diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 8df04d4..f5ad53a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1972,7 +1972,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "opsqueue"
-version = "0.30.7"
+version = "0.30.8"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "arc-swap",
@@ -2026,7 +2026,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "opsqueue_python"
-version = "0.30.7"
+version = "0.30.8"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "chrono",
diff --git a/libs/opsqueue_python/Cargo.toml b/libs/opsqueue_python/Cargo.toml
index eb43975..5658152 100644
--- a/libs/opsqueue_python/Cargo.toml
+++ b/libs/opsqueue_python/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "opsqueue_python"
-version = "0.30.7"
+version = "0.30.8"
 edition = "2021"
 
 # See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
diff --git a/opsqueue/Cargo.toml b/opsqueue/Cargo.toml
index 4a1a889..84dab4b 100644
--- a/opsqueue/Cargo.toml
+++ b/opsqueue/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "opsqueue"
-version = "0.30.7"
+version = "0.30.8"
 edition = "2021"
 description = "lightweight batch processing queue for heavy loads"
 repository = "https://github.com/channable/opsqueue"
diff --git a/opsqueue/src/producer/client.rs b/opsqueue/src/producer/client.rs
index 328394b..0b94b66 100644
--- a/opsqueue/src/producer/client.rs
+++ b/opsqueue/src/producer/client.rs
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ impl Client {
                 .http_client
                 .get(format!("{base_url}/submissions/count"))
                 .send()
-                .await?;
+                .await?
+                .error_for_status()?;
             let bytes = resp.bytes().await?;
             let body = serde_json::from_slice(&bytes)?;
 
@@ -92,7 +93,8 @@ impl Client {
                 .headers(otel_trace_carrier.try_into().unwrap_or_default())
                 .json(submission)
                 .send()
-                .await?;
+                .await?
+                .error_for_status()?;
             let bytes = resp.bytes().await?;
             let body = serde_json::from_slice(&bytes)?;
             Ok(body)
@@ -118,7 +120,8 @@ impl Client {
                 .http_client
                 .get(format!("{base_url}/submissions/{submission_id}"))
                 .send()
-                .await?;
+                .await?
+                .error_for_status()?;
             let bytes = resp.bytes().await?;
             let body = serde_json::from_slice(&bytes)?;
             Ok(body)
@@ -143,7 +146,8 @@ impl Client {
                     "{base_url}/submissions/lookup_id_by_prefix/{prefix}"
                 ))
                 .send()
-                .await?;
+                .await?
+                .error_for_status()?;
             let bytes = resp.bytes().await?;
             let body = serde_json::from_slice(&bytes)?;
             Ok(body)
@@ -158,15 +162,18 @@ impl Client {
 
     /// Get the server's version from the `/version` endpoint.
     ///
-    /// The result will be the value of [`VERSION_CARGO_SEMVER`][crate::VERSION_CARGO_SEMVER]
+    /// A successful result will be the value of [`VERSION_CARGO_SEMVER`][crate::VERSION_CARGO_SEMVER]
     /// prefixed with a "v", for example `v0.30.5`.
+    ///
+    /// Upon connection failure, this will not attempt to do any retrying.
     pub async fn server_version(&self) -> Result<String, InternalProducerClientError> {
         let base_url = &self.base_url;
         let resp = self
             .http_client
             .get(format!("{base_url}/version"))
             .send()
-            .await?;
+            .await?
+            .error_for_status()?;
         let text = resp.text().await?;
         Ok(text)
     }
@@ -183,14 +190,28 @@ pub enum InternalProducerClientError {
 impl InternalProducerClientError {
     pub fn is_ephemeral(&self) -> bool {
         match self {
-            // NOTE: In the case of an ungraceful restart, this case might theoretically trigger.
+            // In the case of an ungraceful restart, this case might theoretically trigger.
             // So even cleaner would be a tiny retry loop for this special case.
             // However, we certainly **do not** want to wait multiple minutes before returning.
             Self::ResponseDecodingError(_) => false,
-            // NOTE: reqwest doesn't make this very easy as it has a single error typed used for _everything_
-            // Maybe a different HTTP client library is nicer in this regard?
+            // Reqwest doesn't make this very easy as it has a single error typed used for _everything_.
             Self::HTTPClientError(inner) => {
-                inner.is_connect() || inner.is_timeout() || inner.is_decode()
+                // Failures in which a connection could not be established are ephemeral,
+                // as these can be caused by network failures, so we want to retry:
+                if inner.is_connect() || inner.is_timeout() || inner.is_decode() {
+                    true
+                } else if inner.is_status() {
+                    // Failures where the server returns a 5xx status code might indicate the server is (temporarily!) unhealthy,
+                    // or in the process of a restart.
+                    // Any other status is considered a permanent failure however
+                    inner
+                        .status()
+                        .map(|status| status.is_server_error())
+                        .unwrap_or(false)
+                } else {
+                    // Anything else is a permanent failure.
+                    false
+                }
             }
         }
     }