diff --git a/pikatasks/settings.py b/pikatasks/settings.py
index b886f5cd677fb6031edfcdd0b7a5a0641178441d..f1ffa62ba0c75e41691b4187b02724f5ac3ed0ec 100644
--- a/pikatasks/settings.py
+++ b/pikatasks/settings.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ WORKER_GRACEFUL_STOP_TIMEOUT = timedelta(seconds=60)
 
 # stuff you probably don't want to touch:
 BLOCKED_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT = timedelta(seconds=20)  # weird stuff to avoid deadlocks, see pika documentation
-DATETIME_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f%Z%z"  # serialization, both %Z%z for compatibility in case we ever want to improve timezone-related stuff
+DATETIME_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f%z"  # serialization
 DATE_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%d"  # serialization