diff --git a/aries_cloudagent/transport/outbound/manager.py b/aries_cloudagent/transport/outbound/manager.py
index 31a8ac501e..977817a7a6 100644
--- a/aries_cloudagent/transport/outbound/manager.py
+++ b/aries_cloudagent/transport/outbound/manager.py
@@ -392,6 +392,9 @@ async def _process_loop(self):
             if self.outbound_buffer:
                 if (not new_pending) and (not retry_count):
                     await self.outbound_event.wait()
+                elif retry_count:
+                    # only retries - yield here so we don't hog resources
+                    await asyncio.sleep(0.05)
             else:
                 break