diff --git a/cmd/consumer/main.go b/cmd/consumer/main.go
index 2d78381..22f8ccc 100644
--- a/cmd/consumer/main.go
+++ b/cmd/consumer/main.go
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ func (srp *SampleRecordProcessor) ProcessRecords(records []kcl.Record) error {
 func (srp *SampleRecordProcessor) Shutdown(reason string) error {
 	if reason == "TERMINATE" {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Was told to terminate, will attempt to checkpoint.\n")
-		srp.checkpoint(nil, nil)
+		srp.checkpointer.Shutdown()
 	} else {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Shutting down due to failover. Will not checkpoint.\n")
 	}
diff --git a/kcl/kcl.go b/kcl/kcl.go
index 92abb3f..1ccd333 100644
--- a/kcl/kcl.go
+++ b/kcl/kcl.go
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ func (c *Checkpointer) CheckpointWithRetry(
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (c *Checkpointer) Shutdown() {
+	c.CheckpointWithRetry(nil, nil, 5)
+}
+
 type ioHandler struct {
 	inputFile  io.Reader
 	outputFile io.Writer