Why is the number of dead tuples causing the performance of deferred triggers to degrading so rapidly (exponentionally)?

Obviously,

this part of tr_f_def():

******************************
        -- delete the contents
--        delete from f;
        IF EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM f) THEN
            DELETE FROM F;
            VACUUM F;
        END IF;
******************************


should simply read:

******************************
        -- delete the contents
        delete from f;
******************************



--
Best,




Frank.