diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
index a4384e03ee..3e2bff3b58 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
@@ -791,7 +791,10 @@ func (s *shards) runShard(ctx context.Context, shardID int, queue chan sample) {
 		select {
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			return
+		default:
+		}
 
+		select {
 		case sample, ok := <-queue:
 			if !ok {
 				if nPending > 0 {
diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
index e4917441fc..40584f0147 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
@@ -177,6 +177,45 @@ func TestShutdown(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestShutdownNoPendingSamples(t *testing.T) {
+	deadline := 1 * time.Second
+	c := NewTestBlockedStorageClient()
+
+	dir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "TestShutdown")
+	testutil.Ok(t, err)
+	defer os.RemoveAll(dir)
+
+	metrics := newQueueManagerMetrics(nil)
+	m := NewQueueManager(nil, metrics, nil, dir, newEWMARate(ewmaWeight, shardUpdateDuration), config.DefaultQueueConfig, nil, nil, c, deadline)
+	n := 2 * config.DefaultQueueConfig.MaxSamplesPerSend
+	samples, series := createTimeseries(n, n)
+	m.StoreSeries(series, 0)
+	m.Start()
+	m.reshardChan <- 10
+
+	// Append blocks to guarantee delivery, so we do it in the background.
+	go func() {
+		m.Append(samples)
+	}()
+	time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
+
+	m.reshardChan <- 1
+	// Test to ensure that Stop doesn't block.
+	start := time.Now()
+	m.Stop()
+	// The samples will never be delivered, so duration should
+	// be at least equal to deadline, otherwise the flush deadline
+	// was not respected.
+	duration := time.Since(start)
+	if duration > time.Duration(deadline+(deadline/10)) {
+		t.Errorf("Took too long to shutdown: %s > %s", duration, deadline)
+	}
+	if duration < time.Duration(deadline) {
+		t.Errorf("Shutdown occurred before flush deadline: %s < %s", duration, deadline)
+	}
+	testutil.Assert(t, client_testutil.ToFloat64(m.pendingSamplesMetric) == 0, "pending samples was not 0 after all shards were stopped: %f", client_testutil.ToFloat64(m.pendingSamplesMetric))
+}
+
 func TestSeriesReset(t *testing.T) {
 	c := NewTestBlockedStorageClient()
 	deadline := 5 * time.Second