diff --git a/container/layer_tools.bzl b/container/layer_tools.bzl
index 9a435b823..125581d0d 100644
--- a/container/layer_tools.bzl
+++ b/container/layer_tools.bzl
@@ -183,6 +183,12 @@ def assemble(
         arguments = [args],
         tools = inputs,
         outputs = [output],
+        execution_requirements = {
+            # This action produces large output files, but doesn't require much CPU to compute.
+            # It's not economical to send this to the remote-cache, instead local cache misses
+            # should just run join_layers again.
+            "no-remote-cache": "1",
+        },
         mnemonic = "JoinLayers",
     )
 
diff --git a/skylib/zip.bzl b/skylib/zip.bzl
index b8a7d6d1a..6ffcf35cb 100644
--- a/skylib/zip.bzl
+++ b/skylib/zip.bzl
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ def _gzip(ctx, artifact, out, decompress, options, mnemonic):
             ) + (options or []),
             inputs = [artifact],
             outputs = [out],
+            execution_requirements = {
+                # This action produces large output files, but doesn't require much CPU to compute.
+                # It's not economical to send this to the remote-cache, instead local cache misses
+                # should just run gzip again.
+                "no-remote-cache": "1",
+            },
             mnemonic = mnemonic,
             tools = ctx.attr._zipper[DefaultInfo].default_runfiles.files,
         )
@@ -69,6 +75,13 @@ def _gzip(ctx, artifact, out, decompress, options, mnemonic):
             input_manifests = input_manifests,
             inputs = [artifact],
             outputs = [out],
+            execution_requirements = {
+                # See comment above.
+                # In this case it's not guaranteed that the user's gzip implementation
+                # is actually faster than a network fetch, but we guess that any typical
+                # one should be.
+                "no-remote-cache": "1",
+            },
             use_default_shell_env = True,
             mnemonic = mnemonic,
             tools = tools,