Trucking: Drivers who wont take runs, company trucks, c drivers

Question
Hi Jim.  My husband and I have run a hot shot terminal for about a year now and we seem to be having trouble with owner/operators and drivers who won't answer their phones or decline hot shots.  The rule is if you're on call, you take the runs that come up.  Instead, they seem to want to pick and choose what runs they take.  I don't want to let these drivers go but it seems I don't have a choice if they do not want to be play with the team.  What suggestions do you have for me?  Is there some kind of "time-out" I should give them?  I'm new at this so all suggestions are appreciated.

Answer
Marie, I don't have an easy answer but some ideas:
1st if you are using owner operators / independent contractors, you can't force them to accept every dispatch.  You can however set up a set of incentives and dis-incentives to encourage them to be team players.  The effectiveness will depend on how many options you have to get a load covered. At the least after a driver refuses a dispatch they should go to the bottom of the list.  You can also offer bonus based on number of loads in a month or total miles.  A sliding scale that encourages them to run when the loads are available. You could also set up two or three categories of drivers, with the A drivers getting the best runs and the C drivers getting whatever is left over.  The ones who don't want to drive will probably leave on their own so you will need to constantly recruit to have backups in the pipeline.  Ask your drivers what they would prefer.
Lastly if you use company drivers in company trucks you have a lot more control over employees.
Hope this gives you some ideas to explore.
Jim