A grand opening celebration is planned for today for a place where people can get their delicates washed and their parcels mailed.

The U.S. Postal Service has been making changes in an effort to improve customer service, while dealing with ever-decreasing revenue.

One of the latest efforts has been an expansion of the use of Contract Postal Units.

The City of Allentown is scheduled to have two such CPUs, the first of which is at the Emmaus Avenue Laundromat, owned by Steve Banko.

He said he saw offering postal services as a great way to add another convenience to his customer and to draw in new people.

“It's not so much for the monetary reasons – you couldn't earn a living just running a CPU,” said Banko. “It's bringing people that wouldn't normally come into our building. Hopefully they'll look around, and like what they see and that will build our laundry business.”

He said he had the room for the unit and bringing it in required very little upfront costs on his part, so he thought it would be a good service for him to offer.

Like other CPUs, the one at the Emmaus Avenue Laundromat offers a full line of postal products and services including postage stamps, packaging and Priority Mail services.

That's similar to what people will find at the other, soon-to-be opened CPU location at Minuteman Printing at 18th and Tilghman streets.

“Customers will easily recognize the presence of postal services at new contract locations by the exterior and interior signage, as well as product display,” said Sheryl Velazquez, postmaster of the Allentown Post Office.

The Contracted Postal Unit at the Emmaus Avenue Laundromat is located at 2825 W. Emmaus Ave., Allentown. The grand opening starts at 4 p.m.