Wonder if you can use a couple of the gift cards to buy a gift card, thus consolidating the dollar value into fewer gift cards.

In California, gif cards and gift certificates that have been purchased (as opposed to awarded or donated by the store) can never expire and are treated as equivalent to cash.

Of course, if the company goes bankrupt, all bets are off.

This limit is hard coded into their point of sale system as a security measure and is not something that can be changed at the store level. My niece was victimized by the TJX break and this is how the scam works. Credit card is stolen, used to buy gift cards (essentially laundered) and then the gift cards are resold at a discount. Gift cards are then used to make purchases. All of this occurs shortly after the card is stolen. By the time the victim receives their bill and everything is restored, the scammers are long gone. So what Apple and other stores are trying to do is minimize the loss potential. In my nieces' case, all the charges were eventually reversed (after 9-10 months) and at the very end all the stores were left with the loss as the banks simply reverse the charge. And I'm sure every thief will give out their real home address...

I also know of a scam where stolen credit card are cloned into gift check cards, like the ones from Visa and Amex. Cashiers don't always pay attention and just go on their Happy Days...1 2 3 O'clock