I used the example of being out of the country. The notice might be delivered, but if I'm not there to receive it, I haven't been served. My legal obligation begins, when it can be proven that I was served. Did my landlord, or neighbor, or relative sign for something, or receive it on my behalf?

Maybe, but that doesn't prove notification, and that neighbor or relative had no legal duty to notify me. The neighbor's signature does not show that I was ever aware of the impending availability period, or jury duty. Just that an effort was made to contact me, with an inconclusive outcome.

Whether I was out of the country, or whether my mailbox and doorstep was full of poisoned snakes, or I was engaged in sacred sweat lodge rituals to get in touch with my inner teletubbie, the end result is the same.