kiplinger says 1 to $2 is enough and if the driver helps you with the luggage, add another dollar or>> have you tipped a shuttle bus driver? >> yes, i have. >> there's a hotel con see arnlg, do you tip them five to ten bucks or 10% of the price of the restaurant meal? >> smile and thank you. >> that's it, kip dg linger says for a quick chat about local dining, you're not obligated to tip. in the concierge makes reservations, consider tipping. >> how much money do you think you should tip the bell hop for your bags, 1 to $2 per bag or nothing? >> $2, got to make a living too. >> he's generous. an appropriate amount is 1 to $2 per bag. >> and you're at the hotel. >> uh-huh. >> and you're thinking about room service. how much should you tip for room service? 15 to 20% of the pre-tax bill, 5 to 10% or nothing? >> i would say at least 15%. >> you're right. you're a good tipper. >> kiplingers says, tip 15 to 20% of the pretax bill, similar to a tip you would leave a waiter at the restaurant. many hotels automatically include gratuity for room service so read the fine print first. don't lea

. >> kiplinger says $1 to $2 is enough. >> i have never tipped a shuttle bus driver. have you? the next scenario. there's a hotel concierge and you want to ask them for a restaurant recommendation. do you tip them 5 to 10 buck, a smile and a thank you or 10% of the price of the restaurant? >> a smile and a thank you. >> that's it. for a quick chat, you're not obligated to tip. if the concierge makes reservations, tip them. how much should you tip the bell hop for taking your bags? >> $2. got to make a living too. like everybody else. >> wow he's generous. an appropriate amount is $1 to $2 per bag. so you're at the hotel, and you're thinking about room service. how much should you tip for room service? 15 to 20% of the pretax bill, or nothing? >> i would say at least 15%. >> you're right. you're a good tipper. kiplinger says tip 15 to 20% of your pretax bill, similar to what you'd leave a waiter at a restaurant. many hotels automatically include gratuity for room service, so read the fine print first. don't leave extra cash for clean-up of the dirty dishes. how much should you l

host: senior reporter at kiplinger's magazine. up next we'll talk with stephane vans, author of "the influence game" and we'll talk about lobbying. >> it's four hours on, four hours off. >> this weekend on american history tv the life of an enlisted man abored the u.s.s. constitution during the war of 1812. >> the sailor lived in fear of being whipped by a cat-o-nine tails. a phrase we still use today, don't let the cat out of the bag. you don't want to see it coming out of the bag for a flogging. >> that's sunday. also this weekend, more from the contenders. our series on key political figures who ran for president and lost, but changed political history. sunday, former new york governor al smith. >> "washington journal" continues. host: stephane vans is the author of "the influence game." guest: we use a lot of tactics, sometimes not so effective. so what i did with this was to take a look at all of those different tactics, review them and try to apply them. not just in d.c. but the real world, so know what your talking . host:

the folks at kiplinger say there may be dead travel deals after it is over.y a lal in trouble after the olympics. it can be a great time to get bargains. -- there is historically a lull in travel after the olympics. it can be a great time to get bargains. we have posted a guide on wbaltv.com. >> your insta-weather plus forecast with meteorologist john collins. >> the rain has let up around the area. here we are in baltimore. to the north, the son has broken through nicely, especially in pennsylvania. they never got anyw up there. it stopped at the pennsylvania line. clouds are mostly south of baltimore. the heaviest storms are over the ocean. how much rain did we get? the heaviest was to the west. we will switch to the main computer to give you an idea of what went on. baltimore is the big red dots. the central part got two to 4 inches of rain. the storm stalled over them. diminishing amounts as you move east. we only received 0.25. at the airport, just over 1/4 inch of rain. all the other rain south of us occurred yesterday in northern virginia and the easte

kiplinger says october may be the best time to go to the british isles. that's because while the country is going through some post-olympic withdrawal, there are likely to be some good travel deals available. smartertravel.com says historically, there is a travel lull after an olympic games, and it can be a great time to snag some real bargains. >>> a very close call for an acrobat in china. take a look at this video. he was walking backwards and blindfolded on a tight rope more than 650 feet up in the air, and he sort of lost his balance a little bit and then he slipped off that rope and fell. you see it right there. there he goes, boom, down. he survived, amazingly. >> yeah. we wouldn't have shown it, right? >> i know. but he wasn't seriously hurt, either, which is also good news. he later told chinese tv that he felt faint because he had been up there almost an hour and slipped because of the wind. now, he was near the end. he was almost to the landing there, when he fell, so the distance wasn't as great as it could have been, had he been at the middle

