We have had the problem in Texas where some people would sit in the bigger counties and undercut people so some companies used them then used others for outer counties only.  

I personally told people that my outer counties were opened up as an added service to my clients that used me in the larger metro counties and gave me bulk of work and their was no profit at all in the smaller outer counties.  I looked at is as overall income from the client.  Some counties are harder to fill than others.  When I decided that I lost potential business from some from doing it that way I did what David did and my outer county fees are about $5.00-10.00 more per order depending on a retrieval or a title search along with a minimum for that county, i.e., if the person wanted a retrieval and I charge 25.00 in my outer county but they only had one it would be my county minimum of $40.00, if they gave me two then they would be $25.00 a piece.  Some minimums are higher and you have to charge that way.  There is very little work in some counties and usually you are going with just 1 or 2 orders each time.  I am actually thinking of raising my minimum for 2 orders because gas of course is way out of hand and travel is part of our service.  It is the slightly higher fee along with a minium fee that will make the travel costs manageable but I still would not do a rush job on outer counties unless they handed me a stack.  I always tell my client the more orders I get, the more likely you are to get it back sooner.  It is not only human nature, but good business sense, to do the county with the larger stack of work than one order 45 minutes away.

I believe I have the same company you have - probably we all feel that way.  I just don't let them bother me - I will not go until I'm good and ready for their 2 orders a month - they actually want I think it is a 6 hour turn time - give me a break - for 2 orders a month.  You have to start saying no - if you continually take the time to pacify clients like this you will never have time to get new clients that would give you more work and treat you much better as a person and business professional.  We have to stop causing our own problems.