I tried npm shrinkwrap, but that only procrastinates on the problem: now instead of having to unravel a mess of dependencies on installation, you have to unravel a mess of dependencies whenever you want to upgrade a package. But now instead of having to solve a dependency problem that a bunch of other people have head to solve, you've created your own unique dependency problem. Not to mention that this completely bloats your installations.

npm shrinkwrap isn't a solution, it's a temporary hack and it makes things worse in the long run. Maybe you're only working on new projects, but I work on things that will have to be maintained.