This is the reason I use mutt to keep my inbox organized. It's a bit spartan for an all-around email client, but when it comes to archiving and deleting mail, it's so much faster than any graphical client I've used. 50+ emails at a time on the screen and nothing else, just hitting a key to tag them and then committing the delete is great.

I get a LOT of mail. The information density in mutt allows me to accomplish a feat of organization that felt impossible for years in Thunderbird.