diff --git a/storage/remote/max_timestamp.go b/storage/remote/max_timestamp.go
index 3a0a6d6fd4..bb67d9bb98 100644
--- a/storage/remote/max_timestamp.go
+++ b/storage/remote/max_timestamp.go
@@ -39,9 +39,3 @@ func (m *maxTimestamp) Get() float64 {
 	defer m.mtx.Unlock()
 	return m.value
 }
-
-func (m *maxTimestamp) Collect(c chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
-	if m.Get() > 0 {
-		m.Gauge.Collect(c)
-	}
-}
diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
index fb13da70da..4bef9909c7 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ func newQueueManagerMetrics(r prometheus.Registerer, rn, e string) *queueManager
 			Namespace:   namespace,
 			Subsystem:   subsystem,
 			Name:        "queue_highest_sent_timestamp_seconds",
-			Help:        "Timestamp from a WAL sample, the highest timestamp successfully sent by this queue, in seconds since epoch.",
+			Help:        "Timestamp from a WAL sample, the highest timestamp successfully sent by this queue, in seconds since epoch. Initialized to 0 when no data has been sent yet.",
 			ConstLabels: constLabels,
 		}),
 	}
diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
index 9ab563edab..5227c2d6a7 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func newHighestTimestampMetric() *maxTimestamp {
 			Namespace: namespace,
 			Subsystem: subsystem,
 			Name:      "highest_timestamp_in_seconds",
-			Help:      "Highest timestamp that has come into the remote storage via the Appender interface, in seconds since epoch.",
+			Help:      "Highest timestamp that has come into the remote storage via the Appender interface, in seconds since epoch. Initialized to 0 when no data has been received yet",
 		}),
 	}
 }
diff --git a/storage/remote/write.go b/storage/remote/write.go
index cd8cd588ca..81902a8f1a 100644
--- a/storage/remote/write.go
+++ b/storage/remote/write.go
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func NewWriteStorage(logger log.Logger, reg prometheus.Registerer, dir string, f
 				Namespace: namespace,
 				Subsystem: subsystem,
 				Name:      "highest_timestamp_in_seconds",
-				Help:      "Highest timestamp that has come into the remote storage via the Appender interface, in seconds since epoch.",
+				Help:      "Highest timestamp that has come into the remote storage via the Appender interface, in seconds since epoch. Initialized to 0 when no data has been received yet.",
 			}),
 		},
 	}