speeding up fetchmail + procmail + Spamassassin

[Andy Saxena <andyML@nyc.rr.com>]

Hi,

I have noticed that when I use FM + PM + SA, the delivery of the email
is considerably slow. Running top only registers Spamassassin running
intermittently. I know the network connection is not slow because
fetching email without running it through Spamassassin works at the rate
of approximately 1-2 emails per second. With Spamassassin that slows
down to an email every 20 to 60 seconds irrespective of the size of the
message.

Could it be that I am missing some sort of a locking mechanism here? Is
it possible to download all email first, and then route it through
Procmail and Spamassassin?

Thanks,
Andy