Why wait for them to be "aged off"? I empty my Junk frequently, several times a day in fact.

Because I don't go daily to see my Junk file. I want to look at them when I have time to. And might want to go back and see if I've gotten a lot of similar junk (or from the same source).

Having things deleted automatically simply because you can't be bothered to look at them sounds a bit dangerous to me. What if there is something in there by mistake? Moving them to Trash seems the safest bet if you haven't made a firm decision about them.

For myself, I want the final veto. Nothing gets deleted permanently until I tell it to do so.

Both Trash and Junk have an "Empty" option in the context menu. So clearing them isn't onerous.

«Having things deleted automatically simply because you can't be bothered to look at them sounds a bit dangerous to me. » I absolutely agree. That is why I have the Junk folder age out after a full 14 days. I do review it every few days and, as I said, I look at what has transpired over the last week or so. Your approach doesn't give me that opportunity.

So right now I say: I asked a question; you don't have an answer to it. You suggest an alternative which doesn't fit the way I want to use my email client. In fact it is much worse for me that the current situation.

I would hope that if there is a solution that conforms to how I want to use my email client, someone would propose it to me.

No, sorry, I don't know of a solution for your request. In such cases I usually ask for a bit more info, or try to understand the motivation behind the request, because there might be an alternative way of getting to a suitable outcome.

I don't have any problems clearing the Trash, so I am not able to see the downside of deleting junk to Trash. Personally i get way too much junk to want to allow it to accumulate for any length of time in the junk folder.

I actively report much of my junk to knujon and abusix, so it's rather more important to me to quickly clear out older junk. I wouldn't have the patience to pore over it myself, as you appear to wish to do.