for the best advice and insight when it comes to travel, technology, credit cards and freebies, kiplinger's has you covered. first, we're going to talk about the best time to get the best prices on certain items. there are good times for some things. >> right. >> we're going to put up graphics and show you the list of some of the things you all cover. let's talk about televisions first of all. >> tvs. after the super bowl. big screen hd tv, because they try to get you to buy it before the super bowl. afterwards, prices go down, and also new models come in. that's a good time. >> interesting. like that. cruises? >> between january and march, it's when cruise companies come on the market with some of their summer specials. it's a good time to grab them. >> i would have thought differently on that one. it's cold out, everyone is thinking of it. appliances? >> appliances, labor day is a good time to buy appliances, because there is a changing of the season, even for appliances. usually comes in the fall. labor day weekend is a good time in you're in the market for a washer, dryer. >> new ones i

kiplinger's magazine gives us five things we should immediately remove from our wallet to minimize theshould your wallet ever be stolen. number one, big one here. your social security card. hands down i.d. theft experts say that little card with the nine digits on it is absolutely the worst item to carry around. it has everything thieves need to open up new credit card accounts or loans in your name. retirees, you need to remember your medicare cards, have your social security numbers on them, too. keep that in mind. number two, blank checks are the obvious risk but even a filled out check can lead to financial loss. they get access to routing numbers on checks. that means anybody can electronically transfer funds from your account. number three, a stack of receipts. as of december 2003, businesses can no longer print anything containing your credit or debit card expiration date or more than the last five digits of your credit card number. but i.d. thieves can use this limited information on receipts to phish for your remaining numbers. clear out the receipts each night and shreds the

. >> so here with the scoop on what to buy right now is kim lankford, a contributing editor to "kiplinger'snce" magazine. hi, kim. >> hi, thanks for having me. >> it is that time people are looking for a great deal. often, you don't know the right way to go about finding a good deal, do you? >> that's exactly right. actually, this time of year while everyone is at the beach and thinking about vacation, that's when the stores are really offering some great deals to try to get you in there. >> just get the traffic going. >> exactly. so if you work ahead of time, a few weeks before everyone comes back and doing all that back-to-school shopping you can get some really good deals. >> you always hear about christmas in july and people are buying stuff -- >> last week we were talking about how great that was. >> everyone doing their christmas shopping now. is that a good idea? >> well, you can get some things earlier. some of these christmas in july deals and black friday july deals, a little bit of them are gimmicky. not as good deals as you would get in november during the real black friday. but

financial company kiplinger says october may be the best time to go to the british isles.hat's because while the country is going through post-olympic withdrawal, there are likely to be great travel deals available. smartertravel.com says historically, there is a travel lull after any olympic games, and it can be a great time to snag some bargains. >>> a daredevil in china lucky to be alive this morning. take a look. he was walking backwards on a tight rope. he was also blind-folded, as you see there. he was more than 650 feet in the air, and suddenly, he just kind of lost his balance a little bit with that pole and he slipped right off that tight rope and fell into the cavern below. he survived, amazingly. he was not seriously hurt either. he later told chinese tv that he felt faint because he had been up there for almost an hour and he slipped because of the wind. >> and you notice that when he emerged, he was in all the shrubs and the brush, and it's important, a guess, to point out that he actually fell not as far as what he was originally walking over, because this wa

that's according to folks at kiplinger and expect to pay a penny more for your hot dogs.per dog. rib prices can vary depending on a number of factors. they should run you between $3. $3.50 and $4 a pound. whole chickens are up about 10% from a year ago. they're hard to find right now. time for a look back at the week ahead on wall street. jane king has the weekend business report. >> toyota is recalling new vehicles after a government review. they were recalling lexus cars from 2010. they will fix floor mats that can slip out of position and stick accelerator pedals. it led to record recalls for toyota. they asked toyota add the r.x. to the recall. stocks ended higher on optimism that european leaders will help save the region's banks and friday was the last trading day of the second quarter, a quarter that wiped out a lot of wealth. more than a trillion dollars was erased from stock values over the last three months. mostly because of concerns about europe's debt crisis and a global slowdown. all right, your dreams for a great summer birthday party may be about to pop. s

here with the scoop on what to buy right now is kim langford, a contributing editor to kipling"kiplinger'sne is at the beach and thinking about vacation, that's when the stores are offering great deals to get you in there. >> get the traffic going. >> exactly. if you work ahead of time and a few weeks before everyone does back to school shopping, you can hear really great deals. >> you always hear christmas in july and people buying stuff. everyone is doing their christmas shopping now. is that a good idea? >> you can get some things earlier. some of these christmas in july deals and black friday july deals, a little bit of them are gimmicky. not as good deals as you would get in november during the real black friday. you can get some really good deals now. especially as the end of the seasons wind up, especially on furniture and clothing, back to school things, those are exactly right this time of year. >> you look for discounts and the right sale. >> delaware is a great spot. yeah. >> the sales tax-free day. >> that is coming up. 17 states this year, are offering sales tax-free days. usu