diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ccd11afd005..c468ac2c893 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 ## 0.1.0 / 2019-08-07
 
+* [CHANGE] --claim-on-rollout flag deprecated; feature is now always on #1566
 * [CHANGE] HA Tracker flags were renamed to provide more clarity #1465
   * `distributor.accept-ha-labels` is now `distributor.ha-tracker.enable`
   * `distributor.accept-ha-samples` is now `distributor.ha-tracker.enable-for-all-users`
diff --git a/pkg/ingester/lifecycle_test.go b/pkg/ingester/lifecycle_test.go
index 8dadd3b7c9b..f55713146f0 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/lifecycle_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/lifecycle_test.go
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ func defaultIngesterTestConfig() Config {
 	cfg.LifecyclerConfig.Addr = "localhost"
 	cfg.LifecyclerConfig.ID = "localhost"
 	cfg.LifecyclerConfig.FinalSleep = 0
+	cfg.MaxTransferRetries = -1
 	return cfg
 }
 
@@ -94,8 +95,8 @@ func TestIngesterTransfer(t *testing.T) {
 	cfg1 := defaultIngesterTestConfig()
 	cfg1.LifecyclerConfig.ID = "ingester1"
 	cfg1.LifecyclerConfig.Addr = "ingester1"
-	cfg1.LifecyclerConfig.ClaimOnRollout = true
 	cfg1.LifecyclerConfig.JoinAfter = 0 * time.Second
+	cfg1.MaxTransferRetries = 10
 	ing1, err := New(cfg1, defaultClientTestConfig(), limits, nil, nil)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
@@ -184,7 +185,6 @@ func TestIngesterBadTransfer(t *testing.T) {
 	cfg := defaultIngesterTestConfig()
 	cfg.LifecyclerConfig.ID = "ingester1"
 	cfg.LifecyclerConfig.Addr = "ingester1"
-	cfg.LifecyclerConfig.ClaimOnRollout = true
 	cfg.LifecyclerConfig.JoinAfter = 100 * time.Second
 	ing, err := New(cfg, defaultClientTestConfig(), limits, nil, nil)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
diff --git a/pkg/ingester/transfer.go b/pkg/ingester/transfer.go
index 8d52eac1710..30ece4a53b9 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/transfer.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/transfer.go
@@ -184,6 +184,9 @@ func fromWireChunks(wireChunks []client.Chunk) ([]*desc, error) {
 // TransferOut finds an ingester in PENDING state and transfers our chunks to it.
 // Called as part of the ingester shutdown process.
 func (i *Ingester) TransferOut(ctx context.Context) error {
+	if i.cfg.MaxTransferRetries < 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("transfers disabled")
+	}
 	backoff := util.NewBackoff(ctx, util.BackoffConfig{
 		MinBackoff: 100 * time.Millisecond,
 		MaxBackoff: 5 * time.Second,
diff --git a/pkg/ring/lifecycler.go b/pkg/ring/lifecycler.go
index da8009e5f77..43f49b4b09a 100644
--- a/pkg/ring/lifecycler.go
+++ b/pkg/ring/lifecycler.go
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ type LifecyclerConfig struct {
 	HeartbeatPeriod  time.Duration `yaml:"heartbeat_period,omitempty"`
 	JoinAfter        time.Duration `yaml:"join_after,omitempty"`
 	MinReadyDuration time.Duration `yaml:"min_ready_duration,omitempty"`
-	ClaimOnRollout   bool          `yaml:"claim_on_rollout,omitempty"`
+	UnusedFlag       bool          `yaml:"claim_on_rollout,omitempty"` // DEPRECATED - left for backwards-compatibility
 	NormaliseTokens  bool          `yaml:"normalise_tokens,omitempty"`
 	InfNames         []string      `yaml:"interface_names"`
 	FinalSleep       time.Duration `yaml:"final_sleep"`
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ func (cfg *LifecyclerConfig) RegisterFlagsWithPrefix(prefix string, f *flag.Flag
 	f.DurationVar(&cfg.HeartbeatPeriod, prefix+"heartbeat-period", 5*time.Second, "Period at which to heartbeat to consul.")
 	f.DurationVar(&cfg.JoinAfter, prefix+"join-after", 0*time.Second, "Period to wait for a claim from another member; will join automatically after this.")
 	f.DurationVar(&cfg.MinReadyDuration, prefix+"min-ready-duration", 1*time.Minute, "Minimum duration to wait before becoming ready. This is to work around race conditions with ingesters exiting and updating the ring.")
-	f.BoolVar(&cfg.ClaimOnRollout, prefix+"claim-on-rollout", false, "Send chunks to PENDING ingesters on exit.")
+	flagext.DeprecatedFlag(f, prefix+"claim-on-rollout", "DEPRECATED. This feature is no longer optional.")
 	f.BoolVar(&cfg.NormaliseTokens, prefix+"normalise-tokens", false, "Store tokens in a normalised fashion to reduce allocations.")
 	f.DurationVar(&cfg.FinalSleep, prefix+"final-sleep", 30*time.Second, "Duration to sleep for before exiting, to ensure metrics are scraped.")
 
@@ -474,15 +474,13 @@ func (i *Lifecycler) changeState(ctx context.Context, state IngesterState) error
 
 func (i *Lifecycler) processShutdown(ctx context.Context) {
 	flushRequired := true
-	if i.cfg.ClaimOnRollout {
-		transferStart := time.Now()
-		if err := i.flushTransferer.TransferOut(ctx); err != nil {
-			level.Error(util.Logger).Log("msg", "Failed to transfer chunks to another ingester", "err", err)
-			shutdownDuration.WithLabelValues("transfer", "fail", i.RingName).Observe(time.Since(transferStart).Seconds())
-		} else {
-			flushRequired = false
-			shutdownDuration.WithLabelValues("transfer", "success", i.RingName).Observe(time.Since(transferStart).Seconds())
-		}
+	transferStart := time.Now()
+	if err := i.flushTransferer.TransferOut(ctx); err != nil {
+		level.Error(util.Logger).Log("msg", "Failed to transfer chunks to another ingester", "err", err)
+		shutdownDuration.WithLabelValues("transfer", "fail", i.RingName).Observe(time.Since(transferStart).Seconds())
+	} else {
+		flushRequired = false
+		shutdownDuration.WithLabelValues("transfer", "success", i.RingName).Observe(time.Since(transferStart).Seconds())
 	}
 
 	if flushRequired {
diff --git a/pkg/ring/lifecycler_test.go b/pkg/ring/lifecycler_test.go
index 9eb34674501..4d930b57a8e 100644
--- a/pkg/ring/lifecycler_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ring/lifecycler_test.go
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ func testLifecyclerConfig(ringConfig Config, id string) LifecyclerConfig {
 	lifecyclerConfig.Port = 1
 	lifecyclerConfig.RingConfig = ringConfig
 	lifecyclerConfig.NumTokens = 1
-	lifecyclerConfig.ClaimOnRollout = true
 	lifecyclerConfig.ID = id
 	lifecyclerConfig.FinalSleep = 0
 	return lifecyclerConfig