diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 473b7c21d..7d46a5bce 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-
 
 ** Improvements
 
-  'groups' and 'id' will now exit immediately upon receiving a write error,
+  'groups' and 'id' will now exit sooner after a write error,
   which is significant when listing information for many users.
 
   'nl' now supports multi-byte --section-delimiter characters.
diff --git a/src/groups.c b/src/groups.c
index 3daf410d9..57acd376b 100644
--- a/src/groups.c
+++ b/src/groups.c
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
             ok = false;
           putchar ('\n');
 
-          if (fflush (stdout) < 0)
+          if (ferror (stdout))
             write_error ();
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/id.c b/src/id.c
index 02c3bf9b5..27b3e8b70 100644
--- a/src/id.c
+++ b/src/id.c
@@ -277,6 +277,8 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
               ruid = euid = pwd->pw_uid;
               rgid = egid = pwd->pw_gid;
               print_stuff (pw_name);
+              if (ferror (stdout))
+                write_error ();
             }
           free (pw_name);
         }
@@ -458,7 +460,4 @@ print_stuff (char const *pw_name)
     {
       putchar (opt_zero ? '\0' : '\n');
     }
-
-  if (fflush (stdout) < 0)
-    write_error ();
 }