You're right, it does increase the delay. It's more of an example of how Gearman can be used.

Also, I _hate_ the idea of running an MTA on 30 machines that shouldn't be sending mail.

Yup and a good sized one at that, working snippets are always welcome. I was just a bit confused due to the contrived use-case.

I don't share your concerns about the MTA (they are lightweight and it's usually helpful to know that sending mails won't block) but to each their own.