k-9 did the trick down load it and forget about the other email apps.
K-9 works quite well for this purpose. However, don't be so quick to condemn Google for not including this functionality in the gmail appliction.
For folks used to using gmail, its huge capacity (many gigabytes), its filtering and label capabilities, and its search capabilities are big pluses. The Droid "gmail" app is just a way to access email with limited functionality.
For example, I've been using gmail for about five years now and have well over 20,000 emails archived on the gmail server. I can select large groups of emails from the web interface and label them, delete them, etc. Once in trash they disappear after 30 days.
In short, if you have a lot of email to deal with, gmail provides tremendous benefits (through the web interface) while still providing a quick look at incoming email and enabling you to respond when you're not at a computer through the app interface. I use gmail extensively on my droid. On my wife's droid, on the other hand, I pulled the gmail app off her home screen and replaced it with K9.
If, on the other hand, you get and send a few emails through the day and just want to toss them when you're done with no further needs, K-9 works quite well.
