My 2 cents worth on "When is too much sufficient?"
I received an excellent lesson in this from Richard Cole of Sowerby Thirsk in North Yorkshire, England when I was on the receiving end of the shipment of the 1971 Holdsworth Professional (see Dale's website under Holdsworth, MLebron's Pro) I bought from him* in February (he has a Legnano Gran Premio, circa 1959, 58 cm (c-to-top), original paint & chrome for sale on Dale's site at the moment, he also has a collection of magazines and catalogues for sale).
The only parts left assembled were the two wheels (even here, the skewers had been removed) and the fork/headset, bb and dropout screws. Otherwise, every single part had been carefully removed from the frame, placed in zip-lock bags and/or carefully bubbled wrapped. Brake levers, bar plugs, cable guides, derailleurs, crankset, pedals, etc, even the brake cables were removed from the cable housing and placed in individual packages. The frame, bars and stem were wrapped in foam apparently designed for the purpose, and wrapped in more bubble wrap. The bike box that everything was placed in was stuffed with additional bubble wrap to eliminate voids. The box was strapped.
It took me well over an hour just to unpack it. I can only imagine how long it took Richard to pack it.
Nevertheless, as I was reassembling the bike, I noticed the dropout screws were bent. The next conversation I had with Richard, I asked him if it shipped that way. His response,"Damn! I had no idea they could get damaged. I should have removed them. My sincere apologies."
Of course, the d.o. screws were easy enough to replace. Moral of the story: "When is too much sufficient?" While Richard's effort certainly seemed to me almost above and beyond the call of duty, "Don't forget the dropout screws!"
Michael Lebron New York City
*My thanks to the notoriously effervescent Mr. Denny for making this happen.