diff --git a/funcx_forwarder/forwarder.py b/funcx_forwarder/forwarder.py
index 731fd70..96eee37 100644
--- a/funcx_forwarder/forwarder.py
+++ b/funcx_forwarder/forwarder.py
@@ -243,9 +243,12 @@ def initialize_endpoint_queues(self):
         ''' Initialize the three queues over which the forwarder communicates with endpoints
         TaskQueue in mode='server' binds to all interfaces by default
         '''
+        # SNDTIMEO for the tasks_q should be 0 because we do not want to allow
+        # send blocking in the main forwarder loop (an exception will occur instead
+        # if the send can't happen immediately)
         self.tasks_q = TaskQueue('127.0.0.1',
                                  port=self.tasks_port,
-                                 RCVTIMEO=1,
+                                 SNDTIMEO=0,
                                  keys_dir=self.keys_dir,
                                  mode='server')
         self.results_q = TaskQueue('127.0.0.1',
@@ -316,7 +319,7 @@ def handle_endpoint_connection(self):
         are sent from the interchange -> forwarder on the task_q
         '''
         try:
-            b_ep_id, reg_message = self.tasks_q.get(timeout=0)  # timeout in ms # Update to 0ms
+            b_ep_id, reg_message = self.tasks_q.get(block=False, timeout=0)  # timeout in ms # Update to 0ms
             # At this point ep_id is authenticated by means having the client keys.
             ep_id = b_ep_id.decode('utf-8')