diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 054aa7ab..785e241d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ If you are still using the legacy [Access scopes][access-scopes], the `https://w
 | Flag                              | Required | Default | Description |
 | --------------------------------- | -------- | ------- | ----------- |
 | `google.project-id`               | No       | GCloud SDK auto-discovery | Comma seperated list of Google Project IDs |
+| `monitoring.metrics-ingest-delay` | No       |         | Offsets metric collection by a delay appropriate for each metric type, e.g. because bigquery metrics are slow to appear |
 | `monitoring.metrics-type-prefixes | Yes      |         | Comma separated Google Stackdriver Monitoring Metric Type prefixes (see [example][metrics-prefix-example] and [available metrics][metrics-list]) |
 | `monitoring.metrics-interval`     | No       | `5m`    | Metric's timestamp interval to request from the Google Stackdriver Monitoring Metrics API. Only the most recent data point is used |
 | `monitoring.metrics-offset`       | No       | `0s`    | Offset (into the past) for the metric's timestamp interval to request from the Google Stackdriver Monitoring Metrics API, to handle latency in published metrics |
diff --git a/collectors/monitoring_collector.go b/collectors/monitoring_collector.go
index 5f6f1698..c5c9fa08 100644
--- a/collectors/monitoring_collector.go
+++ b/collectors/monitoring_collector.go
@@ -277,8 +277,8 @@ func (c *MonitoringCollector) reportMonitoringMetrics(ch chan<- prometheus.Metri
 						return
 					}
 					level.Debug(c.logger).Log("msg", "adding ingest delay", "descriptor", metricDescriptor.Type, "delay", ingestDelay)
-					endTime.Add(ingestDelayDuration)
-					startTime.Add(ingestDelayDuration)
+					endTime = endTime.Add(ingestDelayDuration * -1)
+					startTime = startTime.Add(ingestDelayDuration * -1)
 				}
 
 				for _, ef := range c.metricsFilters {