  We study the spatial fluctuations of the Casimir-Polder force experienced by
an atom or a small sphere moved above a metallic plate at fixed separation
distance. We demonstrate that unlike the mean force, the magnitude of these
fluctuations crucially relies on the relaxation of conduction electron in the
metallic bulk, and even achieves values that differ by orders of magnitude
depending on the amount of dissipation. We also discover that fluctuations
suffer a spectacular decrease at large distances in the case of nonzero
temperature.
