diff --git a/guix/scripts.scm b/guix/scripts.scm
index e235c8d4c3..3e19e38957 100644
--- a/guix/scripts.scm
+++ b/guix/scripts.scm
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ (define GiB (expt 2 30))
          (total      (* block-size (file-system-block-count stats)))
          (relative-threshold-in-bytes (* total (cadr thresholds)))
          (absolute-threshold-in-bytes (car thresholds)))
-    (when (< available (max relative-threshold-in-bytes
+    (when (< available (min relative-threshold-in-bytes
                             absolute-threshold-in-bytes))
       (warning (G_ "only ~,1f GiB of free space available on ~a~%")
                (/ available 1. GiB) (%store-prefix))