I understand why you don't feel you got your $58 worth, and I think you should. As Hoss said above, it would be beneficial for AMA to cover you from the time you join till the same time next year - it would spread out staff workload rather than forcing them into a year-end rush for renewals. I am not going to make apologies, but rather give you my take on why things are the way they are. Some AMA members, often the loudest, are ill at ease with any kind of change. They want AMA to do business the way they do because that is the way it has always been done. In the case of a change that your experience suggests, you have seen the reply above "a nightmare for the club secretary." It's a crock of pasture patties, but that's the strongest rationalization for not changing that get's considered and aired. The average club has somewhere between 30-40 members. If the club secretary that is having nightmares can't keep up with recording 3 renewals per month, he probably has bigger problems, like rigor mortis setting in. A club of 100 members that I belong to pro rates the club dues. I don't see the club secretary tearing his hair out over that bookkeeping burden, nor is bothered that nobody wants to run for his job at election time.
AMA will continue to do business the way they do because that is the way it has always been done. It will also continue to decline in membership, and its loudest supporters will tell you that's because of the nation's economy and AMA will get better when the recession/depression is over.