diff --git a/consumer.go b/consumer.go
index 2e0e688..2480710 100644
--- a/consumer.go
+++ b/consumer.go
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ package consumer
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
-	"os"
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func New(stream string, opts ...Option) (*Consumer, error) {
 		streamName: stream,
 		checkpoint: &noopCheckpoint{},
 		counter:    &noopCounter{},
-		logger:     log.New(os.Stderr, "kinesis-consumer: ", log.LstdFlags),
+		logger:     log.New(ioutil.Discard, "", log.LstdFlags),
 	}
 
 	// set options
@@ -112,48 +112,58 @@ func (c *Consumer) Scan(ctx context.Context, fn func(*kinesis.Record) bool) erro
 		},
 	)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return fmt.Errorf("describe stream error: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	var (
+		wg   sync.WaitGroup
+		errc = make(chan error, 1)
+	)
 	wg.Add(len(resp.StreamDescription.Shards))
 
 	// launch goroutine to process each of the shards
 	for _, shard := range resp.StreamDescription.Shards {
 		go func(shardID string) {
 			defer wg.Done()
-			c.ScanShard(ctx, shardID, fn)
+			err := c.ScanShard(ctx, shardID, fn)
+			if err != nil {
+				select {
+				case errc <- fmt.Errorf("shard %s error: %v", shardID, err):
+					// first error to occur
+				default:
+					// error has already occured
+				}
+			}
+			c.logger.Println("exiting", shardID)
 			cancel()
 		}(*shard.ShardId)
 	}
 
 	wg.Wait()
-	return nil
+	close(errc)
+	return <-errc
 }
 
 // ScanShard loops over records on a specific shard, calls the callback func
 // for each record and checkpoints after each page is processed.
 // Note: returning `false` from the callback func will end the scan.
-func (c *Consumer) ScanShard(ctx context.Context, shardID string, fn func(*kinesis.Record) bool) {
+func (c *Consumer) ScanShard(ctx context.Context, shardID string, fn func(*kinesis.Record) bool) error {
+	c.logger.Println("scanning", shardID)
+
 	lastSeqNum, err := c.checkpoint.Get(c.streamName, shardID)
 	if err != nil {
-		c.logger.Printf("get checkpoint error: %v", err)
-		return
+		return fmt.Errorf("get checkpoint error: %v", err)
 	}
 
 	shardIterator, err := c.getShardIterator(shardID, lastSeqNum)
 	if err != nil {
-		c.logger.Printf("get shard iterator error: %v", err)
-		return
+		return fmt.Errorf("get shard iterator error: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	c.logger.Println("scanning", shardID)
-
-loop:
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-ctx.Done():
-			break loop
+			return nil
 		default:
 			resp, err := c.client.GetRecords(
 				&kinesis.GetRecordsInput{
@@ -164,8 +174,7 @@ loop:
 			if err != nil {
 				shardIterator, err = c.getShardIterator(shardID, lastSeqNum)
 				if err != nil {
-					c.logger.Printf("get shard iterator error: %v", err)
-					break loop
+					return fmt.Errorf("get shard iterator error: %v", err)
 				}
 				continue
 			}
@@ -174,44 +183,45 @@ loop:
 				for _, r := range resp.Records {
 					select {
 					case <-ctx.Done():
-						break loop
+						return nil
 					default:
 						lastSeqNum = *r.SequenceNumber
 						c.counter.Add("records", 1)
+
 						if ok := fn(r); !ok {
-							break loop
+							if err := c.setCheckpoint(shardID, lastSeqNum); err != nil {
+								return err
+							}
+							return nil
 						}
 					}
 				}
 
-				if err := c.checkpoint.Set(c.streamName, shardID, lastSeqNum); err != nil {
-					c.logger.Printf("set checkpoint error: %v", err)
+				if err := c.setCheckpoint(shardID, lastSeqNum); err != nil {
+					return err
 				}
-
-				c.logger.Println("checkpoint", shardID, len(resp.Records))
-				c.counter.Add("checkpoints", 1)
 			}
 
 			if resp.NextShardIterator == nil || shardIterator == resp.NextShardIterator {
 				shardIterator, err = c.getShardIterator(shardID, lastSeqNum)
 				if err != nil {
-					c.logger.Printf("get shard iterator error: %v", err)
-					break loop
+					return fmt.Errorf("get shard iterator error: %v", err)
 				}
 			} else {
 				shardIterator = resp.NextShardIterator
 			}
 		}
 	}
+}
 
-	if lastSeqNum == "" {
-		return
-	}
-
-	c.logger.Println("checkpointing", shardID)
-	if err := c.checkpoint.Set(c.streamName, shardID, lastSeqNum); err != nil {
-		c.logger.Printf("set checkpoint error: %v", err)
+func (c *Consumer) setCheckpoint(shardID, lastSeqNum string) error {
+	err := c.checkpoint.Set(c.streamName, shardID, lastSeqNum)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("set checkpoint error: %v", err)
 	}
+	c.logger.Println("checkpoint", shardID)
+	c.counter.Add("checkpoints", 1)
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (c *Consumer) getShardIterator(shardID, lastSeqNum string) (*string, error) {
diff --git a/examples/consumer/main.go b/examples/consumer/main.go
index 1c9ac47..528c5d2 100644
--- a/examples/consumer/main.go
+++ b/examples/consumer/main.go
@@ -35,10 +35,10 @@ func main() {
 
 	var (
 		counter = expvar.NewMap("counters")
-		logger  = log.New(os.Stdout, "consumer-example: ", log.LstdFlags)
+		logger  = log.New(os.Stdout, "", log.LstdFlags)
 	)
 
-	// checkpoint
+	// redis checkpoint
 	ck, err := checkpoint.New(*app)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("checkpoint error: %v", err)