diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
index 9e2522d0b1..2a37ecdd0d 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@ package remote
 
 import (
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/model"
 )
@@ -50,33 +52,6 @@ func (c *TestStorageClient) Name() string {
 	return "teststorageclient"
 }
 
-type TestBlockingStorageClient struct {
-	block   chan bool
-	getData chan bool
-}
-
-func NewTestBlockedStorageClient() *TestBlockingStorageClient {
-	return &TestBlockingStorageClient{
-		block:   make(chan bool),
-		getData: make(chan bool),
-	}
-}
-
-func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) Store(s model.Samples) error {
-	<-c.getData
-	<-c.block
-	return nil
-}
-
-func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) unlock() {
-	close(c.getData)
-	close(c.block)
-}
-
-func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) Name() string {
-	return "testblockingstorageclient"
-}
-
 func TestSampleDelivery(t *testing.T) {
 	// Let's create an even number of send batches so we don't run into the
 	// batch timeout case.
@@ -110,10 +85,47 @@ func TestSampleDelivery(t *testing.T) {
 	c.waitForExpectedSamples(t)
 }
 
+// TestBlockingStorageClient is a queue_manager StorageClient which will block
+// on any calls to Store(), until the `block` channel is closed, at which point
+// the `numCalls` property will contain a count of how many times Store() was
+// called.
+type TestBlockingStorageClient struct {
+	block    chan bool
+	numCalls uint64
+}
+
+func NewTestBlockedStorageClient() *TestBlockingStorageClient {
+	return &TestBlockingStorageClient{
+		block:    make(chan bool),
+		numCalls: 0,
+	}
+}
+
+func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) Store(s model.Samples) error {
+	atomic.AddUint64(&c.numCalls, 1)
+	<-c.block
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) NumCalls() uint64 {
+	return atomic.LoadUint64(&c.numCalls)
+}
+
+func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) unlock() {
+	close(c.block)
+}
+
+func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) Name() string {
+	return "testblockingstorageclient"
+}
+
 func TestSpawnNotMoreThanMaxConcurrentSendsGoroutines(t *testing.T) {
-	// `maxSamplesPerSend*maxConcurrentSends + 1` samples should be consumed by
-	//  goroutines, `maxSamplesPerSend` should be still in the queue.
-	n := maxSamplesPerSend*maxConcurrentSends + maxSamplesPerSend*2
+	// Our goal is to fully empty the queue:
+	// `maxSamplesPerSend*maxConcurrentSends` samples should be consumed by the
+	// semaphore-controlled goroutines, and then another `maxSamplesPerSend`
+	// should be consumed by the Run() loop calling sendSample and immediately
+	// blocking.
+	n := maxSamplesPerSend*maxConcurrentSends + maxSamplesPerSend
 
 	samples := make(model.Samples, 0, n)
 	for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
@@ -129,20 +141,33 @@ func TestSpawnNotMoreThanMaxConcurrentSendsGoroutines(t *testing.T) {
 	m := NewStorageQueueManager(c, n)
 
 	go m.Run()
+	defer m.Stop()
 
 	for _, s := range samples {
 		m.Append(s)
 	}
 
-	for i := 0; i < maxConcurrentSends; i++ {
-		c.getData <- true // Wait while all goroutines are spawned.
+	// Wait until the Run() loop drains the queue.  If things went right, it
+	// should then immediately block in sendSamples(), but, in case of error,
+	// it would spawn too many goroutines, and thus we'd see more calls to
+	// client.Store()
+	//
+	// The timed wait is maybe non-ideal, but, in order to verify that we're
+	// not spawning too many concurrent goroutines, we have to wait on the
+	// Run() loop to consume a specific number of elements from the
+	// queue... and it doesn't signal that in any obvious way, except by
+	// draining the queue.  Also, this way, if something goes surprisingly
+	// wrong that prevents the queue from being drained (aka, not just spawning
+	// extra goroutines, but something totally unexpected), we deadlock, which
+	// is a clear signal of a problem.
+	for len(m.queue) > 0 {
+		time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
 	}
 
-	if len(m.queue) != maxSamplesPerSend {
-		t.Errorf("Queue should contain %d samples, it contains 0.", maxSamplesPerSend)
+	numCalls := c.NumCalls()
+	if numCalls != maxConcurrentSends {
+		t.Errorf("Saw %d concurrent sends, expected %d", numCalls, maxConcurrentSends)
 	}
 
 	c.unlock()
-
-	defer m.Stop()
 }