The service rules are relics of a different time. A time when New York and Vermont would occasionally shoot half-heartedly at one another over the land between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers—an area now mostly known for being the world's most boring drive.
In any event, the requirements remain and thus we are occasionally forced to make some poor courier drive to someplace terrible (see above) to drop off a paper packet. That's rule 4, for ya.
But the rules get a bit squishy if your defendant is foreign-based. FRCP 4(f)(1) initially suggests you might want to use the Hague convention, which is a great idea if you are a meticulous masochist. FRCP 4(f)(3) is where things get a bit more interesting, allowing service by "other means not prohibited by international agreement, as the court orders."
Naturally, very few means of service are specifically prohibited by international agreement. Yodeling, smoke signals, a swarm of vicious bees—all are typically fine under the relevant treaties.
This leads us to the case of the intrepid ...
