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They are selling 10000 gallons a day at some locations, so I find it hard to believe.

More like they don’t have a need to make a profit and they run the station in a barebones manner on real estate that they get as part of the larger site. So it would be a loss leader for anyone else.

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If they lose 10c/gal, it still sounds like an incredibly small amount in the grand scheme of things and like a great loss leader?

It really doesn't sound good. A loss leader is meant to get you into the store; the gas station is usually far away, in the back of the parking lot.

Their $5 chicken now, that's a great "loss leader" (if it even is; that isn't confirmed). Because that forces you not just into the store, but all the way to the back. So you go in for the $5 chicken and leave with $20 of blueberries, $20 of cereal $20 of milk $20 of mayo.

There was a quote from the Costco CFO that the rotisserie chicken cost them like $40 million annually. It is definitely a loss leader.

https://fortune.com/2015/05/29/costco-chicken-prices/

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