diff --git a/data/queue.py b/data/queue.py
index 3ce6c7a6f..3cf921c98 100644
--- a/data/queue.py
+++ b/data/queue.py
@@ -50,11 +50,12 @@ class WorkQueue(object):
                    QueueItem.queue_name ** name_match_query))
 
   def _available_jobs(self, now, name_match_query):
-    return (QueueItem
-            .select()
-            .where(QueueItem.queue_name ** name_match_query, QueueItem.available_after <= now,
+    return self._available_jobs_where(QueueItem.select(), now, name_match_query)
+
+  def _available_jobs_where(self, query, now, name_match_query):
+    return query.where(QueueItem.queue_name ** name_match_query, QueueItem.available_after <= now,
                    ((QueueItem.available == True) | (QueueItem.processing_expires <= now)),
-                   QueueItem.retries_remaining > 0))
+                   QueueItem.retries_remaining > 0)
 
   def _available_jobs_not_running(self, now, name_match_query, running_query):
     return (self
@@ -145,25 +146,30 @@ class WorkQueue(object):
 
     item = None
     try:
-      db_item_candidate = avail.order_by(QueueItem.id).get()
-
-      with self._transaction_factory(db):
-        still_available_query = (db_for_update(self
-                                               ._available_jobs(now, name_match_query)
-                                               .where(QueueItem.id == db_item_candidate.id)))
-
-        db_item = still_available_query.get()
-        db_item.available = False
-        db_item.processing_expires = now + timedelta(seconds=processing_time)
-        db_item.retries_remaining -= 1
-        db_item.save()
+      # The previous solution to this used a select for update in a
+      # transaction to prevent multiple instances from processing the
+      # same queue item. This suffered performance problems. This solution
+      # instead has instances attempt to update the potential queue item to be
+      # unavailable. However, since their update clause is restricted to items
+      # that are available=False, only one instance's update will succeed, and
+      # it will have a changed row count of 1. Instances that have 0 changed
+      # rows know that another instance is already handling that item.
+      db_item = avail.order_by(QueueItem.id).get()
+      changed_query = (QueueItem.update(
+          available=False,
+          processing_expires=now + timedelta(seconds=processing_time),
+          retries_remaining=QueueItem.retries_remaining-1,
+        )
+        .where(QueueItem.id == db_item.id))
 
+      changed_query = self._available_jobs_where(changed_query, now, name_match_query)
+      changed = changed_query.execute()
+      if changed == 1:
         item = AttrDict({
           'id': db_item.id,
           'body': db_item.body,
-          'retries_remaining': db_item.retries_remaining
+          'retries_remaining': db_item.retries_remaining - 1,
         })
-
         self._currently_processing = True
     except QueueItem.DoesNotExist:
       self._currently_processing = False
diff --git a/local-test.sh b/local-test.sh
index bab484c9c..edce17a61 100755
--- a/local-test.sh
+++ b/local-test.sh
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@ export TROLLIUSDEBUG=1
 
 python -m unittest discover -f
 python -m test.registry_tests -f
+python -m test.queue_threads -f
diff --git a/test/fulldbtest.sh b/test/fulldbtest.sh
index 2e97ccd8b..68cb11660 100755
--- a/test/fulldbtest.sh
+++ b/test/fulldbtest.sh
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ down_postgres() {
 
 run_tests() {
   TEST_DATABASE_URI=$1 TEST=true python -m unittest discover -f
+  TEST_DATABASE_URI=$1 TEST=true python -m test.queue_threads -f
 }
 
 # NOTE: MySQL is currently broken on setup.
diff --git a/test/queue_threads.py b/test/queue_threads.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0ed06109b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/queue_threads.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+import unittest
+import json
+import time
+
+from functools import wraps
+from threading import Thread, Lock
+
+from app import app
+from data.queue import WorkQueue
+from initdb import wipe_database, initialize_database, populate_database
+
+
+QUEUE_NAME = 'testqueuename'
+
+class AutoUpdatingQueue(object):
+  def __init__(self, queue_to_wrap):
+    self._queue = queue_to_wrap
+
+  def _wrapper(self, func):
+    @wraps(func)
+    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+      to_return = func(*args, **kwargs)
+      self._queue.update_metrics()
+      return to_return
+    return wrapper
+
+  def __getattr__(self, attr_name):
+    method_or_attr = getattr(self._queue, attr_name)
+    if callable(method_or_attr):
+      return self._wrapper(method_or_attr)
+    else:
+      return method_or_attr
+
+
+class QueueTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+  TEST_MESSAGE_1 = json.dumps({'data': 1})
+
+  def setUp(self):
+    self.transaction_factory = app.config['DB_TRANSACTION_FACTORY']
+    self.queue = AutoUpdatingQueue(WorkQueue(QUEUE_NAME, self.transaction_factory))
+    wipe_database()
+    initialize_database()
+    populate_database()
+
+
+class TestQueueThreads(QueueTestCase):
+  def test_queue_threads(self):
+    count = [20]
+    for i in range(count[0]):
+      self.queue.put([str(i)], self.TEST_MESSAGE_1)
+
+    lock = Lock()
+    def get(lock, count, queue):
+      item = queue.get()
+      if item is None:
+        return
+      self.assertEqual(self.TEST_MESSAGE_1, item.body)
+      with lock:
+        count[0] -= 1
+
+    threads = []
+    # The thread count needs to be a few times higher than the queue size
+    # count because some threads will get a None and thus won't decrement
+    # the counter.
+    for i in range(100):
+      t = Thread(target=get, args=(lock, count, self.queue))
+      threads.append(t)
+    for t in threads:
+      t.start()
+    for t in threads:
+      t.join()
+    self.assertEqual(count[0], 0)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+  unittest.main()
+