Anchor-and-Resume Concession Framework for LLM-Augmented Freight Negotiation

A novel framework for freight negotiation utilizing dynamic pricing seeks to overcome the shortcomings of traditional time-dependent concession approaches. Conventional models rely on a fixed shape parameter β, which fails to accommodate pricing changes during negotiations. By deriving β from the live spread, adaptability is achieved, but this can lead to offer retraction, breaching monotonicity. Brokers powered by LLMs provide flexibility but come with high reasoning costs, generate unpredictable pricing, and are susceptible to prompt injection. The innovative two-index anchor-and-resume framework employs a spread-derived β to align each load's margin structure with the appropriate concession strategy, ensuring that offers remain monotonically non-decreasing despite pricing fluctuations. All pricing choices are deterministic. This research is available on arXiv under ID 2604.20732.