diff --git a/docker/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/svc-consumer/run b/docker/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/svc-consumer/run
index 3e1c0472b..209803d41 100755
--- a/docker/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/svc-consumer/run
+++ b/docker/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/svc-consumer/run
@@ -1,10 +1,18 @@
 #!/command/with-contenv /usr/bin/bash
 # shellcheck shell=bash
 
-cd ${PAPERLESS_SRC_DIR}
 
-if [[ -n "${USER_IS_NON_ROOT}" ]]; then
-	exec python3 manage.py document_consumer
+if [[ -n "${PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DISABLE}" ]]; then
+	echo "[svc-consumer] Consumer is disabled, exiting"
+	# https://skarnet.org/software/s6/s6-svc.html
+	s6-svc -Od .
+
 else
-	exec s6-setuidgid paperless python3 manage.py document_consumer
+	cd ${PAPERLESS_SRC_DIR}
+
+	if [[ -n "${USER_IS_NON_ROOT}" ]]; then
+		exec python3 manage.py document_consumer
+	else
+		exec s6-setuidgid paperless python3 manage.py document_consumer
+	fi
 fi
diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index 3724c792d..441d46105 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -1030,6 +1030,11 @@ be used with caution!
 
 ## Document Consumption {#consume_config}
 
+#### [`PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DISABLE=<bool>`](#PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DISABLE) {#PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DISABLE}
+
+: Completely disable the directory-based consumer in docker. If you don't plan to consume documents
+via the consumption directory, you can disable the consumer to save resources.
+
 #### [`PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DELETE_DUPLICATES=<bool>`](#PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DELETE_DUPLICATES) {#PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DELETE_DUPLICATES}
 
 : When the consumer detects a duplicate document, it will not touch
diff --git a/docs/setup.md b/docs/setup.md
index f2b82d070..e337a492a 100644
--- a/docs/setup.md
+++ b/docs/setup.md
@@ -714,6 +714,8 @@ the Pi and configuring some options in paperless can help improve
 performance immensely:
 
 -   Stick with SQLite to save some resources.
+-   If you do not need the filesystem-based consumer, consider disabling it
+    entirely by setting [`PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DISABLE`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DISABLE) to `true`.
 -   Consider setting [`PAPERLESS_OCR_PAGES`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_OCR_PAGES) to 1, so that paperless will
     only OCR the first page of your documents. In most cases, this page
     contains enough information to be able to find it.