Except that the station owners don't even see this as theft. The gas is sold. They get the money. That, or insurance pays for this crime perpetrated upon them. It is the CC issuer who most often takes the real hit.
Are you referring to the penalties or the annual membership fees? Nobody I know ever pays the annual fee; it's rarely worth it, unless they have a very good rewards system.
Although, I'm not sure what's worse, the penalties or the interest if you don't fully pay your balance every month.
The credit card networks charge merchant fees to process transactions. Those fees account for the cost of indemnifying cardholders against fraudulent transactions. The fees are passed along to customers in the form of higher prices, or come out of the merchants’ profits (or some of each). It’s all priced in.
