It has to be put directly in their hands or else they can say they never got it.

You have to personally had it to someone or else it doesn't count

A summoms is issused by the court and has to be delivered by a shieff and handed to the person.

Your answer depends on the type of summons and the state laws governing service of process. For a civil summons, most states require personal service or "substitute" service upon a reasonably aged co-resident. Some states require personal service only; and still others allow substitute service only after personal service has been attempted unsuccessfully several times.

Many states allow eviction summons to be posted on the door.

I would recommend calling the sheriff of the county from which the summons was issued, they will know the laws that apply to serving that particular summons.

Each state has different laws, so you'll want to look up what it is for your location. Most summons are handed directly to a person. This is usually done by the sheriff or a processor. I have never seen a law that a summons could be dropped on a doorstep, though eviction notices may be posted to the door.

Some states allow summons to be delivered through the mail.

All hat's required is for you to be able to confirm that they received the summons; posting a summons or dropping it on the doorstep is generally not sufficient.

The most reliable way is to deliver the summons personally, by hand, with a witness willing to sign a statement that they saw the summons served.

If the recipient is actively avoiding the summons, you could deliver it personally to their house, again with a witness or some other way to substantiate that the summons was delivered to the recipient's residence (or workplace) when they were on the premises.

For the court's purposes, you just need to be able to show that you took all reasonable steps to inform the recipient of the date of the hearing, so that it would be highly improbable for the recipient to be unaware that they were expected to attend.