diff --git a/handlers/maildir.in b/handlers/maildir.in
index 5922d1ebec4e710afbb5393583bfc9c8ce65424e..7f2fba7d03b8d0a9ba538db6e9cdc92e1aab9824 100644
--- a/handlers/maildir.in
+++ b/handlers/maildir.in
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ function do_remove() {
 			[ "$deluser" != "" ] || continue
 			info "removing $destuser@$desthost:$destdir/$i/$deluser/"
 			ssh -p $destport $destuser@$desthost mv "$destdir/$i/$deluser/" "$destdir/deleted"
-			ssh -p $destport $destuser@$desthost "date > '$destdir/$i/$deluser/deleted_on'"
+			ssh -p $destport $destuser@$desthost "date +%c%n%s > '$destdir/$i/$deluser/deleted_on'"
 		done
 	done
 	rm $tmp1