GROTON, Mass. - Sept. 20, 2000--New England Business Service, Inc. (NYSE: NEB) today announced a plan to more closely align its direct marketing and direct selling activities. The Company further indicated that it is eliminating excess manufacturing and fulfillment capacity and writing off certain capitalized internal-use software. The Company stated that it expects to record a charge of approximately $5.2 million, or $.24 per share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2001 ending September 23, 2000, to reflect the financial impact of the plan. Related charges of approximately $1.9 million, or $.09 per share, principally for training and relocation, will be incurred over the remainder of fiscal 2001. In addition to the anticipated benefit of accelerating growth through the closer alignment of certain direct marketing and direct selling activities, the announced plan is expected to reduce operating costs. Benefits from the expense savings are estimated to be approximately $1.1 million, or $.05 per share, over the remainder of fiscal 2001, and approximately $3.3 million, or $.15 per share, on an annualized basis thereafter. As part of this program, McBee's U.S. headquarters will be relocated from Parsippany, New Jersey to the existing RapidForms facility in Thorofare, New Jersey. Under a new organization, called the Integrated Marketing Services Group, McBee and RapidForms will continue to market and support their respective brands through both the 400 person McBee direct sales force and the 180 person RapidForms direct marketing organization. In addition, McBee's growing direct marketing activities will be combined with RapidForms' well-established direct marketing capabilities to enable McBee to more fully serve the over 400,000 small businesses which make up the McBee customer base. Beyond the U.S. channel marketing realignment, the Company announced that its business forms manufacturing plant in Damascus, Virginia will be closed, and that it will vacate a portion of leased warehousing space currently occupied by Chiswick in Sudbury, Massachusetts. In addition, certain capitalized internal-use software related to an enterprise resource planning system the Company no longer plans to implement will be written off. In Canada, the McBee sales and marketing organization will be combined with NEBS - Direct Marketing and operate under the NEBS banner. This will create the ability to approach the market in Canada on a direct sales or direct marketing basis, providing the interface best suited to the customers' requirements. In conjunction with all of the announced actions, approximately 140 employees will be affected by either elimination of their position or relocation. Mr. Robert J. Murray, Chairman and CEO, commented, "This realignment is principally driven by the unrealized growth potential of leveraging the unique strengths of our direct selling organizations with those of direct marketing. The McBee direct sales organization is extremely effective in establishing relationships with small businesses, while direct marketing expertise can most effectively develop customer relationships to their full potential. The NEBS and RapidForms direct marketing and telesales organizations are industry leaders in their areas of expertise. By combining NEBS and McBee's sales and marketing activities in Canada, and aligning the RapidForms direct marketing capability with the McBee direct sales organization in the U.S., we believe we will be able to leverage the complementary strengths of the respective organizations to capitalize on this growth opportunity. Murray continued, "Importantly, we will continue to build the distinct brands associated with McBee, NEBS, and RapidForms. These are all very strong identities which have excellent market recognition and loyal customers. We believe these will continue to be increasingly valuable assets well into the future."