diff --git a/apps/workers/src/env.ts b/apps/workers/src/env.ts
index ba2464b9..3bfcfb45 100644
--- a/apps/workers/src/env.ts
+++ b/apps/workers/src/env.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ const envSchema = z.object({
 
     NX_CDN_PRIVATE_BUCKET: z.string().default('REPLACE_THIS'),
     NX_CDN_PUBLIC_BUCKET: z.string().default('REPLACE_THIS'),
+
+    STRIPE_API_KEY: z.string().optional(),
 })
 
 const env = envSchema.parse(process.env)
diff --git a/apps/workers/src/main.ts b/apps/workers/src/main.ts
index f6795dc6..70cdffd6 100644
--- a/apps/workers/src/main.ts
+++ b/apps/workers/src/main.ts
@@ -154,11 +154,13 @@ syncInstitutionQueue.add(
  */
 sendEmailQueue.process('send-email', async (job) => await emailProcessor.send(job.data))
 
-sendEmailQueue.add(
-    'send-email',
-    { type: 'trial-reminders' },
-    { repeat: { cron: '0 */12 * * *' } } // Run every 12 hours
-)
+if (env.STRIPE_API_KEY) {
+    sendEmailQueue.add(
+        'send-email',
+        { type: 'trial-reminders' },
+        { repeat: { cron: '0 */12 * * *' } } // Run every 12 hours
+    )
+}
 
 // Fallback - usually triggered by errors not handled (or thrown) within the Bull event handlers (see above)
 process.on(