the crowds are small and the shelves are newly stocked, says Phil Lempert, consumer food expert of SupermarketGuru.com. Plus, most of the department managers are on duty for questions. An alternative is early in the week or Saturday night around 7:30 to 8 p.m., after you've had dinner (the bonus: hunger won't drive you into making bad food choices).
Buy fish on Friday afternoon.
According to Steve Soboloski, buyer and sales manager for Swedish Fish, an Arlington, Va., wholesaler, "Friday is the busiest delivery day for every fish wholesaler. The deliveries will be out in the stores by the afternoon. "To ensure that the fish you buy is fresh, Soboloski offer a few pointers: "Make sure the gills are bright red and oozing with blood. Meat and skin should be firm and shiny. And the fish shouldn't have a 'fishy' or unpleasant odor.
Make doctor appointments before 9 a.m.
It's true: Doctors overbook. "We schedule four patients between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.," says physician Howard S. Glazer, president of Patients Who Care, a patient-advocacy group. "Three of the four will be here within the first hour, and the plan is that three will be out before 9 a.m." If all four show up, the fourth patients get pushed to the following hour, and the pileup starts to build and then worsens hrough the rest of the day.
Buy shoes in the afternoon.
"You want to wait until you've been walking around for a while and your feet have swelled a bit," says podiatrist Bruce R. Saferin, who serves on the board of the American Podiatric Medical Association. "Buy shoes on your way to work in the morning, and by the afternoon you'll wonder why they're hurting your feet."
Buy a new car at the end of the month.
Auto prices are always somewhat negotiable, but at the end of every month, salesman become downright flexible. "We have monthly quotas that we try to hit," says Fred Altman, a top Dodge salesman (he works out of Christopher's Dodge World in Golden, Colorado). "Sell enough cars in a given month and you get a higher commission percentage the next month and a better work schedule. At the end of the month I'm definitely more aggressive."
Buy a house in September.
For a sheer selection, the best time is when the market is most active-which tends to be from May through July. But you'll say for the privilege. "Prices are highest then," says H. Bernie Jackson, chairman of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers and a broker with BJR Associates in Baltimore. But September is the month when price and selection meet, he says. "You see properties that should have sold but, for some reason, didn't. That's when sellers might be willing to help with closing costs or a down payment."
Hire home repairmen in January.
According to Kermit Baker, director of the remodeling futures program at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, you want to do home repairs when contractors are the least busy. That makes them hungry for work and likely to finish quickly. "Seasonally, winter is a good time because work slows down. January is when contractors might be most available and most negotiable-they're not yet busy, and have holidays bills to pay."
Start a road trip at 6 a.m.
That's Ken Smith's advice, and he's co-author of Roadside America. Smith put 250,000 miles on his car's odometer while researching the book. "At that hour your system is alert, there's not much traffic and you can put 200 miles under your belt before breakfast. Then you sit down in a diner and enjoy your pancakes while everyone else is stuck in traffic."
Go to the Caribbean in the fall.
"Late October and early November are when price and weather converge," says Paul Niskanen, owner of Cruise Masters travel agency in Portland, Oregon. "The hurricane season is nearly over, it's getting dry and you still benefit from low fall fares.
Ask for a raise at 9 a.m. or 1 p.m. midweek.
And when you deserve it, says Stephen M. Pollan, lawyer, financial consultant, and author of Second Acts, a book about achieving goals. "Don't do it on a Monday. People are busy making up for what they didn't do on Friday. And don't do it on Friday because your supervisor will be only half there. Very early in the morning is a good time. After lunch is good because a body full of food is more docile."
Polland adds, "The way you find out if you are entitled to a raise is by speaking with other employers and peers in your industry. Then go back to your boss, express gratitude for the professional growth afforded you and show what the market pays for people like you. Thn ask him to reconsider your compensation. It's unassailable."
Additional reporting by Cynthia Dermody.
Source: RD January 2004.
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