diff --git a/scripts/stop-server b/scripts/stop-server
index 912cf4c761..ee0c1af9e8 100755
--- a/scripts/stop-server
+++ b/scripts/stop-server
@@ -42,20 +42,17 @@ if has_application_server():
     services.append("zulip-tornado:*")
     services.append("zulip-workers:*")
     if has_application_server(once=True):
-        # These used to be included in "zulip-workers:*"; since we may
-        # be stopping an older version of Zulip, which has not applied
-        # puppet to reload the new list of processes, only stop them
-        # if they currently exist according to `supervisorctl`.
-        services.extend(
-            list_supervisor_processes(
-                [
-                    "zulip_deliver_scheduled_emails",
-                    "zulip_deliver_scheduled_messages",
-                ]
-            ),
-        )
+        # These used to be included in "zulip-workers:*"; we may be
+        # stopping an older version of Zulip, which has not applied
+        # puppet to reload the new list of processes, but the
+        # list_supervisor_processes below will filter them out if they
+        # do not exist.
+        services.append("zulip_deliver_scheduled_emails")
+        services.append("zulip_deliver_scheduled_messages")
 
-subprocess.check_call(["supervisorctl", "stop", *services])
+services = list_supervisor_processes(services, only_running=True)
+if services:
+    subprocess.check_call(["supervisorctl", "stop", *services])
 
 print()
 print(OKGREEN + "Zulip stopped successfully!" + ENDC)